The Mountains Sing

This story is set in Việt Nam and paints a clear picture of the people who lived there in the 1930-1980 timeframe of the story. The family faced hardships and tragedies, including being separated for several months when they were forced to flee for their lives. One thing I really appreciated was seeing the impact and impressions of the Việt Nam war on the people of that country. My brother fought over there—he was a Ranger in the Army—during that conflict and came home very different. In fact, he’s estranged himself from the family for the past 30+ years. Reading… show more.

Although this book is non-fiction, it took me on an adventure through Vietnam, as I fell in love with their culture. This was the first book I’d read with a Vietnamese protagonist and one thing that made me fall in love with the story was the main character, Trần Diệu Lan’s, powerful narration. It inspired me to learn more about Vietnamese mythology and folklore. This is yet another book that has helped me during troubling times of COVID because of how the characters conquered adversity and tackled the struggles of being separated from family. I was able to relate it… show more.

Nguyễn is a gorgeous writer who keeps the reader at the edge of their seat with every word she writes. This historical fiction throws you into the Vietnam War and shows you an angle that is rarely seen by the west: that of the Vietnamese people. Nguyễn shows us the cost of human lives through the eyes of ordinary people while introducing us to a beautiful, resilient culture. While the reader sees a lot of tragedy, the way this story is woven is captivating and enlightening. I love this book. 

Although it is the most recently published of this group, The Mountains Sing has already been widely read, reviewed, and translated and is justifiably on its way to becoming a mainstay in the literature of the Vietnam War. 

The novel serves as a welcome counterpoint to Graham Greene’s Phuong and much other fiction about the war and Vietnam; what the writer wants to—and powerfully succeeds in doing—is to present non-Vietnamese readers not only with female central characters who break the Madame Butterfly/Miss Saigon/Quiet American stereotypes, but whose voices take us into the heart of the country itself, the painful history… show more.

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai has created a beautifully told tale of the Tran family’s journey through the twentieth century. It is a story of triumph and tragedy, sorrow and joy, and the monumental struggle to overcome the most brutal vicissitudes of life. Although the struggles are different, the Tran family’s trials are reminiscent of the Joad family in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and the Wang family in Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth.

It is a story about how families come together during times of great tribulations and the lengths they will go to survive and to remain… show more.