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What Storm, What Thunder
At the end of a long, sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster—Richard, an expat and wealthy water-bottling executive with a secret daughter; the daughter, Anne, an architect who drafts affordable housing structures for a global NGO; a small-time drug trafficker, Leopold, who pines for a beautiful call girl; Sonia and her business partner, Dieudonné, who are followed by a man they believe is the vodou spirit of death; Didier, an emigrant musician who drives a taxi in Boston; Sara, a mother haunted by the ghosts of her children in an IDP camp; her husband, Olivier, an accountant forced to abandon the wife he loves; their son, Jonas, who haunts them both; and Ma Lou, the old woman selling produce in the market who remembers them all. Artfully weaving together these lives, witness is given to the desolation wreaked by nature and by man.
Brilliantly crafted, fiercely imagined, and deeply haunting, What Storm, What Thunder is a singular, stunning record, a reckoning of the heartbreaking trauma of disaster, and—at the same time—an unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit.
Brilliantly crafted, fiercely imagined, and deeply haunting, What Storm, What Thunder is a singular, stunning record, a reckoning of the heartbreaking trauma of disaster, and—at the same time—an unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit.
313 pages, Hardcover
First published September 14, 2021
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December 20, 2021
The author said, This novel is dedicated to the 250,000 to 300,000 individuals estimated to have perished in January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.
When you pick up a book and this is the dedication you know you are in for an emotional, moving, tender and brutal read. That is what you are in when you pick up What Storm, What Thunder /
Told from the perspectives of different characters living and working in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shook. The author takes us into the deepest part of their lives as they experience this disaster and how they try to rebuild what is left of their lives. The story is written from the POVs of over eight persons, while we hear about them, they also tell us about the other characters we’ve heard from. Myriam Chancy masterfully relates what is happen before, during and after the earthquake. I could not put down this novel.
It took a whole week and a half for me to write this review because no words can describe what it is like reading this book. I love Haiti, I love how their history impacts world history and my heart breaks for how as a country they do not get the respect they deserve. I wish I could read every piece of Haitian literature…. So here we are.
When I read the blurb that this book would be written about the disastrous earthquake, I knew I had to read it. I also knew it would be a very hard read. Aside from a story in Edwidge Danticat Everything Inside I cannot remember reading about the earthquake in contemporary fiction. I was ALL for it. I also feel like nothing could prepare me for the read.
I think the author did such an amazing job in telling these stories with care. It was never trauma porn. We hear from a Old vendor who works in the market, her only son who is now an expat left and never contacted her, her granddaughter who works for an NGO, a Trinidadian drug pusher, a Haitian musician living in Boston and a mother who lost all her children. We get their back story, where they were, how they ended up in Haiti… and what happens during the earthquake.
A well crafted beautiful book that EVERYONE should read.
When you pick up a book and this is the dedication you know you are in for an emotional, moving, tender and brutal read. That is what you are in when you pick up What Storm, What Thunder /
Told from the perspectives of different characters living and working in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shook. The author takes us into the deepest part of their lives as they experience this disaster and how they try to rebuild what is left of their lives. The story is written from the POVs of over eight persons, while we hear about them, they also tell us about the other characters we’ve heard from. Myriam Chancy masterfully relates what is happen before, during and after the earthquake. I could not put down this novel.
It took a whole week and a half for me to write this review because no words can describe what it is like reading this book. I love Haiti, I love how their history impacts world history and my heart breaks for how as a country they do not get the respect they deserve. I wish I could read every piece of Haitian literature…. So here we are.
When I read the blurb that this book would be written about the disastrous earthquake, I knew I had to read it. I also knew it would be a very hard read. Aside from a story in Edwidge Danticat Everything Inside I cannot remember reading about the earthquake in contemporary fiction. I was ALL for it. I also feel like nothing could prepare me for the read.
I think the author did such an amazing job in telling these stories with care. It was never trauma porn. We hear from a Old vendor who works in the market, her only son who is now an expat left and never contacted her, her granddaughter who works for an NGO, a Trinidadian drug pusher, a Haitian musician living in Boston and a mother who lost all her children. We get their back story, where they were, how they ended up in Haiti… and what happens during the earthquake.
A well crafted beautiful book that EVERYONE should read.
December 6, 2021
On Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake that killed 300,000 and left millions destitute. I recall that earthquake and remember feeling very terrible for those poor people. Author Myriam J.A. Chancy has created an impressive novel that illuminates how that event crushed the souls of Haitians.
That event is akin to the USA’s 9/11. All Haitians remember exactly what they were doing and where they were when the earthquake hit or when they heard of the earthquake. Those who lived in Haiti are still haunted. Chancy tells that story through ten people. Each character’s story shows the levels of grief and tragedy endured from “the Event”. Some of the characters are interconnected. Chancy also includes Haitians living abroad and how their horror was multiplied by not being able to contact anyone in Haiti: are my friends and family alive? Are they hurt?
The first story, for me, was emotionally shattering: a mother who witnesses her two girls consumed by the earth and her little boy crushed. Her husband has left her, and she is alone, mourning with such force that your heart breaks. She is left alone in the dangerous displaced-person’s camp. Another character in this camp is a 15-year-old girl who hides from the packs of pillaging boys and men. Rape is frequent.
Chancy weaves other characters in the story in differing layers of desperation. I was crushed while listening to the audio of this story. Ella Turenne narrates the story with emotion. If I have one quibble, it’s that she used her voice for male characters’ thoughts. If they spoke, she used a male voice, but their inner musings were her own.
I strongly recommend this story, either in written form or the audio. That said, I wished I would have read it since I am more of a visual learner. Chancy’s prose are beautiful. This story illuminated the devastating impact that continues to ravage Haiti.
That event is akin to the USA’s 9/11. All Haitians remember exactly what they were doing and where they were when the earthquake hit or when they heard of the earthquake. Those who lived in Haiti are still haunted. Chancy tells that story through ten people. Each character’s story shows the levels of grief and tragedy endured from “the Event”. Some of the characters are interconnected. Chancy also includes Haitians living abroad and how their horror was multiplied by not being able to contact anyone in Haiti: are my friends and family alive? Are they hurt?
The first story, for me, was emotionally shattering: a mother who witnesses her two girls consumed by the earth and her little boy crushed. Her husband has left her, and she is alone, mourning with such force that your heart breaks. She is left alone in the dangerous displaced-person’s camp. Another character in this camp is a 15-year-old girl who hides from the packs of pillaging boys and men. Rape is frequent.
Chancy weaves other characters in the story in differing layers of desperation. I was crushed while listening to the audio of this story. Ella Turenne narrates the story with emotion. If I have one quibble, it’s that she used her voice for male characters’ thoughts. If they spoke, she used a male voice, but their inner musings were her own.
I strongly recommend this story, either in written form or the audio. That said, I wished I would have read it since I am more of a visual learner. Chancy’s prose are beautiful. This story illuminated the devastating impact that continues to ravage Haiti.
October 21, 2021
Audiobook… narrated by
Ella Turenne
….11 hours
Pulled me in instantly!!!
The audio experience is outstanding. The prose - English - was mixed with a little Haitian Creole … the main language of Haiti.
The voice narrator, Ella Turenne’s dialect of Creole language was ‘gorgeous’!!!
The ‘story’ is crushingly heavyhearted….but it was impossible not to be captured by how impressive and lovely the language was being delivered.
The characters and stories of those who survived this ‘nightmare hurricane’, demonstrated courage and offered to help everyone.
