Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - The Mountains Sing

This was a wonderful family saga and I cried and learned a lot! The things I knew about Vietnamese history I mostly had from museums, this book brought history to life in all its tragedy, cruelty, all its sorrow and grief, all its persistence and kindness and love. At times this story is almost unbeatably sad and I felt so much for the family and everything they had to go through but it also managed to be hopeful throughout. The women here are so strong for their persistence and their unwillingness to give in or to lose their kindness.
Highly recommended the audio book, there's so many Vietnamese proverbs in this and hearing them spoken by a Vietnamese speaker and not just reading them wrongly in my head.

Content Warnings

sterreg's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This story grabbed me from beginning to end, even though the heaviness of the topic made me take breaks in-between. It tells stories of the goodness between people when we arrive in our darkest hour. About the power of perseverance for our families. It makes us long for the connections around us and value what we have. But it also creates awareness about topics that used to feel so far away. I've felt for these characters, and have grown to remember the smallest details the more I read about them. They felt real and their struggle felt incredibly harsh and unfair.

The change of faith is possible. As long as we follow the road of goodness, strength will find its way. A gorgeous story of family, broken hearts and loss, and how the family bounced back through hardship of a broken country.

Content Warnings

sas_lk's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad

Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I don't have much to say, other than I just really liked this book. The author kept me hooked from start to finish, even though it was a historical fiction - which are usually quite dense, which means that i regularly need breaks. However, it was so easy to keep reading, and I felt truly "transported" - the same way Huong was transported to Laura's world.
Painful, heartbreaking, but so inspiring and hopeful in the end. A novel about the horrors, and the truest beauties of life.

Content Warnings

moniipeters's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

annorabrady's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the look into the history of Vietnam through the generations. The characters and their stories were fully fleshed such that it reads more like a memoir than a historical fiction.

Content Warnings