A Book Review: The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai - SPOILER FREE

Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Would I recommend this book - Absolutely. This is a fantastic book and if you're into contemporary fiction give it a read !!

As someone living in the West, I feel as though a certain narrative has been pushed about the 'Vietnam War' and not much attention has been shown to the victims that had been suffering for a long time. Before the Americans, it was the French, the Japanese, and the Chinese. This book was a real eye-opener for me because of the way it shows the character's resilience, their trauma, their suffering, and even their hope during the war.

I was enamoured by this novel and the way it portrayed suffering so holistically, with the trauma of everyone involved in the war being explored, whether it's a mother gone to fight, an uncle returning injured, a young girl left behind, or a grieving mother and grandma. It was very emotional, and each character suffered in their own unique way, providing a tragic view of the suffering during wartime.

I also think the author did a beautiful job in decolonising Vietnamese history shining light on the politics and land reforms going on at the time, whilst also providing rich insight into the experiences of Vietnamese people. Whilst this may be classed as fiction, it’s not really because these are all real-life things that happened. The reforms were real, the experiences were more than real. The novel is so tragically beautiful and highly emotional; Quế Mai wrote this with the intention of taking back the narrative and I think she achieved that.

I especially loved how unapologetic Quế Mai was with the way she writes in diacritics and uses Vietnamese words. Language is the very essence of a culture their pride and not simplifying words and spelling them properly/correctly is important in decolonising literature. It fully immerses the reader in Vietnamese culture, and I think it's beautifully done. I really felt like I was transported there.

I was fully enraptured by what I was reading and couldn’t put the book down. The Mountains Sing is one of the best books I’ve read this year and I could not recommend it enough, truly. It prompted and encouraged me to do my own research on Vietnam and this novel is just amazing. It was written for a purpose, and I think it achieved that perfectly.

All in all, defo check this book out. Genuinely one of the best books I've read this year.

Thank you for reading this review,

Love and guidance,

Aziza <33