Every man - woman - and child - were united- together.
Their spirits were rooted in love - customs - and more love.
Beautiful tribute to those who lived - survived - suffered - fought back - took actions - and dared to keep dreaming for a better life.
Ella Turenne
….11 hours
Pulled me in instantly!!!
The audio experience is outstanding. The prose - English - was mixed with a little Haitian Creole … the main language of Haiti.
The voice narrator, Ella Turenne’s dialect of Creole language was ‘gorgeous’!!!
The ‘story’ is crushingly heavyhearted….but it was impossible not to be captured by how impressive and lovely the language was being delivered.
The characters and stories of those who survived this ‘nightmare hurricane’, demonstrated courage and offered to help everyone.
Every man - woman - and child - were united- together.
Their spirits were rooted in love - customs - and more love.
Beautiful tribute to those who lived - survived - suffered - fought back - took actions - and dared to keep dreaming for a better life.
November 12, 2021
An intense, concentrated reading experience, this novel links ten people and their experiences during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Chancy provides a window into a culture and nation through their shared losses. Each person is distinct and memorable, with some characters appearing in other stories - as a brother or friend, father or daughter until there is a sense of familiarity mixed with the horror and desperation. Unforgettable.
October 8, 2021
In a Nutshell: This would have been a fabulous book had I chosen to read it than hear it.
In 2010, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hit near Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. With the epicentre just some kilometres away from the capital, multiple aftershocks, a resultant localised tsunami, and an overcrowded and impoverished country, the devastation was intense with three million people affected and at least 150000 thousand dead.
Author Miriam Chancy brings us the fictional stories of various characters affected by this factual disaster. All the stories are written as the individual’s narrative of his/her life in general, and the impact of the earthquake on them. The characters come from various social backgrounds, lending a greater diversity to their experiences. Some narratives are in first person, the rest in third person. Some begin with the earthquake itself, some others end with the earthquake. Some are stuck in an emotional impasse from the aftermath, some others look at the future with hope, like a phoenix waiting to rise from the ashes.
All the stories intersect partly in their characters. So at the start, it will take you a bit of time to know the various names, but as the links establish and re-establish themselves, the depth of the impact increases. The structuring of the book is thus impeccable. Unlike what you would imagine, it doesn’t become depressing, though there are many hard-hitting scenes. What I appreciate most is that there was no trauma porn or misery porn. There’s a greater undertone of poignancy than pessimism, a greater importance to experience than exaggeration.
Even beyond the earthquake, the book provides a great glimpse into Haitian life, culture and beliefs. Even though some of the characters are expats, their stories are interwoven strongly with their Haitian background. My favourites were the tales of Richard (a businessman dealing in water bottling, bonus points for the mention of farmer suicides in India) and Didier (a dog-loving cab driver in Boston.)
Why then my lower rating?
Because of the audiobook. Though the narrator was pretty good, the audio version failed me because of these reasons:
All in all, I can feel that this was a great piece of writing. And I am sure it would have worked better for me had I been reading it. As an audiobook, I can only rate it a 3. As a book, it deserves at least a 4. (A more precise rating would be possible only when I actually read it.) So I’ll just mark it as a 3.5 for now. Do give it a try if you are looking for a very unusual anthology, but remember… read it.
My thanks to Orange Sky Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
***********************
Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever! , for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.
In 2010, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hit near Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. With the epicentre just some kilometres away from the capital, multiple aftershocks, a resultant localised tsunami, and an overcrowded and impoverished country, the devastation was intense with three million people affected and at least 150000 thousand dead.
Author Miriam Chancy brings us the fictional stories of various characters affected by this factual disaster. All the stories are written as the individual’s narrative of his/her life in general, and the impact of the earthquake on them. The characters come from various social backgrounds, lending a greater diversity to their experiences. Some narratives are in first person, the rest in third person. Some begin with the earthquake itself, some others end with the earthquake. Some are stuck in an emotional impasse from the aftermath, some others look at the future with hope, like a phoenix waiting to rise from the ashes.
All the stories intersect partly in their characters. So at the start, it will take you a bit of time to know the various names, but as the links establish and re-establish themselves, the depth of the impact increases. The structuring of the book is thus impeccable. Unlike what you would imagine, it doesn’t become depressing, though there are many hard-hitting scenes. What I appreciate most is that there was no trauma porn or misery porn. There’s a greater undertone of poignancy than pessimism, a greater importance to experience than exaggeration.
Even beyond the earthquake, the book provides a great glimpse into Haitian life, culture and beliefs. Even though some of the characters are expats, their stories are interwoven strongly with their Haitian background. My favourites were the tales of Richard (a businessman dealing in water bottling, bonus points for the mention of farmer suicides in India) and Didier (a dog-loving cab driver in Boston.)
Why then my lower rating?
Because of the audiobook. Though the narrator was pretty good, the audio version failed me because of these reasons:
👉 Each chapter contained one character perspective, which was anywhere between 1 to 2 hours long. So taking a break in between chapters was tedious, especially if a narrative had just begun. Pausing midway broke the emotional connect and the comprehensional flow.
👉 Because of the multiple characters, it took me a bit of time to get into the narrative. The start especially felt very muddled up.
👉 Every character is voiced by the same narrator. This becomes very confusing when there is the first person narrative for a male character and you keep hearing the female voice. Having multiple narrators (one for each character), or at least having one male and one female narrator matching the gender of the characters, would have worked far better for me.
All in all, I can feel that this was a great piece of writing. And I am sure it would have worked better for me had I been reading it. As an audiobook, I can only rate it a 3. As a book, it deserves at least a 4. (A more precise rating would be possible only when I actually read it.) So I’ll just mark it as a 3.5 for now. Do give it a try if you are looking for a very unusual anthology, but remember… read it.
My thanks to Orange Sky Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
***********************
Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever! , for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.
March 3, 2022
"At least 250,000 people died and only their closest relatives and friends remembered who they might have been; they could not be recovered, not even their names.”
Myriam J. A. Chancy's What Storm, What Thunder is a heartbreaking yet powerful work of fiction that revolves around the 7.0 magnitude 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti and left 250,000-300000 dead and many injured and homeless.
The story is told through ten voices - ten individuals from different walks of life who lives are impacted by the ‘Douz/Douze’ as the locals refer to the earthquake. Eight of these people were in Port-au-Prince when the natural disaster occurred and two have family there but were not living there when the event occurred. The author gives us a glimpse of life before, during and after the quake.
“Douz: when something terrible happens to you, it feels like a dream at first. Not until the pain and the panic settle does it seem real.”
Different settings are used to tell the story - the marketplace in Port-au-Prince , a swanky hotel frequented by the affluent and those they do business with, the IDP camp where those displaced face other hardships and atrocities within the ‘tented city’ and the outskirts where displaced people are being relocated for employment .
We also get a glimpse into the heartache and despair felt by those who did not witness the death and destruction firsthand but whose roots and family remain in Haiti .
“There is no before, no way to think before. There is only the not knowing of how to put the before together with the now. Before is a distant memory. I am still waiting to hear from those I loved, before. Waiting to hear if I can say I love, still, or if everything will remain past tense, what it was: no beyond, no goodbyes: simply after.”
Haiti’s earthquake and its devastating effects on human life is not any easy story to tell, even in fiction. But the author has exercised considerable care and restraint while crafting the stories that make this novel, remaining as true to fact that fiction allows without unnecessary embellishment. While incidents of death, trauma and sexual assault are hard to read it is commendable that the author has not gone overboard in graphic detail .
