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mikaylahartk's review against another edition
5.0
Witty, dark, stylish - A nameless Communist spy flees Vietnam at the Fall of Saigon and continues his covert operations as a refugee in America, all the while scheming a return to his homeland. Nguyen mixes the the dread and the tension of a flashy, fictional spy novel with the wry irony of a memoir as the narrator criticizes, revels in, and eventually flees America back to his battered but begrudgingly beloved homeland.
I'm finding it hard to categorize this book on my bookshelf. Though it is undoubtedly fiction, it reads like a memoir, a fact not lost on the narrator, who refers to his "confessional" multiple times. Some chapters could stand on their own as essays examining American culture (namely, its unrelenting optimism and affluence coupled with undercurrents of racism, corruption, and vice) from the point of view of a disillusioned refugee. Our narrator is at once subject to the mercy of his American sponsors from his daily sustenance to, as he discovers after consulting on a Hollywood movie, how the rest of the public perceives and stereotypes him and his country. I have never found such an honest, well-tempered treatise on the Asian immigrant and even the Asian-American experience, and the narrator's long stint in America was personally validating in many ways I did not anticipate. Even the passages regarding Vietnamese history and culture, an area I know very little about, were educational without the stodginess or heavy-handedness of a classroom. I grew to appreciate his culture as his perspectives validated my own.
That said, this book is not for the faint of heart. One particular passage towards the end troubled me enough to put the book aside entirely for a few days. Unlike most fiction, which use disturbing images and gaudy sex like glitter to a child's artwork, I found Nguyen's deployment of these sensational moments sobering - a surprising reaction since I'm steeped in American Hollywood, which sensationalizes large explosions like it isn't often oppression and subjugation at work. After reading The Sympathizer, it is hard to view a Hollywood Shoot 'Em Up the same way.
In sum, this book fulfills pretty much every hope I have for a fiction book when I take it off the shelf: an experience that offers a brief escape from reality but returns you with more insights and perspective than when you left. Highly recommend.
I'm finding it hard to categorize this book on my bookshelf. Though it is undoubtedly fiction, it reads like a memoir, a fact not lost on the narrator, who refers to his "confessional" multiple times. Some chapters could stand on their own as essays examining American culture (namely, its unrelenting optimism and affluence coupled with undercurrents of racism, corruption, and vice) from the point of view of a disillusioned refugee. Our narrator is at once subject to the mercy of his American sponsors from his daily sustenance to, as he discovers after consulting on a Hollywood movie, how the rest of the public perceives and stereotypes him and his country. I have never found such an honest, well-tempered treatise on the Asian immigrant and even the Asian-American experience, and the narrator's long stint in America was personally validating in many ways I did not anticipate. Even the passages regarding Vietnamese history and culture, an area I know very little about, were educational without the stodginess or heavy-handedness of a classroom. I grew to appreciate his culture as his perspectives validated my own.
That said, this book is not for the faint of heart. One particular passage towards the end troubled me enough to put the book aside entirely for a few days. Unlike most fiction, which use disturbing images and gaudy sex like glitter to a child's artwork, I found Nguyen's deployment of these sensational moments sobering - a surprising reaction since I'm steeped in American Hollywood, which sensationalizes large explosions like it isn't often oppression and subjugation at work. After reading The Sympathizer, it is hard to view a Hollywood Shoot 'Em Up the same way.
In sum, this book fulfills pretty much every hope I have for a fiction book when I take it off the shelf: an experience that offers a brief escape from reality but returns you with more insights and perspective than when you left. Highly recommend.
mamajaguar1791's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.75
bruinuclafan's review against another edition
5.0
An amazing, amazing reading (listening) experience about the end of the Vietnam War and the experience of some South Vietnamese who fled to America. The main character--whose name we never learn--is a spy for the North who has infiltrated a South Vietnamese General's staff. The book opens as the General is fleeing during the fall of Saigon, and our narrator receives his instructions to flee with the General to America. What ensues is a fascinating narrative and observational account of how the losing side of the war adjusted to life in America and pursued the American dream (or not).
The book is also a compelling account of America's role in starting the war and perhaps, at least by some accounts, failing to fully commit to it. One theme in this book is the relationship between America and Vietnam on the one hand, and Americans and Vietnamese (or really all Asians), on the other hand.
