Amazing historical beautiful story. I learned so much and enjoyed it!

The Mountains Sing, Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author; Quyen Ngo, narrator
Intermingled in this story that depicts the horror of Vietnam’s violent history, over several decades, are love stories that will touch the reader’s hearts and illustrate a deeper and kinder picture of the culture and the people. The sharp contrast between those that are compassionate and those that are cruel is stunning and often defies logic. Sometimes, ideology overruled family devotion and loyalty;
it led to divisiveness and separation as the politics and dogma created deep conflict. Brothers turned on brothers, friends on friends and children on parents.
This multigenerational tale describes the trials of Vietnam as various internal struggles raged over several decades. Enemies from within and enemies from without brought injustice and violence to the people. They were helpless and not equipped to deal with it.
The story is slowly revealed to the reader as Grandma, Dieu Lan, confesses the trials of her own life to her grandchild, Huong, whom she lovingly calls by her propitious pet name, Guava. Her memories begin in 1930, around the time Grandma is 10 years old, but the story continues until 2017 when Huong has grown up and has her own family.
The story jumps back and forth in time, from Grandma’s unfolding life in the past, to Grandma’s life with Guava. In 1972, she is caring for Huong (Guava) because her own daughter, Huong’s mother, Ngoc, is serving in the military. As a doctor, she encounters the worst of what war produces. She left to join the military in the hope that she would find her missing husband and bring him home. So far, he has not returned.
Vietnam’s history is lavishly sprinkled between the pages, from the occupation of the country by France, to brutality of the Land Reform, with the People’s Agricultural Reform Tribunal, to the abuses of the Japanese during WWII, to the war between the North and the South, with America’s intervention, to the escape in boats by the desperate, and to the current day. The sheer misery of the people, as they desperately struggle to survive each conflict, is heartbreaking. It is hard to read about the pain and suffering inflicted upon innocent victims, throughout Vietnam’s history, because of ideological disagreements, but it is interesting to learn the perspective of the Vietnam War, and America’s involvement in it, from the perspective of the Vietnamese who were forced to live through the constantly changing culture and political climate.
In the North they embraced the Communists and rejected the Americans who were fighting them, and in the South, they supported the Americans, hoping they would help them defeat the Communists. However, America abandoned the South, and therefore, in the end, turned out to be the enemy of both the North and the South.
America, instead of bringing about a positive peaceful solution, brought death, destruction, drugs, alcohol and chemicals, to the Vietnamese, It is, today, a well known fact that those who were exposed to substances like Agent Orange, which was used as a defoliant, later suffered terrible consequences from that exposure.
Although at times, the narrator overtook the story with her interpretation, for the most part she did a superb job interpreting the uniqueness of each character. The author covered the history very well, without making it read like a textbook. I highly recommend the book. It does point out the failure of America in Vietnam, the abuses of war and conflicts, and the many unintended consequences that result, but it also illustrates a side of the people that has been neglected. There is a gentle beauty in their proverbs and in their eternal hope and display of courage, and in their ability to endure hardship and still rebound from the depths of despair.

I love books that introduce me to people I would otherwise never know, and bring me to places I have never been. This gave a glimpse of Vietnamese history and culture. It was a very human picture of war and the aftermath, and of the spirit needed to get through.