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abbie_'s review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.25
I was super excited for this one as it’s been translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem, who translated one of favourite WIT books, Learning to Talk to Plants by Marta Orriols. My second offering from the Catalan language was poles apart in terms of content but just as brilliant! The language here is stunning, absolutely gorgeous imagery which Lethem has worked wonders with. The language and style can be quite playful at times and so I imagine it was difficult to wrangle with on a technical level, but she pulls it off.
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Funnily enough, it’s got something in common with We Are Light which I read and loved last month (which you could also read for WIT month!) - unique perspectives! In When I Sing, Mountains Dance we hear from rain clouds, mushrooms, a roe deer, a mountain, all things which draw your attention to the incredible landscape of the mountain village where this book is set.
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Interspersed with these unusual POV chapters are almost vignettes from every day life in Pyrenees. The book starts with a man being struck dead by lightening while picking mushrooms and spirals out from there. We see the knock-on effects of his death on his family, as well as their interactions with other village folk. It was fascinating to experience how tragedies affect a tiny village, where everyone knows everyone. Pretty much every chapter gives you a new perspective of someone in the village and they all felt so alive.
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I don’t think I’ll get over just how beautiful the writing was, a feat I always admire even more when that beauty is shining through in translation. Gorgeous, evocative, melancholy, definitely a recommendation from me 😍
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, and Death
lllem00n's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
melancholic exploration of idyllic grief, the land and nature inclusive... starts with a bang from the perspective of lightning, so many emphatic dog ears here,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Death
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Rape and War
bricharis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, War, and Death
ka_cam's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I put ‘character driven’ but really this was place driven, the many voices that make up the chapters include living and spirit humans, mythical beings, plants, animals, and mountains/storms, all in one area centered around probably 50ish years. You follow a few plots through the eyes of the people/places/objects who speak in what I found to be a moving and beautiful meditation on time, connection, place, love, and loss. I really enjoyed the framing and found it a beautiful read, though I suspect not all will.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Death, Violence, Sexual content, Murder, and War
Minor: Body horror, Car accident, Dementia, Blood, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty
savvylit's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
What an incredible book! When I Sing, Mountains Dance is exquisite. Elemental. Lush. Heartbreaking. Transcendent. Gorgeous. Irene Solà has created a vibrant fairytale world that is somehow both enormous in temporal scope and yet focused narrowly on one place.
Reading this book was like eating dessert next to a beautiful view. I absolutely ate it up and savored every word.
Reading this book was like eating dessert next to a beautiful view. I absolutely ate it up and savored every word.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, and War
Moderate: Gun violence
amhud1030's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Excrement, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Dementia, Rape, and Sexual content
lauraportalupi's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Beautiful lyrical poetry; Solà captures the animal and spirit voices that surround us, whether we acknowledge them or not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When I Sing Mountains Dance is a kaleidoscopic novel with as varied a group of narrators as I’ve come across - a thundercloud, witches, a roebuck, the earth itself, civil war ghosts, mushrooms, water sprites… even the occasional person. The result is a really rich portrait, one with depth and breadth, not just of a single family and the tragedies that befall them, but of the Pyrenees in general - the landscape, the animals, it’s mythologies, the people who live there or pass through - past and present, and the interactions between them all. The writing and translation were beautiful; the language was rich and lush, sometimes playful, other times powerful but always poetic. With the right narrator I can imagine an audio version would be amazing. This won’t be a book for every reader but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death
kouran94's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death
Minor: War
mckeelyshannon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
One of my favorite lines from this book is “She stops being the center of her own life, she’s no longer the sap and the blood, because they’ve forced her to renounce everything she ever wanted.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Gun violence, and Grief