Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

12 reviews

scifi_rat's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Infidelity, Violence, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Confinement, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Death, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Racism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Child death, Classism, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Religious bigotry, Torture, Abandonment, and Excrement

bowbeforeloki's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

This book was so emotionally driven.  I couldn't put it down but it broke my heart

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Gore, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Genocide, Child death, Colonisation, Addiction, Classism, Mental illness, Racism, Trafficking, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Medical content, Rape, War, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

acarolinabelle's review

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

This is a sad tale of a family in Occupied Malaysia during WWII. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual violence, Addiction, Child death, Torture, War, Blood, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, and Alcohol

craftyanty's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Pedophilia, Rape, War, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Confinement, Grief, Infidelity, Classism, Vomit, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Death, and Trafficking

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Child abuse

ailiscr32's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual assault, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, War, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racial slurs, Bullying, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Racism

natalieba's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Torture, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Rape, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Addiction

rheagoveas's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual violence, Addiction, Child abuse, and Blood

thrillofthepage's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

The Storm We Made is a beautifully written, yet heartbreaking historical fiction novel that takes place in the mid 1930s through the end of WWII in Malaya (present day Malaysia). The dual timelines offer a slow unfolding of the way decisions can impact lives for years. The multi-POVs of Cecily, Able, Jujube, and Jasmine provide an inside and unfiltered look into what life was like during both the British and Japanese occupation.  Vanessa Chan fully immerses her readers by writing about the devastation of colonization, occupation, and the horrors that come with it.  I was left in tears realizing the tragic full circle of our title, The Storm We Made. This book and its characters will stay with me for a long time. Please check TWs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Slavery, Physical abuse, Rape, Classism, Colonisation, Violence, Death, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Deportation, Grief, Torture, Alcohol, Infidelity, Child abuse, and Racial slurs

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

ivi_reads_books's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The book portraits people who are in difficult situations trying to break free. The authors has a beautiful writing style but very heavy and traumatic topics are being discussed in this book. Please see the trigger warnings if you are a sensitive reader before picking up this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, War, Addiction, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Deportation, Medical trauma, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Colonisation, Murder, Sexual assault, Blood, Violence, and Excrement

romcomapologist's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.5

i don’t even know what to say… this book left me shaking and breathless, its tragedy an absolute force to be reckoned with. the pain and anger and grief of its characters, esp of cecily, is a savage thing, a blunt object placed carefully and deliberately in your hands. the arrogance of imperialists, colonisers, their cursed pride, and also the choices and rage and desperation of their victims, their accomplices, every moral shade in between, all exact a price to be paid and has a boomerang effect, like bullets that ricochet, like a story whose ending we already know. the consequences of war and colonial violence, of power and desire for power, of fundamental, perhaps inexplainable, fractures and inequalities - in the capacity for hope, the distribution of pain and cruelty, the meting out of fate, which has a great sense of irony and no sense of mercy.

the sheer *storm* of all the emotions and conflicts crammed into this novel is enough to knock you off your feet, like the monsoons of malaya. and it is delivered with the precision, imagination, and ferocity of a writer who truly understands her craft: storytelling. brb i’m walking into the ocean

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, and Addiction