It is difficult to not be affected when you read What Storm, What Thunder. I had to take my time reading it and took breaks from the book in-between . A beautifully penned novel, Myriam J. A. Chancy's What Storm, What Thunder leaves you with a heavy heart.
Myriam J. A. Chancy's What Storm, What Thunder is a heartbreaking yet powerful work of fiction that revolves around the 7.0 magnitude 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti and left 250,000-300000 dead and many injured and homeless.
The story is told through ten voices - ten individuals from different walks of life who lives are impacted by the ‘Douz/Douze’ as the locals refer to the earthquake. Eight of these people were in Port-au-Prince when the natural disaster occurred and two have family there but were not living there when the event occurred. The author gives us a glimpse of life before, during and after the quake.
“Douz: when something terrible happens to you, it feels like a dream at first. Not until the pain and the panic settle does it seem real.”
Different settings are used to tell the story - the marketplace in Port-au-Prince , a swanky hotel frequented by the affluent and those they do business with, the IDP camp where those displaced face other hardships and atrocities within the ‘tented city’ and the outskirts where displaced people are being relocated for employment .
We also get a glimpse into the heartache and despair felt by those who did not witness the death and destruction firsthand but whose roots and family remain in Haiti .
“There is no before, no way to think before. There is only the not knowing of how to put the before together with the now. Before is a distant memory. I am still waiting to hear from those I loved, before. Waiting to hear if I can say I love, still, or if everything will remain past tense, what it was: no beyond, no goodbyes: simply after.”
Haiti’s earthquake and its devastating effects on human life is not any easy story to tell, even in fiction. But the author has exercised considerable care and restraint while crafting the stories that make this novel, remaining as true to fact that fiction allows without unnecessary embellishment. While incidents of death, trauma and sexual assault are hard to read it is commendable that the author has not gone overboard in graphic detail .
It is difficult to not be affected when you read What Storm, What Thunder. I had to take my time reading it and took breaks from the book in-between . A beautifully penned novel, Myriam J. A. Chancy's What Storm, What Thunder leaves you with a heavy heart.
June 30, 2022
A memorable collection of voices amidst not only destruction, but compassion and healing. Tackling the emotional, physical, and interpersonal wounds inflicted by natural disaster, poverty, grief, our cast of characters are striking, expressive, and real in the most important ways.
December 12, 2021
An earthquake in 2010 killed hundreds of thousands of Haitians. This book describes the impact of the earthquake from the points of view of 10 people, some of whom were in Haiti at the time and some were not. The lives of the characters were interwoven and the non-linear story jumped around among them. At times it was very moving and disturbing - the enormous number of deaths, the struggle to survive in tent cities where there was lawlessness, overwhelming feelings of helplessness.
Although Ella Turenne did an excellent job narrating the audiobook, there were too many characters for me to keep track of. Maybe if I had been able to see their names I would have had an easier time. I am also not a huge fan of non linear structures. Despite the fact that I wasn’t crazy about the way the material was organized, I thought the book was very good and I would read this author again.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.
Although Ella Turenne did an excellent job narrating the audiobook, there were too many characters for me to keep track of. Maybe if I had been able to see their names I would have had an easier time. I am also not a huge fan of non linear structures. Despite the fact that I wasn’t crazy about the way the material was organized, I thought the book was very good and I would read this author again.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.
April 16, 2024
What Storm, What Thunder follows a group of people impacted by the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists the following official estimates from the earthquake: 222,570 people killed, 300,000 injured, 1.3 million displaced.
Most of the characters in this story live in Haiti with a few who don’t but have family remaining there. The story is not light or happy — It’s intense, filled with loss, regret, fear, and more. It’s truly sad yet also moving, highlighting the strength and tenacity of people.
I listened to most of What Storm, What Thunder on audio and while the narrator was good, given the volume of characters, it was definitely helpful to have a copy of the book too, to refer to while listening.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists the following official estimates from the earthquake: 222,570 people killed, 300,000 injured, 1.3 million displaced.
Most of the characters in this story live in Haiti with a few who don’t but have family remaining there. The story is not light or happy — It’s intense, filled with loss, regret, fear, and more. It’s truly sad yet also moving, highlighting the strength and tenacity of people.
I listened to most of What Storm, What Thunder on audio and while the narrator was good, given the volume of characters, it was definitely helpful to have a copy of the book too, to refer to while listening.
December 12, 2021
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The way this story is told kind of reminds me of this movie called The Laundromat. WHAT STORM, WHAT THUNDER is set in Haiti just before and then just after the big earthquake in 2010. Through multiple POVs, which all intersect neatly like puzzle pieces, we get an understanding of how the disaster affected people who were just trying to live their day-to-day lives, as well as a kind of overview into the working class and the upperclass, the disparity between them, and how the people are coming out of the shadow of their colonialist history and how they are affected by things like colorism and poverty.
Part of the fun for this book was trying to guess how each relationship would lead to the next. Each chapter is a different POV and some of them are written better than others. I think my favorite POV was probably either Richard, Didier, or Anne. The book both opens and closes with Ma Lou, a fruit vendor, who takes everything full circle. One word of advice: if you enjoy being surprised, don't read the blurb on the back of the book or on Goodreads. In describing the characters' roles, it also sort of spoils some of the relationship twists.
I thought WHAT STORM, WHAT THUNDER was beautifully written and it provides an intimate look at a devastating disaster that a dispassionate news anchor can't really express. It's not a happy book but most of the characters are interesting in their way, and I enjoyed getting to know them. I'm giving it a three because the premise began to wear a little thin after a while and not all of the POVs were equally interesting. By the end of the book, I began skimming over the ones I didn't enjoy as much. I was also kind of confused about how Sonia and Dieudonne were allegedly seeing the specter of death and was unsure if that was supposed to be magic-realism or not. It was very strange.
Overall, though, this is a really good book and I'll be looking for more from this author.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
3 stars
October 7, 2021
Absolute beauty. Chancy has done an exquisite job of rendering the soul of her characters that expressly speak to the spirit of the Haitian people, their resilience, strength, and beauty.
A MUST READ!!!!!
'Douz. When something terrible happens to you, it feels like a dream at first. Not until the pain and panic settle does it seem real'– Taffia
What Storm, What Thunder is a heart read. A representation of the lives of the Haitian people lost in the devastating earthquake of 2010. The care with which Chancy crafts these characters and experiences is a beacon of the intimate bond she has with her country, her homeland; their resilience and spirituality.
At the heart of this novel is connection, the connections of family, friends, and community. A connection to self and country that even when unwanted, even when too harsh, are exactly from where we draw strength.
Created with tenderness, heart, reflection, knowledge, and empathy, these characters and their stories take flight from pages to mind, connecting souls to the indelible that marks our shared humanity.
What Storm, What Thunder is what depth, what meaning, what beauty even in the sadness, loss, violence, and survival you get when an author is steeped in the country and people she writes.
This book must be read. These stories should be cherished.
A MUST READ!!!!!
'Douz. When something terrible happens to you, it feels like a dream at first. Not until the pain and panic settle does it seem real'– Taffia
What Storm, What Thunder is a heart read. A representation of the lives of the Haitian people lost in the devastating earthquake of 2010. The care with which Chancy crafts these characters and experiences is a beacon of the intimate bond she has with her country, her homeland; their resilience and spirituality.
