This book should feel very heavy - Hanna Alkaf has set a story of a young women terrified of her own brain in the middle of the horrific racial violence of 1969 in Kuala Lumpur. From the first chapter, Melati is surrounded by death, fleeing through streets full of violence, with an escalating battle in her own head with her Djinn, a force which threatens all she holds dear if she does not enact constant counting and number rituals. Yet. somehow, this book is not weighted into a depressing or unhappy read.
Hanna Alkaf focuses on Melita's resilience, and how her private battles also give her strength for a more public form of courage. The book is peopled with heroes who build community in the chaos, and the pace clips along sharply, evoking the ways in which crisis has little time for grief.
Alkaf weaves casual and more overt racism into the book, explaining without exposition dumps, how racial tensions played out in everyday life. She structures to plot to move between Malay and Chinese communities, including subtle notes to the differential threat they faced during the riots, but analysis remains scarce. Melita's central perspective is a Malay one, and realisitically niave.
In short, this is a gripping read. Hanna Alkaf gives the events the weight they deserve, but does not pass that to Melita or to us. It is a rich book, one which a younger teen would need to be ready for, but one which builds understanding