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A review by serendipitysbooks
What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J.A. Chancy
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Twelve years ago today, on 12 January 2010 Haiti was rocked by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, centred about 25km west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 people lost their lives.
Myriam J.A. Chancy takes that catastrophe and uses it as the central thread of her novel What Storm, What Thunder. The novel reads like a collection of interconnected short stories, each looking at the experiences of a different character before, during and after the quake. Each of the characters is connected to at least one of the others in some way, which provides an additional element of unity. Since each character has a different experience, the overall picture is richer, more nuanced and more accurate.
This book blew me away. Having lived through an earthquake that forever changed my city I can attest that the depictions of a large quake are very accurate. I’m thankful that the physical damage, loss of life, and major injuries here were nowhere near as severe as in Haiti. Chancy does a good job of highlighting some of the reasons for that. She also rightly highlights deficiencies in the relief effort and reconstruction process - issues like racism, colonialism, capitalism, classism, the impact of sexism and misogyny, bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption and a lack of care and compassion.
While the earthquake provides the core of this book it is more than just an earthquake story. The characters are all richly drawn and from a variety of backgrounds. By telling their stories before and after the earthquake the reader is treated to a vibrant and colourful depiction of Haitian society, the good and the bad, and the ways this was altered by the quake - beyond the obvious loss of life and destruction of buildings.
The writing was gorgeous. People and place vividly came to life for me. I especially admire the way that the the earthquake and it’s aftermath were realistically portrayed - there is terror, injury, death, grief and suffering - but in a way that didn’t feel exploitative. Trauma porn this is not.
Overall a powerful, rich novel that effectively and seamlessly combines human story with pointed social commentary.
Myriam J.A. Chancy takes that catastrophe and uses it as the central thread of her novel What Storm, What Thunder. The novel reads like a collection of interconnected short stories, each looking at the experiences of a different character before, during and after the quake. Each of the characters is connected to at least one of the others in some way, which provides an additional element of unity. Since each character has a different experience, the overall picture is richer, more nuanced and more accurate.
This book blew me away. Having lived through an earthquake that forever changed my city I can attest that the depictions of a large quake are very accurate. I’m thankful that the physical damage, loss of life, and major injuries here were nowhere near as severe as in Haiti. Chancy does a good job of highlighting some of the reasons for that. She also rightly highlights deficiencies in the relief effort and reconstruction process - issues like racism, colonialism, capitalism, classism, the impact of sexism and misogyny, bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption and a lack of care and compassion.
While the earthquake provides the core of this book it is more than just an earthquake story. The characters are all richly drawn and from a variety of backgrounds. By telling their stories before and after the earthquake the reader is treated to a vibrant and colourful depiction of Haitian society, the good and the bad, and the ways this was altered by the quake - beyond the obvious loss of life and destruction of buildings.
The writing was gorgeous. People and place vividly came to life for me. I especially admire the way that the the earthquake and it’s aftermath were realistically portrayed - there is terror, injury, death, grief and suffering - but in a way that didn’t feel exploitative. Trauma porn this is not.
Overall a powerful, rich novel that effectively and seamlessly combines human story with pointed social commentary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical content, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Misogyny and Racism