Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“It figured that she’d avoided getting nagged to go to law school, only to get nagged to become a vessel for the dead.”

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

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3.5 stars Jessamyn “Jess” Teoh is feeling aimless and adrift. Born and raised in the USA, she has just moved to Malaysia with her parents, and they’re staying with one of Jess’ aunts while her parents are looking for their own place to stay. Jess is unemployed, broke and hiding the fact that she has a girlfriend in Singapore. Her girlfriend wants her to get a job in Singapore, so they can be together, but Jess keeps lying to her about her job searches. So […]

Family secrets and a ghost story

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

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I do love the tagline- She was trouble, so is her ghost. First book of the year (well first review), first CBR Passport book (book about another country).  This was a book that i suggested for my IRL book club (because i already owned it), so the review considers their responses as well. While I have owned “Sorcerer to the Crown” for a number of years I have never quite gotten into it and it took reading a book of short stories by Zen Cho […]

So not written for me, but that’s maybe the point

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

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Bingo 22: Uncannon Reason 1 Black Water Sister should be taught: It’s based entirely in the author’s personal background, Malaysian with some Western influence. The story follows Jessamyn/Jess whose legal name is something a lot more culturally specific (it’s only mentioned once and I couldn’t find the bit where Jess mentions it), is a queer woman in her early 20s moving from the US back to Malaysia with her parents because her dad got a job there. I wouldn’t have known this if I hadn’t […]

The Scope May Have Been Too Wide/Ambitious

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

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I loved Yangsze Choo’s novel, The Ghost Bride, so I was happy when I discovered that this novel had been released, and immediately bought it. It is set in 1930s Malaysia and has three different characters whose lives end up interweaving in odd ways. There is Ji Lin, a young woman, who is working in the city as a dress maker and moon lighting as a dancer.  Though she had higher ambitions, her family would not let her go into a profession, and only eventually […]



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