I got The Mountain Sings by Que Mai Phan Nguyen from Netgalley for a fair and honest review.


The Mountain Sings, tells the story of a family from Vietnam, from before World War II to the modern day. It does this by telling the story of a Tran Dieu Lan’s family who losses every thing when the communist take over in the north, and has to escape with six children. Years later the country is again at war and with her granddaughter, have to flee from the bombings by the Americans. The novel does this through the eyes of the granddaughter who lives with her grandma, Tran Dieu lan, as both her parents, have gone to fight for the north, against South Vietnam, America and their allies.

The novel is told mainly through the eyes of the granddaughter, and in flash backs through the eyes of the the grandmother, or other members of the family to give a more complete version of the story. The changeover from ones person perspective to another was well done which means that as a reader your are not confused about whose perspective the story is being told through, or what period of time.

This was the first story that I have read based in Vietnam, that is about the locals and in particular, the North, this gave an different perspective of the events from the bombing of Hanoi to the capture of an American pilot and things being thrown at him by the locals. Normally you see this through the eyes of the Pilot but this time its through the eyes of the locales.


I did enjoy the novel and the way it was written in such a way that made the story was simple to understand even though the perspective change at various points, or on a different time period. So if you want to read an historical fiction novel that transports you to another culture, allowing you to see events from a different point of view, to the west then, then Que Mai Phan Nguyen has written the book for you in The Mountain Sings.

This book is so beautifully written, bringing to life the heart breaking history of Vietnam. I loved the use of the traditional proverbs and how they fit into the story. I didn’t know much about the history of Vietnam but this has made me read up on the wars and the great famine.
Highly recommended.

This is one of those books which I really wanted to love, but didn't. A 'sweeping' family saga set against the twentieth century history of Vietnam, I confess I found it superficial and a bit trite. Alternating voices from two women who experience a litany of horrors and trauma but who emerge with hope... it all feels very similar to that genre of historical fiction which tells a whole country's past via the compacted lives of a family of women. The detail is sparse (constant mentions of water spinach and chopsticks isn't enough to convey a culture) and obvious (the Japanese soldier and the father...) and too often this feels like YA due to its naivety: "wars have the power to turn graceful and cultured people into monsters", or "like us... American people... loved their families and they also had to work hard to earn their food". I found the writing workmanlike. So I'd hoped for something more sophisticated and 'literary' but can see this being a popular success.