At first reading of the blurb, I was none too sold on this book; it came across as being in the fantasy genre with ghosts and hauntings – the supernatural is not really my scene. However, since it is set in Penang, Malaysia, I felt I had to give it a try at least. There are precious few world-class novels written by Malaysians in English – all Tan Twan Eng’s work is superlative, Tash Aw has written consistently well and his Survivors is particularly commendable, Preeti Samarasan’s Evening is the Whole Day was also a good literary addition to the genre. As with so many other cultural groups of writers, there are other Malaysian writings in English which are not of such quality because they are too heavy-handed, exoticise and romanticise the culture and people, play to the gallery, over egg cultural differences, or simply cannot wield the English language deftly enough to marry a translated version of Malaysian reality and culture into a western language and consciousness. So it makes me very happy to stumble across a new novel by a Malaysian which has confidence, flair, lack of that painful, awkward self-consciousness, and quite a lot of authenticity.
The storyline is that American-bred Jess has to return to Malaysia with her parents, because her father has lost his job in the US and his brother in Penang has found him a job in his company. Jess has graduated from Harvard but has not yet found a job. She is in love with Sharanya, an Indian girl about to go to Singapore for work, but of course, her lesbianism is a secret from her family. Jess’ family seem to be Penang Hokkiens, the Teohs (paternal) and the Lims (maternal).
From the start, I liked the writing voice. The Malaysian-ness was authentic, the accent and speech patterns rang out as I would expect it to sound, and exactly what I’d expect aunties to say:
Grown up already ah! So pretty now! Last time I saw you, you were this tall only, you know!
p8
Even the ghost (Ah Mah, Jess’ maternal grandmother, long estranged from her mother) is wonderfully Malaysian in speech:
“After you die, it’s different. Not like when you’re living. No clocks, no calendars. What day, what time, I cannot tell you. Ah Ku brought me to hospital in the seventh month, Hungry Ghost Festival that time. After that, I don’t know.” (p36)
“If I can do it, your mother sure can one.”p38
“You ah! If your head got chopped off, you’d ask Tai Su Yah to prove you’re dead. If still need proof some more, why don’t you ask her mother how old is she? Call her to show her IC. Then you’ll have your proof. Such thing! If you don’t want to layan me, just say. I’m not the kind to go where I’m not welcome.” (p39)
Occasionally, the speech patterns and words may be difficult for a non-Malaysian readership to follow – ‘layan’, for example, means to entertain, it is a Malay word. Sometimes there are Chinese references – Tai Su Yah is supposedly the king of hell. It is also very typical of Malaysian speech to say ‘some more’ when they mean further, or more, and ‘is she’ instead of ‘she is’, ‘call her’ means ask her or call on her to do such and such (the word ‘call’ is literally translated from Chinese, hence the mis-use in English). The word ‘one’ is as frequently added as ‘lah’, just for emphasis, it has no literal meaning.
Sometimes key passages or words are left untranslated:
“Like that also you must ask?” said Ah Ma contemptuously. You see him already you can know. His angin is different. The others cannot compare.” (p74).
‘Angin’ is the Malay word for wind. But in this case, it means the air of the person, the essence, his being. It is very typical for Malaysians to mix all the languages they know as they speak, and often they are largely unaware of ‘borrowing’ from other languages, having long forgotten those are not words in their own language.
The story goes that Jess is being ‘haunted’ for want of a better word, by her Ah Ma, or she is occasionally being possessed or accompanied inside her head, by her Ah Ma, a ghost. Ah Ma makes Jess her medium. Ah Ma was herself the medium of a fierce ghost, the Black Water Sister, as per the title of the novel. Ah Ma gives Jess a lot of insider knowledge as well as powers, to get Jess to help in stopping the closing down of a temple, which is on land which developers want to use for condominiums. There is corruption going on of course, and Jess’ own uncle works for this development too. The financier, Ng Chee Hin, said to be one of the 5 richest men in the country, is supposed to be clean and charitable, but clearly there is more than meets the eye. His son, Ng Wei Shenrg is an Oxford and Stanford graduate and also in the family business.
The storyline becomes quite convoluted – but still not too difficult to follow – with ghosts and gods and mediums, as well as living human beings, some of whom can be trusted and some of whom cannot; strangers and family alike fall into both categories. There is a surprising amount of drama which still manages to be, for most part, just credible – assassination attempts and quite violent assaults and encounters, and Jess seems to be in the eye of the storm every time. There are perhaps just a few too many of these violent episodes – perhaps the author wanted to try writing ‘action’ as well as fantasy – but a less enthusiastic and more judicious inclusion of violence in Jess’ encounters would perhaps have improved the plot.
Nevertheless, for once in a way, the fantasy genre is acceptable to me, a reader who generally prefers social realism fiction. One possible reason is that the novel is actually quite endearing in how the author combines Malaysian prosaicness with catering to supernatural beliefs. It captures quite authentically how the superstitious element which is actually just below the surface in that society goes hand in hand with its tendency to casual pragmatism. Malaysian Chinese and Penang Hokkiens in particular, have that tendency to a refusal to stand on ceremony, combined with the firm belief in giving/showing face and proper respect. Zen Cho has depicted these societal tendencies marvellously well, and shown a depth of understanding of how this society works, from inside out. The interactions between the different races also rings out quite authentically. The impatient affection of Ah Ma is well rendered.
It is puzzling as to why the main god of the story – Black Water Sister – is thus called; Black Water of course is a translation of Ayer Itam (more contemporary spelling, Air Hitam), which is a place in Malaysia. But the term ‘sister’ puzzles me because in Chinese languages, it is always elder or younger sister, not just sister. The novel perhaps tries to cram in too many themes which are shorthanded into near typecasts – the god and Ah Ma who in life were vulnerable young women mistreated by their men and having no recourse to justice, so seeking revenge and unpeaceful in death, the promotion of the filial child and the heavy investment of Asian/Chinese parents in heirs and off spring, the casual law-breaking of the super rich and powerful and heavy-handedness (and easy dispensability) of their hit men. We lose threads of other storylines as the plot progresses until we are mostly fixed on recounting the next episode of violence Jess gets caught up in. Such a pity, as those social issues are actually far more interesting (and very well observed and depicted by the author) than the simplistic vengeances of ghosts and gods. However, despite its shortcomings, it still was a very engagingly told story, fast paced and attention-holding.
Overall, an extremely lively, unusual, well delivered read. I would like to read more by Zen Cho if she is writing about Malaysians or socio-cultural issues of any community, actually; though perhaps not her purely fantasy work. She has a good ear for Malaysian dialogue and renders that extremely well – I hope for more along those lines, which offer the world a listen-in to the marvellously rich Malaysian speak with its distinctive accents and slangs and cadences that so characterise them. It is a joy to see Malaysian talent for writing in English coming through – this is a relatively young voice on the scene, and already an assured and highly original one. May it be the herald of a golden age of great Malaysian-writing-in-English to come!
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