The Storm We Made
Malaya, 1935. Cecily’s husband is a minor civil servant who admires the British he kowtows to, but Cecily despises them. When the chance comes to act as a spy for the Japanese, she does so, with her goal an Asia for Asians. She cannot fathom that the Japanese will be a crueler occupier than the British.
Malaya, 1945. On his fifteenth birthday, Cecily’s only son is abducted and taken to a brutal Japanese labor camp. After having to hide, day after day, in a cellar to avoid lecherous Japanese soldiers, Cecily’s younger daughter runs away; the family cannot find any trace of her. Having given up her dream of university, Cecily’s older daughter works at a teashop, her small income and tireless care for her dwindling family the only things holding them together. Still, her father’s health fails and her mother grapples with insanity.
Chan’s story of the Japanese occupation of Malaysia and its effect on a single family is extraordinary. Her characters are realistic with guilt, dreams and fears, motivations, loyalties, and failings. Her development of time and place is superb: the staggering heat and humidity, the rain, the mosquitoes, the smell of mint pomade, the disappointment of rice thickened with tapioca to make it go farther, the stick and stink of an unwashed kitchen floor. The fear and grief, the anger and despair of this family are tangible. The disasters possible at the dawn of each day keep the reader on edge. History says that soon the Japanese will be forced out of Malaysia, but which members of this family will survive? Chan shows that the casualties of war are not always the soldiers. Highly recommended.