At the heart of this novel is connection, the connections of family, friends, and community. A connection to self and country that even when unwanted, even when too harsh, are exactly from where we draw strength.
Created with tenderness, heart, reflection, knowledge, and empathy, these characters and their stories take flight from pages to mind, connecting souls to the indelible that marks our shared humanity.
What Storm, What Thunder is what depth, what meaning, what beauty even in the sadness, loss, violence, and survival you get when an author is steeped in the country and people she writes.
This book must be read. These stories should be cherished.
March 4, 2022
When I set out to read this one, I wasn't sure I would stick with it. The story is told from multiple perspectives and in different timelines, but the focus is the earthquake that rocked Haiti in January of 2010. I thought the differing perspectives would make the narrative disjointed, but the story flowed with a throughline.
The voices are complicated and honest. We vacillate between the marketplace in Port Au Prince, a swanky hotel, a camp set up in the aftermath of this devastating event. I liked that we get the moments before and the after the earthquake.
In the end, there is redemption in resilience.
The voices are complicated and honest. We vacillate between the marketplace in Port Au Prince, a swanky hotel, a camp set up in the aftermath of this devastating event. I liked that we get the moments before and the after the earthquake.
In the end, there is redemption in resilience.
October 16, 2021
Less story and more of a fictionalized "first hand account" of people in Haiti. Each chapter is very long and I had a hard time remembering the characters and how they were all entwined. It took me a lot longer to read and I often didn't really know what was happening because of the way the chapters only somewhat connected. Almost had a short story feel to it because each chapter was about 40 pages.
Shelved as 'abandoned-dnf'
June 5, 2024DNF @ 9% - the voodoo stuff just didn't work for me.
October 17, 2021
There are some books you read that strike you at your core, opening your eyes to a situation that you sympathized with but never clearly grasped. As the saying goes, you can never truly understand unless you have been in the same shoes. Ironically this book follows the horrid earthquake of 2010, while meanwhile the citizens of Haiti have just experienced another grim deadly episode that has completely disrupted their lives and economy. I found myself head over heals with this brilliantly created expose of what REALLY happens to the inhabitants when disaster strikes. Told through a number of voices, its emotional power had an extraordinary effect on me through its craftsmanship , and its powerful prose depicting the agonizing shock and suffering from this calamity. Yet, not to scare you , it also shines a light on the resilience of people in times of disaster. These voices are not for the faint of heart, but they demand to be heard. I would read this heartbreaking novel again and again. If you really want to put yourselves in someone else's shoes, this book is a MUST.
January 1, 2022
It’s hard to critique a book like this just because of the scope of what it’s trying to do. Technically, it’s a novel- I think it’s sort of what’s called a composite novel featuring short stories of various individuals from a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, who were affected by the devastating 2010 earthquakes in Haiti. The characters are loosely linked or related but also have vastly different story trajectories. But even though it’s this sort of story cycle format, the author’s editorial voice is still very much front and centre as an omniscient observer, providing social commentary and critiques about reactions to the disaster that the characters might not have been privy to (e.g. CNN coverage and international press) as well as historical precedence for racial capitalism and capitalist imperialism that exacerbated the impact of the earthquake.
The book features quite a few characters whose lives around the earthquake (whether they make it or not) we get to observe in a sort of short slice of life format. There’s Sonia and Dieudonné who are queer outsiders but who have strategically leveraged on their physical appearances to gain some power within their circumstances. There’s Sonia’s complex family situation with an alcoholic father, her mother and her siblings- Didier, Taffia and Paul- all of whom have suffered some trauma of existing as Black Haitians before and after the earthquake. There’s Ma Lou, Dieudonné’s aunt from whom they buy foodstuff at the market and her estranged son, Richard, who is now a big shot in France with a white wife, but whose family implodes when secrets of his past in Haiti come into the open. And then there’s the little boy, Jonas, who runs errands for Ma Lou, and who comes from an incredibly loving but poor family with his two sisters and his parents Sara and Olivier who are terribly in love.
As one can expect with this subject matter, this is a book about loss- so, it is not one that is hopeful or especially healing, but then when an estimated 250,000 people were lost in the Earthquake, there’s no getting over that, no pat resolution… certainly not in 300 pages of literature. The themes that come through are obviously grief and trauma-centred, but because of the author’s strong voice in this, a lot of the stories were wrapped in social commentary on coloniality and colonialism and capitalism, failed humanitarianism and a sort of necropolitics that didn’t really care about the survival of the Haitian people post-Earthquake. In addition to the loss of lives and the loss of children and generations of changemakers and activists, the loss of innocence and the loss of (Western) faith were significant themes. Two of the more introspective younger male characters, Didier and Olivier, also have a lot of introspection around the idea of whiteness as property (a Cheryl Harris concept perfectly summarized by these two men’s reflections) that either confers privilege and value and worthiness to live or as an elimination of Black identity, autonomy and personhood. This latter viewpoint comes from Olivier, who feels emasculated by his powerlessness in the face of the trauma and by his experience at a northern work camp and explores whiteness and hopelessness similarly to Didier, looking at it not as privilege but as condemnation, colorlessness, zombification, and giving in to becoming a dehumanized tool for another’s wealth.
To me, this book sometimes seemed to forget that it is fiction and frequently read almost like academic text when it abandons storytelling for dropping statistics and facts- this is not a bad thing, but it often feels like two separate projects- a novel memorialising those affected by the Earthquake and a historical and contemporary critique of Haitian society and Western imperialism. This does make absolute sense in the context of this book which is more or less a fictional biography of what happened in the 2010 Haitian Earthquake. The author in the Afterward discusses how this book is based on many stories told to her by Haitians on the island and in the diaspora in the aftermath of the earthquake and defines her standpoint for telling this story the way she did.
One thing that was a little sad for me was getting involved in people’s stories and not really knowing what became of them because we get such slice of life pieces of them in this book. But that’s absolutely fitting in a book about circumstances that were abrupt, shocking, providing no closure, no certainty, no proper endings or answers for so many. That we’re left somewhat adrift and somewhat broken still is but a fraction of what the characters go through. I can’t imagine a scenario where this author could have written this book detached from the events of 2010, without her voice jumping in as it did to propose an ambitious solution of reparation (through Olivier) or to critique philanthropic and charitable responses to Haiti’s earthquake relief and how that cycled back to capitalism and governmentalism (Olivier again). Is having the author’s editorial voice so strongly in a novel, my specific taste? No, but I can’t see how else this could have gone for this scale of disaster and trauma and injustice. The peripatetic nature of going through so many different characters at so many different moments is also not typically to my taste, but I think it makes the story richer in experiences that cross age, sex, class, and identity lines. I suppose taste-wise, I would have liked perhaps more of an in-depth focus/story on a fewer amount of central characters, but I appreciate the author presented the book the way she wanted and it was effective in showing the diversity of experience and analyzing the context.
Overall, this is a desperately sad and traumatic book that I can imagine doesn’t even begin to approach the levels of what Haitian people went through (and are going through) before and after the Earthquake. The author conveys in this book the hopelessness and loss people felt before, during and after the earthquake, and the fact that the answer to this hopelessness perhaps lies not to the “West,” and in modern views of “building back better” as if there’s some silver lining in this tragedy, but in old ways of healing and community and fighting oppression that are ingrained in the history of the island. This is not a book that one “enjoys” because the events described are true and as such very heavy and raw, but it is an important book that one reads so as never to forget those who were lost.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publishers, Tin House, with no obligation to review.
