Vietnam Revealed Through Fiction
Of the countless books in English on the Vietnam War, how many are written by women and tell the horrors of war and complexity of politics from a female viewpoint? In The Mountains Sing, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai probes painful territory in Vietnam’s past through the eyes of a matriarch and her granddaughter. Like the best works of historical fiction, the interpersonal, psychological dramas of the main characters reflect broader, impersonal forces beyond their control.
The Trần family endures French and Japanese colonial occupation, revolutionary violence and civil war, and US military onslaught. Even nature seems intent on destroying them during the Great Hunger at the end of the Second World War. But alongside the incessant violence of the powerful against the powerless, Nguyễn tells a parallel tale of resilience and resistance (taking literal form when Grandmother Trần learns martial arts). The novel also reveals enduring sources of strength within Vietnamese society — the spiritual refuge of Buddhism, the value placed on learning even in a world on fire, village democracy kept up despite the vicissitudes of national politics, and most important of all, solidarity of the family unit.
Interwoven with all these themes is the centrality of women to the Vietnamese historical experience — as fighters and survivors, as oppressors and liberators. An award-winning poet who grew up in Vietnam, studied in Australia and the UK, and living now in Jakarta, Nguyễn is uniquely equipped in personal experience and literary acumen to help readers better understand Vietnam’s tragic, redemptive past.