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Book Reviewed by:The earth had buckled and, in that movement, all that was not in its place fell upon the earth's children, upon the blameless as well as the guilty, without discrimination.
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.
Chancy reveals a fragile and nuanced world of people surviving in dire circumstances determined to rebuild their lives and communities. She consistently draws parallels to our common humanity, the universal needs of food, water, sanitation and safe shelter. For Haitians living in exile, the novel may stir or restore memories, not only of tragedy, but of vibrant communities, culture and spirit that endure. In this sense, What Storm, What Thunder reads like a love story to a place and its people. Each character has a distinctive voice, to explore and describe their own ambitions, regrets, passion, healing and growth...continued
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(Reviewed by Karen Lewis).
In the back matter of What Storm, What Thunder, author Myriam J. A. Chancy cites paintings by Trinidadian artist LeRoy Clarke (who passed away in July 2021) as a major inspiration for her novel. Clarke created a cycle of nearly a hundred paintings about Haiti, many of them depicting the 2010 earthquake. Similarly, Chancy was moved to create fiction to immortalize the hundreds of stories that people told her about their experiences with this disaster. Other Haitians have explored the trauma surrounding the earthquake in visual art mediums.
Haitian art enjoys a long tradition inspired by cultural crosscurrents. Whether in museums, galleries, isolated rural studios or urban alleyways, Haitian art reflects a dynamic culture born of unique ...
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