Nguyen Phan Que Mai
Basing the novel on some of her family stories as well as by interviewing people who experienced the Viet Nam war and its aftermath, Nguyen Phan Que Mai composed The Mountains Sing as a multigenerational tale of the Tran family. The novel unfolds from the alternating perspectives of the young Huong (also known as Guava) and her grandmother, Tran Dieu Lan. It shifts back and forth in time as it alternates perspectives.
The novel opens with Guava as a little girl sheltering with her grandmother from the onslaught of bombs during the 1970s. She narrates her experience growing up: escaping with her grandmother; reuniting with her mother, aunts, and uncles; and concluding with her marriage. Tran Dieu Lan’s sections take the form of recollections and stories she shares with her granddaughter. She begins with her childhood in the 1930s; includes the Great Hunger of the 1940s; her marriage; the birth of her children; the brutal murder of brother; her desperate escape from her home during the Land Reform of the 1950s; her harrowing journey to Ha Noi with her young children; her struggle to survive; and her success in gathering most of her now adult children around her, again.
Spanning decades, this sweeping saga describes a family’s struggle to survive during times of war, famine, dislocation, and mayhem. Tran Dieu Lan emerges as the central character. She is resilient, pragmatic, enterprising, and fiercely determined to do whatever it takes to ensure her family’s survival. Despite witnessing horrors and carnage, she manages to sustain her compassion and sensitivity toward others, including those who treat her with cruelty. She never fails to appreciate the kindness shown toward her and her children even from complete strangers. And she instills in her granddaughter pride in her heritage and the belief we all share a common humanity, even those who are our so-called enemies.
The novel is told in simple, straightforward language that does not shy away from graphic descriptions of brutality, torture, and executions. As in all conflicts, the real victims are the civilians who are caught in the crossfire, whose lives have been disrupted, who have lost their homes and livelihoods, who are forced to flee from the carnage, and who have been traumatized by the experience. At times the language is sentimental and contrived as if aiming to manipulate the reader to feel a certain way. But the novel’s content is gripping and sheds light on the tragic history of the Vietnamese people who suffered from colonial powers, foreign domination, brutality from all sides, and a seemingly endless barrage of heavy bombings that shattered their cities and countryside while killing countless numbers of people.