The book features quite a few characters whose lives around the earthquake (whether they make it or not) we get to observe in a sort of short slice of life format. There’s Sonia and Dieudonné who are queer outsiders but who have strategically leveraged on their physical appearances to gain some power within their circumstances. There’s Sonia’s complex family situation with an alcoholic father, her mother and her siblings- Didier, Taffia and Paul- all of whom have suffered some trauma of existing as Black Haitians before and after the earthquake. There’s Ma Lou, Dieudonné’s aunt from whom they buy foodstuff at the market and her estranged son, Richard, who is now a big shot in France with a white wife, but whose family implodes when secrets of his past in Haiti come into the open. And then there’s the little boy, Jonas, who runs errands for Ma Lou, and who comes from an incredibly loving but poor family with his two sisters and his parents Sara and Olivier who are terribly in love.
As one can expect with this subject matter, this is a book about loss- so, it is not one that is hopeful or especially healing, but then when an estimated 250,000 people were lost in the Earthquake, there’s no getting over that, no pat resolution… certainly not in 300 pages of literature. The themes that come through are obviously grief and trauma-centred, but because of the author’s strong voice in this, a lot of the stories were wrapped in social commentary on coloniality and colonialism and capitalism, failed humanitarianism and a sort of necropolitics that didn’t really care about the survival of the Haitian people post-Earthquake. In addition to the loss of lives and the loss of children and generations of changemakers and activists, the loss of innocence and the loss of (Western) faith were significant themes. Two of the more introspective younger male characters, Didier and Olivier, also have a lot of introspection around the idea of whiteness as property (a Cheryl Harris concept perfectly summarized by these two men’s reflections) that either confers privilege and value and worthiness to live or as an elimination of Black identity, autonomy and personhood. This latter viewpoint comes from Olivier, who feels emasculated by his powerlessness in the face of the trauma and by his experience at a northern work camp and explores whiteness and hopelessness similarly to Didier, looking at it not as privilege but as condemnation, colorlessness, zombification, and giving in to becoming a dehumanized tool for another’s wealth.
To me, this book sometimes seemed to forget that it is fiction and frequently read almost like academic text when it abandons storytelling for dropping statistics and facts- this is not a bad thing, but it often feels like two separate projects- a novel memorialising those affected by the Earthquake and a historical and contemporary critique of Haitian society and Western imperialism. This does make absolute sense in the context of this book which is more or less a fictional biography of what happened in the 2010 Haitian Earthquake. The author in the Afterward discusses how this book is based on many stories told to her by Haitians on the island and in the diaspora in the aftermath of the earthquake and defines her standpoint for telling this story the way she did.
One thing that was a little sad for me was getting involved in people’s stories and not really knowing what became of them because we get such slice of life pieces of them in this book. But that’s absolutely fitting in a book about circumstances that were abrupt, shocking, providing no closure, no certainty, no proper endings or answers for so many. That we’re left somewhat adrift and somewhat broken still is but a fraction of what the characters go through. I can’t imagine a scenario where this author could have written this book detached from the events of 2010, without her voice jumping in as it did to propose an ambitious solution of reparation (through Olivier) or to critique philanthropic and charitable responses to Haiti’s earthquake relief and how that cycled back to capitalism and governmentalism (Olivier again). Is having the author’s editorial voice so strongly in a novel, my specific taste? No, but I can’t see how else this could have gone for this scale of disaster and trauma and injustice. The peripatetic nature of going through so many different characters at so many different moments is also not typically to my taste, but I think it makes the story richer in experiences that cross age, sex, class, and identity lines. I suppose taste-wise, I would have liked perhaps more of an in-depth focus/story on a fewer amount of central characters, but I appreciate the author presented the book the way she wanted and it was effective in showing the diversity of experience and analyzing the context.
Overall, this is a desperately sad and traumatic book that I can imagine doesn’t even begin to approach the levels of what Haitian people went through (and are going through) before and after the Earthquake. The author conveys in this book the hopelessness and loss people felt before, during and after the earthquake, and the fact that the answer to this hopelessness perhaps lies not to the “West,” and in modern views of “building back better” as if there’s some silver lining in this tragedy, but in old ways of healing and community and fighting oppression that are ingrained in the history of the island. This is not a book that one “enjoys” because the events described are true and as such very heavy and raw, but it is an important book that one reads so as never to forget those who were lost.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publishers, Tin House, with no obligation to review.
July 18, 2021
Growing up, my mom always told me that the "classics" of literature are still read and loved decades or centuries after they were written because they hit on themes that are common to all humanity. It's why we still read Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, and Joseph Conrad, even though their stories and settings are so different from our modern world. I am a prolific reader - I've read books that I enjoyed, that impressed me, that even stunned me. But halfway through this book, I thought for the first time - "this book should be a classic."
I could call this book a masterpiece, but that would be an understatement. The subject matter of the 2010 earthquake - the before, during, and after - is a heavy enough topic to explore on his own, but Myriam J. A. Chancy does not stop there. She pushes forward to explore loss, grief, colonialism, religion, children, sex, money, greed, family, trauma, and more subjects with unparalleled beauty. Using the voices and perspectives of different characters, she crafts a multifaceted story as she weaves the pieces together masterfully. This is a book about the earthquake - and so much more. This is a book with themes that will endure to all readers.
I know this review may seem hard to believe, but I have truly never written a review like this before. I will be recommending this book to everyone.
I could call this book a masterpiece, but that would be an understatement. The subject matter of the 2010 earthquake - the before, during, and after - is a heavy enough topic to explore on his own, but Myriam J. A. Chancy does not stop there. She pushes forward to explore loss, grief, colonialism, religion, children, sex, money, greed, family, trauma, and more subjects with unparalleled beauty. Using the voices and perspectives of different characters, she crafts a multifaceted story as she weaves the pieces together masterfully. This is a book about the earthquake - and so much more. This is a book with themes that will endure to all readers.
I know this review may seem hard to believe, but I have truly never written a review like this before. I will be recommending this book to everyone.
October 18, 2021
What Storm, What Thunder focuses on nine characters and how their lives are upended following a devastating earthquake in Haiti. What follows is a heartbreaking story illustrating the toll the earthquake has taken on these characters.
I generally don’t like multiple POV’s which is why I didn’t rate this higher. That being said, all of the characters are connected and sometimes to find out what happened to one character, it’s vital to read another character’s POV. As with any story with multiple POV’s, there were some characters I connected to more so than others.
Since this book deals with the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake, you can expect a lot of death and sorrow. Reading this in light of current events in Haiti and the US made this a difficult but important read. This might not be a book you want to read in one sitting because it is quite depressing and heavy. But, it’s beautifully written and an important story that demands to be read.
I generally don’t like multiple POV’s which is why I didn’t rate this higher. That being said, all of the characters are connected and sometimes to find out what happened to one character, it’s vital to read another character’s POV. As with any story with multiple POV’s, there were some characters I connected to more so than others.
Since this book deals with the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake, you can expect a lot of death and sorrow. Reading this in light of current events in Haiti and the US made this a difficult but important read. This might not be a book you want to read in one sitting because it is quite depressing and heavy. But, it’s beautifully written and an important story that demands to be read.
