Reviews - The Storm We Made

1.65k reviews for:

The Storm We Made

Vanessa Chan

3.9 AVERAGE

molly412's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

crbryan's review against another edition

2.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Cecily has zero redeeming qualities.

jasminegalsreadinglog's review against another edition

4.0

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan, a historical fiction, is a story of a family who is affected by the Japanese invasion of Malaya, currently Malaysia. It's a story of survival amid the knowledge that one evil was traded for another.

Set in the period 1930s and 1940s, this novel is Cecily's and her children's story. Alternating between timelines and characters, this book gives us a glimpse of both the British rule and the Japanese rule of Malaya during this period.

This book is not an easy read by no means. But then, topics of colonialism, marginalization, and colorism are not supposed to be easy. Topics of slave labor camps, racial profiling, and child exploitation are handled this book. My heart literally broke into pieces for Jasmin and Yuki. Without expressing the emotions of these characters, the author has conveyed a lot because the reader is prompted to think.

Thank you, Simon Element, MarySue Rucci Books, for this book.

CW: Infidelity, Spying, SA, graphic description of child abuse, betrayal, starvation, death