Reviews tagging 'Death'

Góry śpiewają by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

125 reviews

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

A lovely story overall, with some simple yet effective writing. It just has some pretty glaring pacing issues - thing that seem like major emotional beats or plot points get narrated in a few paragraphs, and the events come off as episodic rather than part of complete whole. 

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emotional sad medium-paced

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I really enjoyed this book, though, reflecting on reading Dust Child earlier this year versus reading The Mountains Sing now, I do have to say that I enjoyed Dust Child more, which appears to be an unpopular opinion. Maybe it's because I read Dust Child first, but I felt like The Mountains Sing was a bit more slow paced, and I think that is where the major difference came in for me.

Still, though, I really did enjoy this. As another reviewer pointed out, I think it's good for Americans to read more historical fiction about the impacts of the Vietnam War by Vietnamese authors. Something that I really appreciated in Dust Child and appreciate here as well is the sprinkling of Vietnamese phrases/proverbs throughout in Vietnamese (then followed by the English translation), as well as the fact that names of characters, names of locations, etc. aren't Anglicized (so "Hà Nội," not "Hanoi," and "Trần," not "Tran"). Though it does also make me think I probably should've listened to this as an audiobook instead of reading it physically. Since I don't know Vietnamese, the pronunciations in my head were probably off.

To the actual content of the book, it was really a beautiful tale, both heartbreaking and heartwarming at times. And although I did like Dust Child better overall, this was still fantastic, and I would still absolutely recommend it to others.

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I’ve never read a sweeping family saga I didn’t love, and this book is no exception.

So tragic and difficult to consume but felt very important to read especially after reading The Women. The writing is poignant, even if a little too on-the-nose at times, and the characters are so memorable. Both perspectives were incredibly captivating, heartbreaking, and beautiful.

This book truly falls into my favorite genre of the indomitable human spirit and the power of love and connection.

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challenging emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

An AMAZING read. This book gives a perspective that as an American is definitely not something we learn or probably even think about enough. Very well written, the generational trauma as well as the family's resiliency is portrayed so well. I listened to the audiobook and couldn't hit pause. It is a very heavy read however, if you pick up this book you will follow the family through horrors of war and famine and violence, but it is obvious the author poured her soul into this book to give the most unfiltered voice to what the Vietnamese people have been through.

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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emotional informative sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Beautifully told story of a family pulling itself back together after hard times. Through the voice of its matriarch Diêu Lan and her grandaughter Hương we hear them survive through struggles with changes in politics, war zones, wealth and poverty keep going for their family. The love and forgivness is important and the heart of their story.

Diêu Lan is an amazing character of strength and I thank the author for sharing parts of her family history.

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