October 11, 2021
This ticks a bunch of my boxes: non-linear, multi-POV, central theme. Focusing on the famous Haitian earthquake, the narrative occupies multiple characters at various points before and after the event. Some of them attempt to define what “home” means to them, in the context of being Haitian. Others identity is altered from the event, though they’re on the peripheral. A local who comes to help rebuild creates a meta context for relief efforts and fonds.
All in all, it’s a much more comprehensive result than a single POV, and it ranges in privilege, ethnicity, gender, etc. If you’re going to examine an event like this, this is a great way to do it. It’s compartmentalized. Not sensationalized. Respectful. Seems well researched. It’s a much better structure than, say, having a structure that is only the event unfolding and jumping from character to character to have a sort of disaster movie-esk creation.
It also means that they’re all pretty much short stories, and so vary, as these are want to do. Some I found really interesting and others felt a bit lack lustre. The theme still hits, but it’s in contrast to the stories that really stand out. This is forever my issue with short stories. The nice thing about this one though, is I think it somewhat knows this and so has the through line of the event and overarching themes.
I did listen to it on audio and I found the narrator to be far better than is typical. Some people complained that it’s the same narrator for everyone, so it could be confusing when it changes characters. They’re siloed to each chapter but I suppose it depends how much bandwidth you give your audiobooks. If you pay attention there is no problem. If you’re doing other things, though, I could see how that could happen. Heads up!
The prose felt very natural to the narrator and also above average. Great sense of time and place. Evocative. Active. Good at choosing what is interesting and unique about the locale to communicate to the reader and dispensing with the rest. Worth your time. Even for people who don’t like the short-story-as-novel structure. There’s enough grounding everything together, and no story felt too overlong, even if I wasn’t as into it as another, that it feels like it would appeal to a wide range of readers, imo.
All in all, it’s a much more comprehensive result than a single POV, and it ranges in privilege, ethnicity, gender, etc. If you’re going to examine an event like this, this is a great way to do it. It’s compartmentalized. Not sensationalized. Respectful. Seems well researched. It’s a much better structure than, say, having a structure that is only the event unfolding and jumping from character to character to have a sort of disaster movie-esk creation.
It also means that they’re all pretty much short stories, and so vary, as these are want to do. Some I found really interesting and others felt a bit lack lustre. The theme still hits, but it’s in contrast to the stories that really stand out. This is forever my issue with short stories. The nice thing about this one though, is I think it somewhat knows this and so has the through line of the event and overarching themes.
I did listen to it on audio and I found the narrator to be far better than is typical. Some people complained that it’s the same narrator for everyone, so it could be confusing when it changes characters. They’re siloed to each chapter but I suppose it depends how much bandwidth you give your audiobooks. If you pay attention there is no problem. If you’re doing other things, though, I could see how that could happen. Heads up!
The prose felt very natural to the narrator and also above average. Great sense of time and place. Evocative. Active. Good at choosing what is interesting and unique about the locale to communicate to the reader and dispensing with the rest. Worth your time. Even for people who don’t like the short-story-as-novel structure. There’s enough grounding everything together, and no story felt too overlong, even if I wasn’t as into it as another, that it feels like it would appeal to a wide range of readers, imo.
October 10, 2021
This book will break your heart. It is a heavy read and it is an important one.
October 9, 2021
This was a book that was very hard to read but at the same time very enlightening to learn and know what happen in Haiti, I live in a city where a lot of Haitians have come to seek refugee, and I can attest to how wonderful people they're, very dedicated, very hard working and always with a smile on their face that will make your day even brighter.
What storm, what thunder show us how hard Hati had it after the earthquake, how devastating it was for the whole country, to learn each story just made me cry and felt for them, for many of the refugees that feel lost and need someplace to call home, when your own home and life has been ripped apart in just a few hours. the struggle to find that center again.
what I love about the way this book was written is that even we get to learn many of the stories at some point they get to interconnect and make this wonderful book even more deep and enjoyable. this doesn't mean that it will get any lighter but that will give the story even more deepness and more shape to what was happening with each situation and character.
Definitely, it was not easy to read but very worth it, I feel like I can connect or understand better what was happening especially with each character.
The narrations were good but I really didn't connect much with the narration, Ella Turenne did a great job but somehow I felt a little disconnected. I felt more anger than sadness while listening to the book.
other than that, this was a good book, not an easy one but very enlightening something that will open your eyes to many of the situations we're living in at the present moment.
What storm, what thunder show us how hard Hati had it after the earthquake, how devastating it was for the whole country, to learn each story just made me cry and felt for them, for many of the refugees that feel lost and need someplace to call home, when your own home and life has been ripped apart in just a few hours. the struggle to find that center again.
what I love about the way this book was written is that even we get to learn many of the stories at some point they get to interconnect and make this wonderful book even more deep and enjoyable. this doesn't mean that it will get any lighter but that will give the story even more deepness and more shape to what was happening with each situation and character.
Definitely, it was not easy to read but very worth it, I feel like I can connect or understand better what was happening especially with each character.
The narrations were good but I really didn't connect much with the narration, Ella Turenne did a great job but somehow I felt a little disconnected. I felt more anger than sadness while listening to the book.
other than that, this was a good book, not an easy one but very enlightening something that will open your eyes to many of the situations we're living in at the present moment.
March 28, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜; 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙪𝙢𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙―𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚―𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩.
⛈ I enjoyed this nook for the most part… just not as much as I was expecting to. I loved the premise so much and wanted a bit more out of this story. Some of the characters were easy to connect with but others were not. The writing style was super enjoyable and lyrical.
⛈ I haven’t heard anyone else talk about this book - it definitely needs to be read more and hit the intended audience. I can tell this is a book that deserves so much more hype and I wish it was known to others.
⛈ I had a great time reading this book - it was different than my usual reads but still a great time. I definitely want to read more stories where there’s a natural disaster affecting peoples’ lives - I know this story is inspired on true events and I loved how the author shared it with us. Overall, this was a solid read and I would still recommend it for sure!
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜; 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙪𝙢𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙―𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚―𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩.
⛈ I enjoyed this nook for the most part… just not as much as I was expecting to. I loved the premise so much and wanted a bit more out of this story. Some of the characters were easy to connect with but others were not. The writing style was super enjoyable and lyrical.
⛈ I haven’t heard anyone else talk about this book - it definitely needs to be read more and hit the intended audience. I can tell this is a book that deserves so much more hype and I wish it was known to others.
⛈ I had a great time reading this book - it was different than my usual reads but still a great time. I definitely want to read more stories where there’s a natural disaster affecting peoples’ lives - I know this story is inspired on true events and I loved how the author shared it with us. Overall, this was a solid read and I would still recommend it for sure!
Read
July 1, 2024this is a gutwrenching novel about the 2010 earthquake, its survivors, its victims, its aftermath, that only gets better with each page. the final paragraph should be studied everywhere.
chancy's literary criticism has been golden for my own research, but I only came to know of her fiction through another critic kaiama glover's recommendation in her talk "haiti and the fictions of history." what a talent
chancy's literary criticism has been golden for my own research, but I only came to know of her fiction through another critic kaiama glover's recommendation in her talk "haiti and the fictions of history." what a talent
December 10, 2021
Haiti's 2010 earthquake, which claimed over 200,000 lives, is seen through the eyes of 10 unforgettable characters in this novel. Some of these characters are loosely connected as friends, and some are related to each other as a sister, brother, or distant cousin. The trauma of the disaster brings a few of the characters closer together while others become permanently separated. Each viewpoint invites the reader to enter a world where water, food, shelter, and safety cannot be taken for granted.
