The Mountains Sing

By: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Narrated by: Quyen Ngo

With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko and Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War.

Trần Diệu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Nội, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore not just her beloved country, but her family apart.

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Việt Nam, The Mountains Sing brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope. The Mountains Sing is celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai's first novel in English.

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Highly Recommend

I'm half-Vietnamese so this spoke to me. I grew up American with Viet influence from my mom, who didn't speak regularly of her life there or potentially omitted tougher memories.

This book helps me to better understand her culture, my cultural history, and her growing up under wartime circumstances.

I only listened to the book while driving and thus my mind sometimes wandered making it hard to follow when the voice changed from the granddaughter's to the grandmother's. But that's on me.

Great Format

Lovely narration of a beautiful story. I listened to it quickly and found it very interesting.

Riveting Family Story

The story of the 20th century history of Vietnam, as told through the eyes of a grandmother and her granddaughter with an unflinching look at human cruelty, an unsentimental portrayal of human kindness, and family bonds grown from loyalty or love.

Every American needs to read this

Powerful emotional beautifully written story if the experience of families from
North Vietnam during the. War years and beyond. A generally unknown human journey to most Americans about the toll on induvufy and families of this horrific war.

Transformed into a different place and time

Writing was eloquent, luscious, colorful and told a very hard but still uplifting story. Reader was amazing, distinct voices and characters. Couldn’t have asked for more. Came away with an enlightened view of Vietnam, the world, suffering and strength of humanity to survive. Thank you for a wonderful story that needed to be told.

Beautiful

The writing is so beautiful. Poetry in novel form. There is so much here that is so hard, but it’s just an excellent, beautiful novel. Belongs with classics. As a former English teacher, I wish I could teach it. And the narrator is equal to the prose. Fantastic.

Narration is lovely

The story allows us into the lives of a North Vietnamese family, and how politics and war kept crushing them each time they regained their strength. Anyone who wants to understand how the Vietnam War affected the average citizen of the North should read this book.
This narrator read flawlessly. I particularly loved when she spoke in Vietnamese.

Eye-opening account of the Vietnamese war

An amazing yet disturbing account of the life of the Vietnamese during the years during the War in Vietnam.

A Futile War

I will start with what was good about this novel. The story illuminates by personifying the tragedy of Vietnam's history during the 19thand 20th centuries. There was so much hatred, distrust, misunderstanding, violence and wasted potential in these long years of occupation and war that tore not only the country apart but also families in a culture where family is of the utmost importance. The story reveals this tragedy and more in a believable and realistic way. Many of the characters are well developed But here is where I found fault. Many of the characters felt exaggerated or unrealistic and somewhat stilted. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book.

Anonymous

I really enjoyed this read and learning about another culture and country’s history through a beautifully woven human experience that remained full of hope.