A review by singout
The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

Powerful story about three generations in North Vietnam: it goes back-and-forth between a young girl’s experience of the end of the Vietnam war, and her grandmother’s survival of the 1940s great hunger and harsh land reform, with the middle generation being portrayed either as children or soldiers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, War, Murder, Gore, Abandonment, and Body horror