BookReviews from our Book Club
The Mountains Sing
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By Nguyen Phan Que Mai ( 2020 )
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The Quiet American
By Graham Greene ( 1955 )
ARTICLE BY CAROL H .
Vietnam . For many of us , the name symbolizes a lost and futile war fought at an enormous human cost . The newspaper headlines in the 1960s were dominated by names like Tonkin Bay , Ho Chi Minh Trail , the Tet Offensive , Viet Cong , My Lai Massacre — and we listened to despairing stories from GIs ( including fathers and friends ) who came home , participated in demonstrations against the war , and voted for McGovern and his promise to end the war . This was our side of the story .
The Mountains Sing and The Quiet American , chosen for our June and July Book Club discussion , show two other sides of the story ... and span the time from the Japanese occupation during World War II through the First Indochina War , when France fought to maintain its colony against the growing communist movement of the Viet Minh with the ensuing Great Hunger and land reforms , up to the aftermath of the destructive Second Indochina War ( the Vietnam War ).
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Nguyen Phan Que Mai ’ s epic , historical The Mountains Sing is set against the backdrop of the Vietnam conflict , through the eyes of the people themselves . It is a story of resilience , determination , family , and hope in a country blighted by pain . Through the travails of one family over four generations , the author outlines the horrors of famine , war , and class struggle using simple but poietic storytelling from the standpoint of a grandmother and her granddaughter . The author weaves a beautiful narrative of the power of one woman to pick up and continue , to love and forgive , and to see her country beginning to flourish again .
Graham Greene ’ s The Quiet American also paints a story of a country gripped by conflict , but stands in striking contrast to The Mountains Sing in several aspects . First , it spans less than a year during the early 1950s , when the French face defeat and US involvement begins and , second , it views the Vietnam conflict through the eyes of a cynical British journalist . The style of
^` writing also jarringly contrasts : Greene is the master of using only a few words to describe a scene with extraordinary effect .
On the surface , The Quiet American tells the story of the struggle of Mr . Fowler ( aging British journalist who insists on political non-involvement ) and Mr . Pyle ( young American idealist believing in the domino theory and nation building ) to win the affection and love of Phuong — a young , beautiful Vietnamese woman . Yet the real story is the deep political conflict of the time . The ways in which the two men conceptualize Vietnam ’ s future is played out in their relationship with Phuong , who is portrayed as a non-feeling object to be won or lost in a contest between the men and their competing world views . In this respect , the books also contrast in the perception of women ’ s power .
We all agreed that reading both books added considerably to our understanding of the complex and deadly Vietnam conflict , almost forgotten today .
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