The Storm We Made, Vanessa Chan, author; Samantha Tan, narrator
This novel is very loosely based on the stories the author heard from her own family about her ancestors in Malaya. It exposes a brief period of its history from the time it was a British colony to the time of the Japanese invasion and then to its liberation by the British. In 1957, however, Malaya gained its independence, and in 1963, it became known as Malaysia.
In this novel, many human frailties and qualities are explored. Friendship, love, temptation, fidelity, the consequences for actions and the need for vengeance and retribution are chief among them. These themes are pushed to their limits regarding nationalism, family values, class and race distinction. To this end, we are introduced to the Alcantaras, Cecily and her children, Jujube, the eldest, Abel, the middle child and only son, and Jasmin, the youngest daughter. As this story travels back and forth from the mid nineteen-thirties to the mid nineteen-forties, it is focused on Cecily, the wife of a mid-level government employee. Cecily is Eurasian. She is very class conscious and considers herself “almost white”. She looks down upon those who are not like her. Yet, she resents the way the actual Brits look down upon her.
Each of Cecily’s three children tells a different part of the story. Each one relates life experiences that are very hard and often violent, also always sad. Fear and danger always appear to be present, though they are not always aware of it. Each character makes choices which are not well thought out and may have dreadful consequences. Each is a little selfish, though the younger children may be given more leeway in the reader’s judgment of their behavior. They are still learning and maturing.
Although Cecily lives well, she is dissatisfied; she wants more out of life. She wants to feel important and proud of some kind of achievement. This makes her very vulnerable to the charm of General Fujiwara, a Japanese spymaster, who makes her feel noticed. She is totally smitten with him and is willing to help him and the Japanese make Malaya “Asia for Asians”. She secretly becomes a spy and a traitor. Since she has access to her husband’s work, she decides to pass this information on to General Fujiwara, betraying him and placing him in great danger. If she is discovered, he will surely be suspected of supporting her efforts, or even of being the one who is guilty, while she escapes detection. Her information aids the Japanese troops and endangers the British troops, influencing the successful progress of the Japanese invaders. She is a collaborator. Her only friend is Lina, a woman whose husband she had betrayed with her silence. Lina, a bit naïve and kind, does not know that and trusts Cecily completely. It is hard to understand Cecily’s selfish behavior or how she can live with herself with the kind of things she has done to please the General. She often retreats to her bedroom for extended periods of time to escape from her thoughts.
Jujube works in a tea shop and has to interact with the Japanese men who come into the store. She develops a strong dislike for most of them. She does befriend one man, Mr. Takahashi, who corresponds with his daughter Ichika, who is in Japan. She is often jealous of his relationship with his child. Ichika’s life seems to be improving while Jujube’s life is deteriorating. She wants revenge, but will she act on her emotions?
Jasmin is only seven years old. Jujube keeps her hidden so that she will not be taken to the comfort station, located behind the welcome sign. Many of the young girls are turned into prostitutes, used by the Japanese men, regardless of their age and innocence. By coincidence, Jasmin has met Yuki, and they are best friends, but Yuki lives in the comfort station and is often mistreated and abused. Their relationship is closer than anyone suspects.
Fifteen-year-old Abel disappears. He has been kidnapped like so many other young boys. He is taken to a camp where he is beaten and his spirit is broken. There he meets Freddie, a boy who only has memories. He draws pictures of the people of his memories on scraps of toilet paper. They are an odd couple, but they become fast friends. Freddie is aloof. Abel is timid. Freddie pushes Abel to be strong, but when he becomes violent and does unthinkable things to the man who has done unthinkable things to him, he begins to drink to forget what he has done. Abel cannot escape from his mind.
Each of these characters is pushed to the end of their rope, and each reacts in a different way. Will any find redemption? I sincerely hope that Cecily is not typical of many of the women in Malaya. Her sexual drive, selfish need for acceptance, and emotional breakdowns seem to indicate that she is often irrational. She is driven by base instincts rather than her maternal instincts and is disloyal, above all, until she can no longer excuse her own reprehensible behavior.
Many of the Malayans seemed blinded by the outward politeness of the Japanese, while offended by the elitism of the British. Perhaps this is the reason people make poor choices. Perhaps they are naïve and easily swayed by emotion and desire, rather than rational thought and common sense. Cecily’s choices were the reason for so much pain and suffering, and yet, she believed she was doing something good for Malaya, making it Asia for the Asians, making a place where she would look and feel like the winner.
The story is dark, difficult to read since the violence and sadness is relentless. In addition, I found the vulgar language off-putting and wasn’t sure why the author chose to use it. It didn’t’ make it more authentic for me. I realize that war and the occupation were horrendous, but I searched for a moment when there was calm and contentment and never found one. Even after the occupation ended, and what little was left of the family tried to recover, there was never a moment of closure. The discontent that grew and raged in each character, even the most innocent child, seemed to rage on. The decisions and choices seemed headstrong and impulsive, and the behavior seemed irrational in too many instances.
I continued to read because the history was interesting and it was about a place I had not known much about before. Still, the selfish behavior of some of the characters was very disturbing and because it never let up, it felt like arrogance and schadenfreude was far too alive and well in both, those least educated and those most elite. I found myself hoping that none of the character were truly related to the author, except perhaps Jujube or Lina. The children were placed in untenable positions by the adults who should have known better. The timeline was confusing as the story jumped back and forth from character to character and the 1930’s to the 1940’s, and the author used poetic license liberally regarding the historical facts. Still, without the novel, I would not have been encouraged to look further into the history of Malaya to Malaysia, so the book served a worthy purpose. It also definitely illustrated the cruelty of war, the deprivation for the citizens, and the suffering and scars that the survivors were left with that would not go away, even after they were liberated. Every character loved someone that altered the course of their lives. In the end, however, it was Cecily’s poor decisions that were the catalysts that led to the disastrous consequences, but without the war, would her decisions have been as disastrous?