Scan barcode
A review by aruarian_melody
The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
For a book that is constantly criticising propaganda, this sure felt like a propaganda sledgehammer. That being said, I don't know a lot about Vietnam's history, nor do I think it is particularly fair to expect a story based on the author's family history to be very nuanced. So I will try to not let this influence my review.
I did like that the book covered a lot of ground concerning Vietnam's history of the last century and I liked the concept of showing the effect of the different wars and political reforms by following one particular family. It is a large family, which allowed the author to intertwine different fates and roles of people of that time. But I think this is also the downfall of this book. It tried to cover too much ground for its length, which resulted in a lack of depth. Most of the time the characters felt more like caricatures than actual people. The main character is growing up during the book, but her voice is the same as a middle schooler and as an adult. Because of this, I felt very detached throughout the whole book, despite it depicting many horrible events. But we just weren't given enough time to sit with these events. Everything moved on very quickly. Many (huge) interpersonal conflicts were resolved within a few pages due to the pacing. In a way, this felt like a very clean cut, black-and-white parable-esque book. The message was very clear and the path to it was as straightforward as possible.
I appreciate the concept and I'm glad that this is available for English speakers, but I hope it opens the door to similar books with a writing style that is more to my personal taste.
I did like that the book covered a lot of ground concerning Vietnam's history of the last century and I liked the concept of showing the effect of the different wars and political reforms by following one particular family. It is a large family, which allowed the author to intertwine different fates and roles of people of that time. But I think this is also the downfall of this book. It tried to cover too much ground for its length, which resulted in a lack of depth. Most of the time the characters felt more like caricatures than actual people. The main character is growing up during the book, but her voice is the same as a middle schooler and as an adult. Because of this, I felt very detached throughout the whole book, despite it depicting many horrible events. But we just weren't given enough time to sit with these events. Everything moved on very quickly. Many (huge) interpersonal conflicts were resolved within a few pages due to the pacing. In a way, this felt like a very clean cut, black-and-white parable-esque book. The message was very clear and the path to it was as straightforward as possible.
I appreciate the concept and I'm glad that this is available for English speakers, but I hope it opens the door to similar books with a writing style that is more to my personal taste.