Summary and Reviews of The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

Media Reviews

Minneapolis Star Tribune At times, because of the number of characters, fast narrative pace and alternating points of view that go back-and-forth in time, it can be hard to keep track of what is happening when...However, Nguyen’s poetic descriptions and deep affection for her characters allow the reader to feel for the Tran family’s many vicissitudes.

New York Times Stirring...Que Mai has said that she chose to write The Mountains Sing in English to gain the distance a second language provides — a distance necessary to approach a disturbing history calmly. But writing in English also allows her to present to an audience in the United States a moving portrait of its former enemy, the North Vietnamese. Through her depiction of sympathetic characters suffering under a repressive regime, Que Mai offers us in The Mountains Sing a novel that, in more than one sense, remedies history.

NPR Nguy?n Phan Qu? Mai has created a luminous, complex family narrative that spans nearly a century of Vietnamese history...The Mountains Sing affirms the individual's right to think, read, and act according to a code of intuitive civility, borne out of Vietnam's fertile and compassionate cultural heritage.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A richly imagined story of severed bonds amid conflict.

Library Journal (starred review) Recalling Min Jin Lee and Lisa See, Nguyen displays a lush and captivating storyteller's gift as she effortlessly transports readers to another world, leaving them wishing for more.

Publishers Weekly (starred review) Nguyen brilliantly explores the boundary between what a writer shares with the world and what remains between family. This brilliant, unsparing love letter to Vietnam will move readers.

 Bruce Weigl, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of the bestselling memoir The Circle of Hanh In The Mountains Sing, Nguyen Phan Que Mai has found a true and clear voice in English that is rich and compelling the way only those who come to English as a second language can sometimes manage.

 Doreen Baingana, author of Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe A poignant and vivid portrayal of a brutal slice of Vietnamese history from a perspective that is so rarely heard abroad: that of the Vietnamese themselves. We are starkly reminded of how those wars – and wars everywhere – wash over and drown both the guilty and innocent alike.

 Karl Marlantes, bestselling author of Matterhorn, What It's Like to Go to War, and Deep River Good literature frees us from being trapped in our own skins by allowing us to identify with characters and see the world through their eyes. Reading this novel, I was moved by Nguyen Phan Que Mai's beautiful, even poetic, depictions of enduring courage. I came away with a deeper understanding of the war in which I fought.

 Larry Heinemann, author of Paco's Story, winner of the National Book Award Nguyen Phan Que Mai has written a wonderful, intricate story of the lives of a Vietnamese family trying to make it through generations of war. The Mountains Sing is a beautiful story of the simple challenge of keeping a family together and the courage of perseverance. It is told with the sureness of a master storyteller with a poet's spirit. A large and complicated story, marvelous to read.

 Mai Elliott, Pulitzer-Prize finalist and author of The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family In this moving family saga, author Que Mai gives us a rare glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Vietnamese as they struggle to survive the calamities that descend over their country – from the Japanese occupation during World War II, to the harsh and ideological rule of the communists, to the American bombing of the North, and to the shocks and aftershocks of the Vietnam War. It is a story of loss and sorrow, of longing for peace and normalcy, and—above all—of the triumph of hope over despair, told in the authentic voices of a resilient and resourceful grandmother and her granddaughter.

 Ocean Vuong, MacArthur award winner and author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous A sweeping story that positions Vietnamese life within the rich and luminous history of national epics like The Tale of Kieu and the Iliad. Expansive in scope and feeling, The Mountains Sing is a feat of hope, an unflinchingly felt inquiry into the past, with the courageous storytelling of the present.

 Philip Caveney, author of Sebastian Darke, Alec Devlin and Movie Maniacs novels Inspired by real life events, Nguyen Phan Que Mai's story will thrill, shock and terrify the reader in equal measure. It will also inspire them with its life-affirming qualities of everyday heroism and survival against all the odds.

 Rick Simonson, Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle Deep human bonds of family, place, and memory are written of in ways that are often heartbreaking, but show the strength and persistence of those ties. This is a book that glows with spirit and those larger life forces that include love. I look forward to the day I can put this book in readers' hands.

 Sara Maitland, author of Daughter of Jerusalem, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award The structure is clever, the writing often evocative, the characters convincing and very touching and the whole narrative deeply engaging. And this is a first novel! Impressive.

 Thanhhà Lai, National Book Award-winning author of Inside Out & Back Again and Butterfly Yellow Nguyen Phan Que Mai's sweeping tale proves on every page that despite war-time tragedies and numbing ugliness, the human desire to forgive and thrive soars as high as the mountains. An essential read for Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Americans searching to understand their grandparents and parents who lived through the war in Viet Nam.

 Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do Que Mai tells the story of the war that tore apart Viet Nam, and of the generation lost to the war, by braiding around it two beautiful strands told by the older and younger generations of a family. This book is an act of love, compassion, and ultimately healing, and very much needed by all who survived the war.

 Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Sympathizer The Mountains Sing is an epic account of Viet Nam's painful 20th century history, both vast in scope and intimate in its telling. Through the travails of one family, Nguyen Phan Que Mai brings us close to the horrors of famine, war, and class struggle. But in this moving and riveting novel, she also shows us a postwar Viet Nam, a country of hope and renewal, home to a people who have never given up.

 Wayne Karlin, author of Wandering Souls, winner of the Vietnam Veterans of America Excellence in the Arts Award Over the last two decades we have been gifted with works by Vietnamese writers who have brought us into the consciousness of those that Americans saw only as backdrops for their own stories. Nguyen Phan Que Mai not only adds to that rich body of work, she daringly transcends it.

Reader Reviews

Nadereh Zolghadr
Mountains sing
What an eye-opener is this book! I have read about the Vietnam War and have been familiar with the history of the country. I have been an admirer of the Vietnamese courage and valor in defending their homeland and defeating the imperialists. But ...   Read More Betty Taylor
Beautifully written saga
It seems almost sacrilegious to say this is a beautifully written book while the content is about two violent periods of Vietnam’s history. Even though surrounded by violence, respectfulness and gentleness could still be found among the people of ...   Read More Rosemary
To Make the Mountains Sing
Nguyen Phan Que Mai's novel, The Mountains Sing, is a masterful work: the writing is smooth, educational, and full of emotion. Although I was in college during the Vietnam War, I have to say that I knew very little about it. Fellow students were ...   Read More Lynne Lambert
The Human Side of War
Viet Nam is a country that knows too well about the subjugation of foreign powers and war. The French, Japanese, and Americans, as well as political factions within their own borders have all taken a toll on the Vietnamese people. The novel The ...   Read More

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