Reviews

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

lachateau's review

adventurous challenging emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

pearlymilktea's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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

4.0

sledge_hm's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

morfop's review

emotional

5.0

messypeasofmind's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is vety sad and tackles a lot of difficult themes like war, grief, loss, and displacement. Despite this, it never loses its hopeful outlook. I found the characters very loveable and was profoundly touched by the way the family members looked out for each other and took care of the others. Our two main characters are shown to have flaws and still be very inspiring for staying hopeful no matter what they experience. I learnt a lot about Vietnam’s history, shed a tear and loved the poetic yet clear writing style. A touching story that will stay with you long after you’re finished and while you’re not reading.

iabagdasarian's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

aldole's review

adventurous dark informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

jess_mango's review

5.0

This was a beautiful sweeping story about multiple generations of a family in Vietnam centered around the Vietnam War. The story reaches back to the 1940's at a time when the Japanese had invaded Vietnam. During this time, a well-off mother flees her family farm with her 6 children to escape the violence caused by the communist Land Reform. The story then jumps to her granddaughter during the years of the Viet Nam war.

In turns touching and heartbreaking, this is an important #ownvoices story about the experience of Vietnamese women during the war. This is the author's first novel available in English and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more works by her.

I listened to this on audio and the narrator was engaging and emotive. The narration was nicely paced with great sound quality. Highly recommend!

4.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for the audio book to review!

pinaybibliophile's review

4.0

• A book I picked up in Hanoi, the novel is a family saga amidst the turbulent history of Vietnam in the 20th century.  The protagonists are women - a grandmother and her granddaughter - whose parallel experiences during different wars tell us that  morality becomes ambiguous when one faces death. It's reading fiction like this that develops our empathy and understanding that not everything in life is black and white.

conor_orourke's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0