It’s entirely possible to read The Sympathizer as “only” a masterful Le Carrian spy story, full of double- and triple-agents and betrayals both personal and ideological. But it works just as well as a vicious satire of the place the…
Jun 30, 2023ThomE51 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I was handed this novel a month ago and told, "Here, read this. You were in Vietnam, tell me what you think." I read a lot of books about war, probably too many. The Sympathizer is a very good book about the Vietnam war, but not because…
Jun 07, 2023colind85 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
One of my more intense reads, this novel provides the reader with a perspective on the Vietnam War and its aftermath that isn’t often heard in history lessons in North America. It’s vividly described making it often painful to read, but…
Jan 07, 2023gokul_125 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
The Sympathizer uses the oft-overlooked Vietnamese perspective to convey a deeply-compelling look into the Vietnam War, America, and the difficulty of identity through the eyes of our brave, cowardly, stupid, genius, deeply human narrator.…
Nov 06, 2022dgiard rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Viet Than Nguyen's "The Sympathizer" tells the story of a Vietnamese man fighting with the South Vietnamese army against the Viet Cong. The twist is that he claims to be a spy for the North Vietnamese. The other twist is that he repeatedly…
Feb 11, 2022EljayJohnson rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I have very mixed feelings about this book. There were many 5-star worthy passages throughout; Nguyen is extraordinarily gifted. I appreciated the themes and the almost-shocking darkest of black humor and satire. But ultimately, while I…
Jan 28, 2022eusebius rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Well, it's not like an Oliver Stone film; this is the war told from the Vietnamese point of view. Unfortunately, Nguyen's prose, so carefully worked over and so cynical at times is off-putting; he reminds me of an Asian Vladimir Nabokov.…
Aug 14, 2021steverino4 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Deserves its Pulitzer for fiction. Nguyen puts his thumb on a sore point in American/Vietnamese history and digs in with relentless gusto. Achieves the rare distinction of making the reader laugh and cry at the same time.
I forget…
Mar 21, 2021JLMason rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book is a masterpiece, well deserving of the Pulitzer. Its Eurasian narrator, a "man of two minds", is a symbol of the differences between East and West, communism and capitalism, immigrant and citizen, yellow and white. Gestated…
Jan 20, 2021BARosen1112 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Deeply moving and thought provoking first novel richly deserved its Pulitzer Prize 5 years ago. It's the story of a Viet refugee from the fall of Saigon making his way in the USA while embroiled in espionage on behalf of revolutionary…
Oct 22, 2020monicajain12 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer centers around a captain who represents two sides; he is an official in South Vietnam, and yet doubles as a Communist sympathizer and agent for North Vietnam. He is an illegitimate child of a Frenchman…
As Saigon falls to the NVA, an unnamed South Vietnamese officer flees to America. Unknown to his fellow refugees, he is a North Vietnamese spy with an unusual capacity to see both sides of every conflict. Part history, part dark comedy…
I was about 20 years old when the Vietnam War or, as the author reminds us, the American War, took place, but we never looked from lthe perspective that this excellent book provides. At my present age, I'm grateful to have the book's…
Sep 28, 2020lijanel rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
A great story accompanied by great writing. I am not a history buff and had known little about the the birth of the Vietnamese culture in the US/LA area. But I was very drawn to this book, first by the real life achievement of the author…
May 08, 2019themightytofu rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book manages to explore all the things that were purposefully left out in your standard American high school history lesson on the Vietnam War. It does so with a rage and grace that holds everyone accountable while exploring all the…
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The Sympathizer