The chapters are arranged to follow one character and detail their life before and after the disaster. My favorite person was Ma Lou, a market woman who made her living selling fruits and vegetables at her stand. She is the novel's heart, a woman who has lost much and lived through desperate times but is always a survivor. She makes it through this, too, and helps others around her.
Ma Lou is mother to Richard, her wealthy businessman son who has made it out of Haiti, only to return to sell bottled water through his company. Richard is in Haiti for a marketing meeting when the earthquake hits. Long estranged from his mother, he has made no plans to visit Ma Lou. He separated from his wife when she learned he was the father of an adult daughter, raised in Haiti, whom he has been secretly funding over the years. Anne, the daughter, is an architect who works mainly in Africa. In the aftermath, she forges a connection to Ma Lou, her grandmother.
The personal dramas and the people's responses to an unimaginable shock of losing family members, home, and possessions put everyday worries into perspective. Most of the ten are barely making it. There's the prostitute and her protector, who is also her best friend. They run for their lives as buildings around them are collapsing. One of the most poignant scenes is a mother who has lost her children in the disaster, but in the days after in the makeshift camps still feels them tugging on her arm like they used to do.
Myriam J. A. Chancy is an evocative writer who has done extensive interviews with people who lived through Haiti's earthquake. Her portraits are rendered with compassion and honesty. The only negative I can offer is that some sentences are given in the Kreyòl language. Unfortunately, I couldn't make much of their meaning. There aren't enough passages like this to interrupt the main flow, but even French speakers may have difficulty understanding those phrases. This is a novel written for anyone who wants to learn about some of the ways Haitians, who already face privation, cope with the complete destruction of their homes, families, and all that is familiar.
My thanks to the publisher for the copy of the book.
The chapters are arranged to follow one character and detail their life before and after the disaster. My favorite person was Ma Lou, a market woman who made her living selling fruits and vegetables at her stand. She is the novel's heart, a woman who has lost much and lived through desperate times but is always a survivor. She makes it through this, too, and helps others around her.
Ma Lou is mother to Richard, her wealthy businessman son who has made it out of Haiti, only to return to sell bottled water through his company. Richard is in Haiti for a marketing meeting when the earthquake hits. Long estranged from his mother, he has made no plans to visit Ma Lou. He separated from his wife when she learned he was the father of an adult daughter, raised in Haiti, whom he has been secretly funding over the years. Anne, the daughter, is an architect who works mainly in Africa. In the aftermath, she forges a connection to Ma Lou, her grandmother.
The personal dramas and the people's responses to an unimaginable shock of losing family members, home, and possessions put everyday worries into perspective. Most of the ten are barely making it. There's the prostitute and her protector, who is also her best friend. They run for their lives as buildings around them are collapsing. One of the most poignant scenes is a mother who has lost her children in the disaster, but in the days after in the makeshift camps still feels them tugging on her arm like they used to do.
Myriam J. A. Chancy is an evocative writer who has done extensive interviews with people who lived through Haiti's earthquake. Her portraits are rendered with compassion and honesty. The only negative I can offer is that some sentences are given in the Kreyòl language. Unfortunately, I couldn't make much of their meaning. There aren't enough passages like this to interrupt the main flow, but even French speakers may have difficulty understanding those phrases. This is a novel written for anyone who wants to learn about some of the ways Haitians, who already face privation, cope with the complete destruction of their homes, families, and all that is familiar.
My thanks to the publisher for the copy of the book.
January 11, 2022
"Here, life and death were stripped to their bare elements. All that was man-made fell, including time, buckled into the sky with nightfall. The horizon met and we scrambled upon the surface of the earth like ants, instinctively, following shadows to find our way. That's all we were: shadows, paper cutouts cast large against sheets of receding light."
What Storm, What Thunder has many elements that I favour in literary fiction: a central uniting incident around which the narrative gets built, non-linear storytelling with time jumps, a tight fleshed-out cast of interrelated characters who jump in and out of each other's lives, single dedicated PoV chapters no perspective (but one) repeated, the gradual unfolding of the core event as well as what occurred before and after it from different angles, a striking and compassionate exploration of a traumatic disaster that avoids sensationalizing things.
Supporting all these elements is lush, stunning prose that manages to be lyrical, beautiful, and profound without being overbearing or ostentatious. The language also undergoes marked changes as it shifts chapters, giving unique voices to the ten viewpoint characters. In fact, the chapters can be read as self-contained stories and the novel one assembled mosaic. Chancy's extensive research is palpable but it does not burden the narrative and I appreciated her frequent use of Kreyòl. It is a well-crafted, considerate, deeply felt novel.
An interesting aspect here is the exploration of necropolitics, the term coined by Achille Mbembe to explore the use of socio-political power to demonstrate what people may live and what people must die, creating a hierarchy of expendability. In Chancy, this feeds into the existing socio-economic class divides within Haiti, which is in many ways fueled by colourism. Without, there is of course flattening racialization and existence in the Global North. Haiti's long history of anti-colonialism, and the harsh reprisals that followed, play a part too.
Another intriguing aspect is the dodgy nature of humanitarianism and how such actions, usually undertaken by the Global North (the US and Ireland in here), can be suspect. The process is riven with corruption and resource misallocation, improper procedures and shortcuts that endanger the vulnerable population further, and, the affected area becoming a playground for testing prototypes. Philanthropy is reduced to optics and publicity, unmindful of people's needs. Chancy's academic background as well as her scholarship obviously shines.
(I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
February 28, 2022
"We heard people on their cell phones, all up and down the street, begging frantically for help, giving directions to where they thought they were beneath the rubble, within the rooms of their houses. Phones rang and we heard people answer them. Then -- fewer and fewer voices. The tinny, persistent ringing of cell phone tones: different songs rising like wind from underground with no answer."
In What Storm, What Thunder, Chancy tells the story of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where 250,000 people were killed, through the eyes of 10 different characters impacted by the disaster - some who were killed, some who were present and survived, some who were not present and had to try to deal with the aftermath and the not knowing from far away. The novel opens and ends with Ma Lou, a market woman - she survives, but many she knows are killed. As the novel progresses, you change perspective to see the disaster and tragedy as it impacted 10 people, each tied to one of the other characters in the story in some way. Ultimately when the novel ends with her again, there is an element of hope and resilience - but it doesn't take away from the ache and loss that is everpresent, it just provides a path for moving forward while not leaving the memories and the sadness behind. Chancy is exceptionally skilled in describing a moment - both the physicality of the moment, as well as the inner thoughts and perspectives - in a way that makes you connect with the characters and understand their decisions and actions. She can make the ache and the pain palpable. There were points in reading this where I just wanted to stop the pain for the characters, that it didn't seem survivable to go through that kind of loss, to experience that level of devastation. While the story focuses around the earthquake, I did also appreciate the way that you see how lives are interconnected - we see the connections in the novel related to their experiences with the earthquake, but these lives - the rich and the poor, the young and the old, those living in Haiti and those who had gone elsewhere - all connect and their experiences blend together to create a much richer perspective on life in Haiti than just the stories of poverty and hardship that often make the news. One last quote - "We all look away, unless it's us, or someone we love, going up in flames."
