A review by andreeavis
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

#𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 

📖𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝑾𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒆, 𝑉𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛 

3.5/5 ☆ #andreeareviews 

The Storm We Made is a historical fiction novel that centres on a hideous side of WWII that is not depicted enough in fiction: the atrocity of Japanese occupation in Asia, the empire intending to replace the British occupation in the area. I enjoyed reading the book, however, it left me wanting for more (in character development in particular). 

While Germany was leading one of the world’s most atrocious genocides in Europe, Japan committed horrors in the East that made it one of the most cruel occupiers in history (if you haven’t yet, read about the Nanjing Massacre from 1938). The Storm We Made tells the story of the Japanese occupation of Malaya, from 1941 to 1945. We learn the story from the points of view of the Alcantara family, mainly Cecily (the mother), and her three children: Jujube (17 years old), Abel (15) and Jasmin (7). 

The story starts in 1945, in Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, which is under Japanese occupation. People are in survival mode, hungry (food ratios are little and scarce), living under curfew (if you miss it you get jailed or beaten up), or plain disappearing, if any connection with the Brits is suspected. Disappearances started to happen to boys that are a bit older (from 14 up), and desperate parents make efforts in vain to find their children, but once gone, a boy is never seen again. With her three children, Cecily lives in fear and does her best to protect them, but her best is not enough; her son, Abel, vanished, just like other boys, the day he turned 15. Stricken by grief, but also guilt, Cecily falls into despair.

To understand Cecily’s guilt, we need to go back to 1937, where we find her sharing British intelligence (her husband, Gordon, was an official for the Brits in Malaya) with General Fujiwara, a Japanese undercover who will lead the invasion of Malaya. Cecily, presented as a plain, unhappy housewife and mother is not someone you would expect to be a spy. Even more, we find out she is in love with the general and will move on to have an affair with him and make a decisive contribution to the Japanese invasion. 

It is very easy to dislike Cecily; she appears to be a disgruntled wife, ungrateful for the life she leads and her own comfort and social position, bland in apparition and personality, and she chooses to betray her husband and her country. However, Fijiwara sold Cecily a dream of Asia run by Asians, freedom from over one hundred years of British occupation. Moreover, he offered her a higher purpose, treating her as an equal and making her feel she was more than the box society forced her into. I found myself sympathetic toward her, understanding her need for a higher purpose, to be more, and to do more without being able to do so. I believe her falling in love with Fujiwara was more related to how she saw herself while working with him rather than his charm or looks. Nevertheless, her choices have brought an oppressor that was more cruel than the Brits and Cecily and her family will suffer dire consequences.

Abel’s disappearance throws the entire family in disarray. Gordon’s health is dwindling, and Cecily stops talking and falls into depression. The older sister, Jujube, works in a teahouse and does her best to bring extra resources into the home. Having, somewhat, of a deeper understanding of their circumstances and seeing her family falling into despair, she takes the burden of taking care of them and musters deep anger and despair herself. On the other hand, Abel finds himself in a labour camp a the Burma/Thailand border, where he suffers profound emotional and physical abuse. He finds comfort in alcohol and becomes addicted to it. Jasmin, the youngest, has to be locked in the basement as the Japanese soldier recruits very young girls as comfort girls (as they do not get pregnant and fight less). 

Cecily carries the guilt and the burden of her secret life that supported the current journey but her breakdown starts when Abel is taken and fully envelopes her when Jasmin runs away. Trapped in the basement during the day, Jasmin is bored; luckily, during the night she sneaks out and makes a new friend of her age. Yuki is Japanese and lives in the comfort shack with other girls. The two find comfort in each other and grow a friendship that turns out to be dangerous for both. Jujube finds out Jasmin runs out at night and locks her in the basement, in complete darkness for a few hours. This is enough for the little girl to run away from home the moment she escapes the basement. Her running away has tragic consequences for the family. 

While I love the historical setting in Malaya, and I think we need more writers to focus on the WWII horrors in Asia, I was left wanting more both from the characters and from the story itself. I felt there was more to say about Malaya, both about the British and the Japanese occupations. I felt that the main points feel strongly on stereotypes (locals obsessed with whiteness, discriminating against darker skin, British being overtly racist, etc). Moreover, all the characters felt flat and underdeveloped. Many times, I felt the character’s actions made no sense in the context or I didn’t have enough background information to understand why they would do such a thing (for example, Jasmin’s running away from home, Jujube’s relationship with the kind Japanese professor and the related ending). On top, despite the compelling, the storytelling is fractured by the change in point of view; as we go back to the previous characters, we do not find them where we left them either. 

Finally, I think this is a good historical book and must be read, to learn about this part of the world that is missing from historical fiction works. I recommend it if you love historical fiction and books like Pachinko, for example. Also, Vanessa Chan is an author worth watching, and I will definitely read her future books! A great debut for a Malaysian author I would love to hear more from.