The Mountains Sing

by Que Mai Phan Nguyen

Years later in Ha Noi, her young granddaughter, Huong, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore not just her beloved country, but her family apart.

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Viet Nam, The Mountains Sing brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope.

The Mountains Sing is celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyen Phan Que Mai's first novel in English.

• ISBN13: 9781616208189
• Publish Date: 1 March 2020
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Out of Print: 5 July 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Algonquin Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781616208189

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

Going into this book I knew next to nothing about Vietnam in general so I was looking forward to learning about it from an #ownvoices perspective.
See reviews first on my blog

We get to see Vietnam from two different perspectives in two different time-periods. The grandmother's perspective is from before the war and what led this family to be where it was when the war started. Then we have the granddaughter's perspective and from it, we get to see the war through the eyes of a child, as well as the years after the war.
The Mountains sing is a very family-focused book and we get to know and love this family throughout the story. Of course, this means that we also get to see a lot of ups and downs as we're getting to see many years go by and the struggles that the family faces. These struggles go from ones caused by the war to ones just in the family-like every family has.

Overall I loved this book! Getting to see such a wide time-span not only let me get to know and love Vietnam but also to love this family. So many things happened and a lot of very real-life problems end up being covered in The Mountains Sing. We have mental health issues covered that were caused by the war in PTSD form as well as guilt, and one of the family members now feeling shame for having an injury from the war. We have another family member making a tough choice to provide for the family in a way that isn't well thought of.
All of this is going on while we have the granddaughter just growing up and trying to figure out what she wants to do in the world. She's creating a life of her own and its one so nice to see amongst all the heartache so many others in her family were feeling.

One thing that showed throughout this entire book was the love of family, and the will to survive through extremely dark and trying times.

This book is my top pick for hard-hitting reads for the year!