In What Storm, What Thunder, Chancy tells the story of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where 250,000 people were killed, through the eyes of 10 different characters impacted by the disaster - some who were killed, some who were present and survived, some who were not present and had to try to deal with the aftermath and the not knowing from far away. The novel opens and ends with Ma Lou, a market woman - she survives, but many she knows are killed. As the novel progresses, you change perspective to see the disaster and tragedy as it impacted 10 people, each tied to one of the other characters in the story in some way. Ultimately when the novel ends with her again, there is an element of hope and resilience - but it doesn't take away from the ache and loss that is everpresent, it just provides a path for moving forward while not leaving the memories and the sadness behind. Chancy is exceptionally skilled in describing a moment - both the physicality of the moment, as well as the inner thoughts and perspectives - in a way that makes you connect with the characters and understand their decisions and actions. She can make the ache and the pain palpable. There were points in reading this where I just wanted to stop the pain for the characters, that it didn't seem survivable to go through that kind of loss, to experience that level of devastation. While the story focuses around the earthquake, I did also appreciate the way that you see how lives are interconnected - we see the connections in the novel related to their experiences with the earthquake, but these lives - the rich and the poor, the young and the old, those living in Haiti and those who had gone elsewhere - all connect and their experiences blend together to create a much richer perspective on life in Haiti than just the stories of poverty and hardship that often make the news. One last quote - "We all look away, unless it's us, or someone we love, going up in flames."
January 21, 2022
.
"All that was man-made fell, including time, buckled into the sky with nightfall."
Gosh, this was a hard one.
Maybe you've seen What Storm, What Thunder here on #bookstagram or maybe you remember seeing it as a #bookofthemonth option, but either way, hopefully you've read it---or at least plan to.
I think we all know a massive earthquake ravaged Port-au-Prince Haiti back in 2010. This particular novel focuses on that catastrophic event.
Told through vignettes and multiple POVs, readers get a clear image of the unimaginable. Of course, having not ever experienced something of this magnitude, all I can do is imagine.
The chapters are standalone and an individual perception, but the characters do cross over into each other's narratives.
Every character and their story is memorable.
We are given accounts not only of how devastating the Event was, but also how horrific life afterwards was to be.
Everything lost, then the camps. Minimal aid, little relief.
This book gave me so much anxiety.
And it has left me with a lot to think about.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#whatstormwhatthunder #myriamjachancy #tinhouse #tinhousebooks #bookquotes #bookreviews #aspenwords #aspenwordslonglist #aspenwordsbookclub #20booksbyblackwomen #the52bookchallenge #the52bookchallenge2022 #thestorygraph #goodreads #bookchallenge #readmore #readmorebooks #readdiversely #shereadsalot
"All that was man-made fell, including time, buckled into the sky with nightfall."
Gosh, this was a hard one.
Maybe you've seen What Storm, What Thunder here on #bookstagram or maybe you remember seeing it as a #bookofthemonth option, but either way, hopefully you've read it---or at least plan to.
I think we all know a massive earthquake ravaged Port-au-Prince Haiti back in 2010. This particular novel focuses on that catastrophic event.
Told through vignettes and multiple POVs, readers get a clear image of the unimaginable. Of course, having not ever experienced something of this magnitude, all I can do is imagine.
The chapters are standalone and an individual perception, but the characters do cross over into each other's narratives.
Every character and their story is memorable.
We are given accounts not only of how devastating the Event was, but also how horrific life afterwards was to be.
Everything lost, then the camps. Minimal aid, little relief.
This book gave me so much anxiety.
And it has left me with a lot to think about.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#whatstormwhatthunder #myriamjachancy #tinhouse #tinhousebooks #bookquotes #bookreviews #aspenwords #aspenwordslonglist #aspenwordsbookclub #20booksbyblackwomen #the52bookchallenge #the52bookchallenge2022 #thestorygraph #goodreads #bookchallenge #readmore #readmorebooks #readdiversely #shereadsalot
November 25, 2021
The writing in this book is so beautiful. I felt immediately connected to each character. Just prepare yourself for a heartbreaking story. Like loss after loss after loss. And there is no ultimate saving moment at the end. There are some characters that let us keep a bit of hope—but only a bit.
I do feel more interested in learning about Haiti now though. I realize there is so much I don’t know, and I need to change that.
I do feel more interested in learning about Haiti now though. I realize there is so much I don’t know, and I need to change that.
March 2, 2022
What Storm, What Thunder is an immersive experience of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, from the perspectives of 10 linked characters, each one showing a slightly different kind of suffering during and after the tremors. The novel mentions the history of Haiti and its current politics but moreso it's about how the characters lives are impacted by the forces that are at work in their country so we get a bit about religion vs Voudon spirits, the push factors that have families sending children to be educated with the hope that they will elevate the family out of poverty but the restrictions on whether there are opportunities for them to return to, or whether education is enough to break the cycle. The chapters that focus on the aftermath also provide a study of disaster relief and how politics and preferences impact victim assistance.
The characters were as different as you could expect and I liked that the author makes them all sympathetic in some way so inviting the reader to inhabit the thoughts of a market woman and her pr0fessional granddaughter, a prostitute and a pimp, and men who have immigrated with very different experiences.
Although the story centers on the earthquake, to read this book is to ask yourself whether there aren't other forces that are just as disastrous, even if not on such a mass casualty scale.
The characters were as different as you could expect and I liked that the author makes them all sympathetic in some way so inviting the reader to inhabit the thoughts of a market woman and her pr0fessional granddaughter, a prostitute and a pimp, and men who have immigrated with very different experiences.
Although the story centers on the earthquake, to read this book is to ask yourself whether there aren't other forces that are just as disastrous, even if not on such a mass casualty scale.
March 9, 2022
4.5 stars
What Storm, What Thunder is a masterful work. Chancy holds nothing back as she takes through the journey of these various characters. Weaving the narratives together in such a moving and expert way. The characters' choices and lack of choices throughout the book continued to strike the reader. The way Chancy presented death scenes was eloquent and moving, juxtaposed against the harsh reality of the death that was around them. Connection was a major theme throughout the book. Chancy connects the reader with the characters, and the characters with each other. The beauty of life and connection is contrasted with destruction and death. A must read, What Storm, What Thunder will keep you glued to the pages.
Many of the character's musings struck me but these two thoughts/quotes stood out to me the most - The American white saviours who came and helped "decentralize" the capital. The narrator says " The problem with promises is that they don't come with guarantees; they can be forgotten or broken. They aren't worth the paper they're written on. In the desert there is no paper. You go out there on a prayer and wait." The other thing quote was "I'm thirty-two. The same as the number of Cuz that Haiti has suffered in its two-hundred-year history. I don't know how many more strokes of the lash we can bear."
What Storm, What Thunder is a masterful work. Chancy holds nothing back as she takes through the journey of these various characters. Weaving the narratives together in such a moving and expert way. The characters' choices and lack of choices throughout the book continued to strike the reader. The way Chancy presented death scenes was eloquent and moving, juxtaposed against the harsh reality of the death that was around them. Connection was a major theme throughout the book. Chancy connects the reader with the characters, and the characters with each other. The beauty of life and connection is contrasted with destruction and death. A must read, What Storm, What Thunder will keep you glued to the pages.
Many of the character's musings struck me but these two thoughts/quotes stood out to me the most - The American white saviours who came and helped "decentralize" the capital. The narrator says " The problem with promises is that they don't come with guarantees; they can be forgotten or broken. They aren't worth the paper they're written on. In the desert there is no paper. You go out there on a prayer and wait." The other thing quote was "I'm thirty-two. The same as the number of Cuz that Haiti has suffered in its two-hundred-year history. I don't know how many more strokes of the lash we can bear."
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