Sister Snake

By Amanda Lee Koe

Book Overview

A glittering, bold, darkly funny novel about two sisters--one in New York, one in Singapore--who are bound by an ancient secret

Sisterhood is difficult for Su and Emerald. Su leads a sheltered, moneyed life as the picture-perfect wife of a conservative politician in Singapore. Emerald is a nihilistic sugar baby in New York, living from whim to whim and using her charms to make ends meet. But they share a secret: once, they were snakes, basking under a full moon in Tang dynasty China.

A thousand years later, their mysterious history is the only thing still binding them together. When Emerald experiences a violent encounter in Central Park and Su boards the next flight to New York, the two reach a tenuous reconciliation for the first time in decades. Su convinces Emerald to move to Singapore so she can keep an eye on her--but she soon begins to worry that Emerald's irrepressible behavior will out them both, in a sparkling, affluent city where everything runs like clockwork and any deviation from the norm is automatically suspect.

Razor-sharp, hilarious, and raw in emotion, Sister Snake explores chosen family, queerness, passing, and the struggle against conformity. Reimagining the Chinese folktale "The Legend of the White Snake," this is a novel about being seen for who you are--and, ultimately, how to live free.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006335506X
• ISBN13: 9780063355064
• Release Date: December 2024
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Fast-paced retelling of an ancient story does not disappoint.

Sister Snake is a fresh, fast-paced novel that is, ironically, rooted in one of China's Four Great Folktales called The Legend of the White Snake. This reimagining of a centuries-old myth by author Amanda Lee Koe shows that, regardless of when it was conceived, a good story is a good story. By bringing this beloved, antiquated legend to a modern setting and applying a queer + feminist lens, we get the benefit of a timeless tale, rich and meaningful, along with a modern allegory about confronting conformity, breaking with tradition, and taking risks to break with the status quo. Underneath it all is an emotionally challenging statement on the value of relationships and the importance of sisterhood. The story opens with two snake spirits – one white, and one green – embodied as human beings living in Singapore and New York, respectively. We discover that these two women met as snake spirits in ancient China and pledged sisterhood after the white snake was attacked and the green snake came to her rescue. They eventually decide to live out their immortality as humans, Su and Emerald. In their human form, they are drastically different people. Su is a perfect, polished wife of a Singaporean politician. She is unfathomably wealthy and has taken on a traditional wifely role to a man who is actively suppressing trans rights in the education system. He cares for Su, but is limited by his own sense of what’s acceptable, including traditional gender roles. Emerald, on the other hand, is a free-spirit working in New York as a sugar baby, constantly broke, outspoken, and unapologetically queer. When Su reads a news article about a green snake attacking a man in New York, she hops on the first flight to find Emerald and take her back to Singapore. Lee Koe captures the dynamic of their relationship beautifully – the tension of their profound differences at war with their centuries-old loyalty to one another. Much of the action takes place in Singapore, a place known for its social conservatism and strict laws. Emerald chafes against the stifling culture, preferring to hang out with her brother-in-law’s security detail rather than move about in Su’s high society world. Eventually, the conflict between the sisters’ different interests and goals becomes too much. Their tenuous humanness begins to unravel, and both women devolve into violence, reclaiming their animal selves when they are threatened. I loved this Sister Snake. It moved quickly and kept my attention. The yin/yang motif of the sisters’ opposing personalities and motivations creates a great low-level tension throughout the novel. The glamour of Singapore and New York’s grittiness are both captured beautifully. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, the green snake – the one who challenges tradition, practices self-love, and enjoys being alive in either form – feels like the hero of this ancient story’s retelling.