Nguyen Phan Que Mai:  The Mountains Sing, Oneworld Publications, 9781786079503, C format Export paperback

 

Some of the more memorable fiction I have read lately was by two Vietnamese authors: Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth we are briefly gorgeous” and Viet Than Nguyen’s “The Sympathizers”. Nguyen Phan Que Mai’s historical literary novel “The Mountains Sing” is different from these two but fits into this category, an exceptional epic tale told in the Vietnamese storytelling tradition; I loved this book.  

The tumultuous history of Vietnam is narrated by Tran Lieu Lan, the matriarch of the family and chief voice in the novel.  Beginning with Tran’s birth in 1920, a time when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina, she, her family and her granddaughter Huong experience the upheaval millions of Vietnamese went through in a century. Tran Lieu has to flee their prosperous family farm with 6 young children after the communist land reform in the North causing the violent death of her husband.  The disappearance of her eldest child and the lynching of her brother by rebel farmers send her on a desperate march to Hanoi where she hopes to improve her and her family’s fortune.  The repeated unbearable loss, hunger and political turmoil experienced by three generations of the Tran family vividly portraits the suffering of the Vietnamese people during a century. When her children join the North Vietnamese army to fight the US troops, Tran is left to raise her grandchild Huong with whom she forms an unbreakable bond never giving up hope to be reunited with her six children. 

The author does an excellent job through the voices of various characters  showing  the excruciating human cost and sacrifice political decisions and war have for ordinary people.  During a trip to Vietnam a few years ago I was able to experience the beauty of this country and the toughness and resilience of the Vietnamese.  Loved this very captivating read.