Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Storm We Made

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

38 reviews

leonoralvatron4_5's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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serendipitysbooks's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The Storm We Made is a wonderful work of historical fiction. It has two main timelines - the first in the 1930s when Malaya was a British colony; the second in 1945 when it was occupied by the Japanese. At the centre is the Alcantara family, especially mother Cecily, older daughter Jujube, son Abel and younger daughter Jasmin and the story unfolds through their four points of view. Cecily was perhaps the most interesting character, not just a wife and mother. Her determination and drive made her stand out, and her realisation that perhaps she had been used and that what she thought she was working towards wasn’t what she believed it would be was slightly heartbreaking and a salutary lesson. Through the experience of the different family members Chan is able to highlight various aspects of colonisation and the war experience in Malaysia, things like the Asia for Asian movement, “comfort women” (a euphemism I despise and I was horrified to learn that many were in fact girls, and young girls at that) and forced labour camps. One aspect of the book that really stood out was the exploration of dichotomies like good and bad, right and wrong and how very often these things coexist. I thought the characterisation was good and I appreciated its nuance - for instance the Japanese tearoom customer who seemed genuinely kind, nice and gentle but was deliberately blind to the damage and destruction his country had caused. I also appreciated Chan not shying away from having her characters facing the harsh if unforeseen consequences of their actions. A tough read in places but one I’m glad to have read. It certainly offered something new in the field of WWII historical fiction.

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fkshg8465's review

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emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Just barely a three. Wanted to like it more but I probably would’ve been better off DNFing it.

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danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Set against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation of

Malaysia, a Malaysian woman makes a fateful decision which changes the course of history and the lives of everyone she knows.

I really enjoyed this book. I tend to love historical fiction that centers fictional characters against the backdrop of world events, and while fictional, 1 always feel like it gives us a glimpse into how this massive world events may have affected real people. This book did not disappoint on this front; in turns towering and intimate, this is a beautiful portrait of shattered promises, family bonds, and the tides of history that hurl themselves at the barriers of safety people try to erect around themselves and their loved ones.

It is a multi-perspective book, and sometimes 1 tound the switches happening too quickly, just as I would settle into whatever storyline 1 was following in a particular chapter. And I felt some storylines converged at the end better than others. But it was still a really great read.

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craftyanty's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book is a heavy read... lots of triggers warnings needed, but it really is excellent for a debut novel. The characters are well-written, and each of them faces their own personal struggles that come together to make this novel a very emotional read. In fact, this was almost a 5-star rated book for me, but the youngest daughter's character became less believable toward the end.
The audiobook narrator, Samantha Tan, was incredible! I will be looking for more books narrated by her to listen to.

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starstuff's review

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense

3.0

Relentlessly bleak…

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aagyaprdhn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

something about the structure just didn’t work for me - and it may also be that we don’t spend a lot of time with the characters, more so with their suffering - it felt very heavy and difficult to read at times.

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strawberrymivvy's review

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challenging informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

At times quite a challenging read, this novel told the story of WWII from the point of view of the people of Malaya, as British rule was overthrown and the locals had to learn to live under the Japanese.

With a dual timeline we see how regular housewife Cecily became a spy for the Japanese, falling in love with the Japanese general who groomed her.

Her teenage son is kidnapped and taken to work as a prisoner on the Burma railway; her oldest daughter serves the Japanese in a tea room; the family tries hard to protect the younger daughter by dressing her as a boy and hiding her away for hours at a time in the basement, so keeping her away from work in a "comfort station", or brothel full of child prostitutes.

I didn't find the characters as well-rounded as I would have liked, but the descriptions were vivid and the history distressing.

A writer to watch, I think

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ailiscr32's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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natalieba's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I ended up doing a combination of reading this on the page and listening to the audiobook, which I got from my library. The audiobook is well-narrated by Samantha Tan. The novel is told in dual timelines and tells a WWII story I was unfamiliar with - British-colonized Malaya in 1935 and the same area during the Japanese occupation at the end of WWII.

Much of the story is raw and almost hard to read - torture abounds and the author doesn’t shy away from drawing a detailed picture of what life was like for Malayans during the Japanese occupation. The family at the heart of the story has lived for years alongside trauma, pain, and terror, and it is impossible to read this story with any sense of hope - only the hope for survival. And is that even worth seeking out when so much has been destroyed? It was truly bleak.

I appreciate learning more about this (for me) uncovered aspect of WWII, knowing that these kinds of stories are no doubt happening in war-torn places today. But, despite claiming to touch on ‘pain and triumph’ (according to the publisher’s blurb), this novel seemed to only focus on pounding home the malicious, dark side of humanity. The blurb goes on to call the novel a ‘dazzling saga about the horrors of war’ and I don’t know how in the world the word ‘dazzling’ could be used to describe such a thing as war (or this book).

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