Secure The Mountains Sing: Nguyen Phan Que Mai Penned By Phan Que Mai Nguyen Paperback

gave a quite different view of the war, from a south Vietnamese point of view, It told of the hardship endured by the ordinary people, The damage that was done done by the Americans, How the North Vietnamese delt with the landowners and the employers, how things got twisted, to make the 'good people' into 'bad people', This is quite a hard book to read as it tells a history that is filled with sadness and loss, It is hard to imagine people going through so much and still surviving, It is really worth reading , the only thing I didn't enjoy was that it kept jumping from period to period and back again and it's difficult to keep track of the characters and their back stories.
It is worth reading though, I really loved reading this book, I had all the emotions from sadness to happiness, "But war isn't kindness or sympathy War is death, sorrow, and misery"A multigenerational tale of the Tran family, set during the Viet Nam War.
The first POV is Dieu Lan who

was forced to flee her home with her children during the riots and purging caused by the Land Reform.
While trying to escape, she has to leave behind her children to keep them safe, Years later, we watch her and her granddaughter hiding from the bombs while trying to keep hope alive, The second POV that we get is that of Huong the granddaughter as she lives and grows up in a war torn country, waiting for her parents to return from the war and baring the repercussion of their decide to fight at the war front.
Huong's mother returning with PTSD, her uncle without his legs, her other uncle dead and others still missing, The writing is so good, that you almost feel and hear the bombs and the silent howl of pain it leaves in its wake.
Its so vivid, rich in culture language and tradition, I really loved the proverbs that were sprinkled all through the book, Grandma Lan was presented as a strong woman who nothing seems to faze until you realise why her experiences with the war that had tried to break her, had forged her into a force field.
A pillar of strength for her family, I like that we end on a good note, As this is a coming of age story across multiple generations we get to see them fall in love and marry, have children and share losses.
Huong' relationship was really cute and Tam was just so cute I was so invested in their happiness, They both deserved it. I have probably given too many spoilers, but I just encourage you to read this book, I learnt a lot about the war that I didn't know before, There was one thought that came to my mind about the Land Reform law and how it destroyed the lives of many, 'The best way to destroy a community, is to divide them by riches, The poor will rise up and stone the rich and powerful, Then there will be no one left to protect the community' They acted out of greed and they destroyed themselves, forgetting that the heavens hold record.
We read this for our bookclub, It is really interesting to see the Vietnamese point of view of the Vietnam war and the year before and after, Fascinating to learn about life there, The story does jump about a bit so you have to concentrate on the character's names, The family tree at the front is helpful, A map of Vietnam would also be of use, The terrible events of the American bombing with Agent Orange and the long term effects are worth reading about, What a pointless, cruel conflict, Having said that, the jealousy and infighting between the Vietnamese people themselves caused dreadful pain and suffering, There is poetry in the prose, which gives it a wonderfully authentic flavour, This is Que Mai's first novel in English, based on family experiences, so it will be interesting to see what topic she tackles next.
This is a potted history of Vietnam in the twentieth century, told through the eyes of the grandmother, who lived through the French and Japanese occupations and the horrors of the war with America.
It also brings to light the internal divisions within the country and how farmers were classified as rich and exploitative landowners who had to be eradicated at the beginning of the communist era.
If you enjoy Philippa Gregorys books to learn about British history, and you want to learn about the rest of the world, this is a must read.
Winner of the Blogger's Book Prize,Winner of Best Literary Fiction and Best Multicultural Fiction at American Book Fest International Book Awards,'An epic account of Viet Nam's painfulth century history, both vast in scope and intimate in its telling Moving and riveting.
' Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Sympathizer  Selected as a Best Book ofby NB Magazine BookBrowse Buzz Magazine NPR Washington Independent Books Real Simple She Reads A Hindu's View Thoughts from a Page One family, two generations of women and a war that will change their lives forever Ha Noi,.
 As war breaks out in Viet Nam, twelve year old Hương clings to her grandmother in an improvised shelter as American bombs fall around them.
 For her grandmother, the experience is horribly familiar, This is a woman who knows what it takes to hold a family together as a country crumbles,  And now, coming of age in a nation rocked by conflict, Hương must do the same, With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko and the haunting beauty of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, The Mountains Sing tells the enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, intimate, lyrical and bursting with life.
   

Dr Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is an award winning writer in both Vietnamese and English, Her eight books of poetry, short fiction and non fiction in Vietnamese have received some of Vietnam's top literary awards including thePoetry of the Year Award from the Hanoi Writers Association, the Capitals Literature Arts Award, and First Prize in the Poetry Competition celebrating,Years of Hanoi.
Her debut novel and first book in English, THE MOUNTAINS SING, is an International Bestseller, a New York Times Editors' Choice Selection, Winner of theBookBrowse Best Debut Award, a Finalist of the AudieBest Audiobook of the Year Award, Winner of theLannan Literary Award Fellowship for "a work of exceptional quality" and for "contribution to peace and reconciliation", among others.
The novel has been named a best book ofby than ten media establishments including NPR and the Washington Independent Books, Quế Mai is the translator of seven books published in Vietnam and the United States, and has received the Vietnam Writers Associations Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Advancement of Vietnamese Literature Overseas.
As a social activist, she founded the Chắp Cánh Ước Mơ volunteer group to assist children with cancer and two scholarship programs to provide opportunities for disadvantaged children to continue their schooling.
In her roles as a consultant to UN organisations in Vietnam, she designed communications strategies to help combat human trafficking and child labor, She currently divides her time between Indonesia and Vietnam, Her journalism regularly appears in major Vietnamese newspapers, For information, visit www. nguyenphanquemai. com.

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