2023/052: Black Water Sister — Zen Cho

2023/052: Black Water Sister — Zen Cho

“I only became a Datuk recently, when the old Datuk here moved to another place. If I can run, I’ll run. But what can I do? The humans there” — he pointed at the construction site — “they give me nasi lemak every day. They all are not rich also. They’re construction workers, from Bangladesh. Half of them don’t have permits. You think that Chinaman will pay them a lot? How can I not protect them?”
Ah Ma was taken aback. “They’re Bangladeshi also they pray to you?”
“When you’re scared, you’ll pray to anybody,” said the Datuk Kong. [p. 96]

Jess's life isn't going to plan. Her parents, after years in America, have decided to return to Malaysia, and she's come with them, to a birth country that she barely remembers. She's trying to deal with the loss of 'her beautiful life, with her beautiful girlfriend, her friends, her creative projects, her ambitions' and reinvent her relationship with said girlfriend, Sharanya. Now she's the outsider, the immigrant -- and the novel opens with the ghost of her dead grandmother asking if her parents know she's a lesbian.

Spoiler: they don't.

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