The moon shines on people's fates.

I felt as if a moon was shining, illuminating the lives of these people, when reading the short story collection "Sending the Moon to the Mountains" (Thanh Nien Publishing House, 2023) by author Hoang Thi Hien.

The moonlight depicted by the Tay ethnic girl seems to empathize with the people living in the mountainous forests, conveying her love for the homeland where she was born, raised, and is deeply connected to.

Without embellishment or flowery language, the moonlight perfectly captured the happiness, suffering, bitterness, sorrow, and misfortune experienced by the characters in the story. It depicted the simple love between May and Xuan, romantically portrayed by the author through the enchanting sounds of the zither and the captivating folk songs under the moonlight. Little did they know, the moon could not illuminate their hearts; their seemingly enduring love faded with distance and time. Although Xuan could not win May's heart, he found peace in his soul through his efforts to preserve and protect the cultural identity of the zither and folk songs of his homeland, which captivated hearts.

Besides the women who are happy in love and receive the care and support of their loved ones, as in "In-laws," readers also encounter women who are unhappy in their married lives, where opium smoke acts as a binding rope, pulling their husbands and fathers away from their families, like Deng in "A Crescent Moon in Po Tu Village." Or women whose husbands are so jealous that they leave, like Thao in "The Empty Fields of Cranes," or Ly in "The Unruffled Lake," who hides her sorrow because her husband is infertile.

That bright moon also shines on the sorrows of men silently enduring the emotional pain of witnessing the toxic herbicide unintentionally causing their children's brains to develop abnormally, leading to their wives' depression ("Clouds at the End of the Sky"). Or the anguish of witnessing the addiction of their childhood friends ("Gold in the Mountains"), from which they nurture the great ambition of building a prosperous and beautiful homeland, to change the way of life and thinking of the people in the mountainous forest region.

Reading the 23 short stories in "Sending the Moon to the Mountains" often leaves a heavy feeling, along with the sadness of the characters. But the skillful interweaving of stories with happy endings allows us to see life opening up a brighter path for the characters. The moon not only illuminates the pain in the hidden corners of the soul, but also shines upon the lives of characters who overcome their fate through willpower, effort, and unwavering determination...

In each of Hien's short stories, readers always find the warm presence of human kindness. This is reflected in the way people treat each other through acts of protection, love, care, and consideration for one another.

(According to hanoimoi.vn)

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