NCantonLibrary Chat discussion

One of our digital ebook and e-audiobook services is Hoopla Digital. Hoopla features a new book every quarter for discussion, and for April-June they have picked the book The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. This is a book I've been hearing a lot of good things about for months, so I thought I would throw it out here for discussion. The great thing about Hoopla is their ebooks and e-audiobooks are always available, so we can all be reading the same title together. If you need help using Hoopla, I this handout might help, or I'm available for questions.
https://1drv.ms/b/s!ArmTcb0I8zoMhhPDK...

Here's the link to Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

And here's a link to the book here if you'd like to read a description and add it to your shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

I started listening to this yesterday, and I'm really enjoying it. This is my first update:

So far, this is a wonderful read. Both Huong and her grandmother are incredibly compelling characters Also enjoying the wide scope of of time being covered here.

My latest update!

Every page is just more heartbreaking and moving than the one before. Look forward to discussing this one with folks.

Another update. Really folks, this book is fantastic. (Aside--For people who specifically like audiobooks, I'm definitely enjoying the reader.)

So much sadness and pain, and then the little rays of hope pop through to keep you going. Diệu Lan's determination to continue on no matter what is so extraordinary.

My review

The Mountains Sing is a magnificent debut novel by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai that covers decades and generations of the Trần family in Vietnam. The chapters alternate between Hương, a girl growing up in 1970s Vietnam, and the family history her grandmother, Diệu Lan, tells her. Tragedy begins for the Trần family when the Japanese arrive during WWII, but life for this hard-working family has so much more pain, but also hope, to follow. After the war, comes famine and then land reform and then the war between North and South and America. Through it all, Diệu Lan perseveres and fights to keep her family alive.

This is a remarkable piece of recent history few Americas likely know in the kind of depth the author provides, and certainly not in the poetic and compelling way she tells it. (This might be Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s first novel in English, but she is also a published poet, and it shows.) The investment in what will become of Hương and how her grandmother survived is real and immediate. I recommend this one highly, and I should mention that I listened to the audiobook, and I enjoyed the reader very much.

Shelia