The book also takes on American race-relations through the unique perspective of Vietnamese refugees. One of our narrator's love interests in America is Japanese-American, and it is through her that we see the contrast between her, a full Asian-American, and our narrator, a recent refugee.
But perhaps the biggest theme of the book is the duality of being torn between two sides. The narrator is half Vietnamese, half French. He is also a bastard. He's a spy for the North but he is from the South. He's ostensibly a communist but lives a capitalist life. Etc. This is where the title must come from (in my opinion) because our narrator can sympathize with two-sides.
And then there is communism itself. The book has something to say about that. No spoilers here, though.
I thought the pace of this book was terrific. The writing kept me drawn in, and the plot was continuously interesting. I think there could be a Part II someday as well. I really never got tired of being in this world.
The book is also a compelling account of America's role in starting the war and perhaps, at least by some accounts, failing to fully commit to it. One theme in this book is the relationship between America and Vietnam on the one hand, and Americans and Vietnamese (or really all Asians), on the other hand.
The book also takes on American race-relations through the unique perspective of Vietnamese refugees. One of our narrator's love interests in America is Japanese-American, and it is through her that we see the contrast between her, a full Asian-American, and our narrator, a recent refugee.
But perhaps the biggest theme of the book is the duality of being torn between two sides. The narrator is half Vietnamese, half French. He is also a bastard. He's a spy for the North but he is from the South. He's ostensibly a communist but lives a capitalist life. Etc. This is where the title must come from (in my opinion) because our narrator can sympathize with two-sides.
And then there is communism itself. The book has something to say about that. No spoilers here, though.
I thought the pace of this book was terrific. The writing kept me drawn in, and the plot was continuously interesting. I think there could be a Part II someday as well. I really never got tired of being in this world.
nami2's review
challenging
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
drgnhrt968's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
p_t_b's review against another edition
4.0
postcolonial/imperial spy novel with some truly bonkers elements spun into it. i have always wanted to know what vietnamese people think about the vietnam war, and this gives me the idea that the answer is long and boiling mad and complicated as shit. RIYL: graham greene by way of frantz fanon but also light in august and un prophète and a smattering of both apocalypse now and tropic thunder.
2/3rds of the way through this was five stars, tell your friends, but it shorts out in the last act, just gets a little repetitive and a lot gnarly (not recommended if you can't deal with extended torture/rape scenes). the heavy stuff is justified given the thematics of the book, but there are some pretty egregious writing equivalents of whammy bar runs in the last bit of the book. this is at least as good as "tree of smoke" and way shorter, even if it's also too long.
also i listened to this on audible in the car so i may have gotten several characters confused and zoned out for brief portions of it but IT WAS STILL PRETTY GOOD
2/3rds of the way through this was five stars, tell your friends, but it shorts out in the last act, just gets a little repetitive and a lot gnarly (not recommended if you can't deal with extended torture/rape scenes). the heavy stuff is justified given the thematics of the book, but there are some pretty egregious writing equivalents of whammy bar runs in the last bit of the book. this is at least as good as "tree of smoke" and way shorter, even if it's also too long.
also i listened to this on audible in the car so i may have gotten several characters confused and zoned out for brief portions of it but IT WAS STILL PRETTY GOOD
xtinaji's review against another edition
4.0
Most definitely the angriest Asian-American literature I have ever read, and I loved it for that. The Sympathizer is unapologetic, and Nguyen doesn't pull any punches when it comes to making the reader feel just as uncomfortable as the narrator. Really only docking a star because I didn't fully understand the motif of torture that is threaded throughout the story, but I appreciate this book for its take on how identity, when layered, is a complex experience that tugs you in different directions.
sam1th_reddy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
ivysinconsistentreads's review against another edition
4.0
The part where it was revealed that the Commissioner was Man was a rollercoaster. Nguyen does a great job at incorporating the moral conflicts he has between his two identities and the obstacles that he runs into while providing information to Man to update him of the South Vietnamese nationalist movement to take back Saigon. I however didn't like the graphic scenes and skipped over them, although some pages may have been crucial for context, but overall it was introspective and as a fellow Viet-American hit home for me when I read the part where he described the Vietnamese community as isolated because neither countries, the USA or Vietnam, accept them due to fleeing or maintaining loyalty to the VC.