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

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The words "epic in scope" and "sweeping saga" always make me a nervous reader, like I'm about to embark on a 1000 dry tome of unenjoyable literary prose. But this novel was epic and sweeping in terms of the timeframe and geography it covered, while still being utterly readable and engrossing. Following a grandmother and her granddaughter through two different timeframes of Vietnamese history, the author transports you to times and places through the use of food, books, songs, and nature. The story is heartbreaking and yet full of richly rewarding stories of families and complicated family relationships. I suspect this will be a best-of-2021 read for me.  

Key quotes

  • Perseverance grinds iron into needles.
  • ...now I knew they loved their families, and they also had to work hard to earn their food. They enjoyed dancing, music, and storytelling, just like us. [When talking about reading a handwritten copy of Little House in the Big Woods.]
  • My friends were now Laura the American girl, Pinocchio the wooden boy, and Men the cricket.
  • Wars have the power to turn graceful and cultured people into monsters.
  • Soft and persistent rain penetrates the earth better than a storm.
  • If I had a wish, I would want nothing fancy, just a normal day when all of us would be together as a family; a day where we could just cook, eat, talk, and laugh. I wondered how many people around the world were having such a normal day and didn't know how special and sacred it was. 
  • I had resented America, too. But by reading their books, I saw the other side of them -- their humanity. Somehow I was sure that if people were willing to read each other, and see the light of other cultures, there would be no war on earth. 
  • Each day of travel earns one basketful of wisdom.