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sunkernplus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Since I'm not really good at giving off the cuff reviews of books out of the gate, I'm going to give My Personal Thoughts:
-I was personally excited to read this for school, for one thing. I'm what one would call a "true English major": aside from heteronormative and amatonormative m/f romance (because bi, pan, enbian and gray aromantic as well as quoiromantic) and a lot of YA novels, which, even if LGBT or T4T tend to feature heteronormative and amatonormative dynamics, I'm pretty much unbiased towards any book, from children's literature to erotica. I still found myself excited as I read it until a lot of the misogynistic chapters popped up, but then in later chapters marveled at the Nguyen's amazing prose, droll and dry sense of humor, and telling observations about American capitalist society (the society I was born, reared, and raised in, and know uncomfortably all too well). Perhaps, like Man, I have come to a dialectic synthesis: this book is both horribly misogynistic, and this book is a fantastic work of postmodernist literature, and both can be true at once. However, I still take points off for all of the female characters, even Lana and Sofia Mori, lacking particular interiority, and being mainly to motivate the male character's emotional suffering, which a great deal of it is understandable, and some portion of it (such as the killing of the "crapulent major", God, that fatphobic description of him and Sonny) being of his own making.
-Upon reaching the end of the novel and seeing that his work was inspired by Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man", I did a mental whoop and fist pump. Like, "yes, I knew it, I knew that opening mimicked the opening prologue lines of Invisible Man, give me a prize!" To be fair, I had only read the prologue and first chapter to Ellison's work, as well as the missing draft chapter taking place in a psych ward. But the opening prologue was almost word for word, tone for tone the same without being plagiarism, and the style and tone of the novel draw heavily from Ellison, as well as the themes. I felt super smart when I guessed (today in fact) that this novel was a Vietnamese answer to Invisible Man.
-This personal thought is going to be given in spoilers, but regarding the rape of the woman who called herself Viet Nam, paralleled by the rape of Mai in The Auteur's film and his mother's own implied rape at the hands of the main character's white priest father, gives me two major thoughts, one Watsonian and one Doylist.
The Watsonian thought was that the rape of Viet Nam was foreshadowed largely in part by his mother's implied rape and the main character's mixed race heritage, and by the main character's inability to watch Asia Soo act the scene in which she is raped, despite him being kind of a misogynistic creep towards Lana, who he knew when she was 16 and he was 25 and they were both family members essentially, and despite him being kind of a Nice Guy TM to Sofia Mori and even not having the scruples to refrain from hitting on Asia Soo herself, who was a lesbian, he could not watch her be raped because her character Mai's rape would remind him of the brutal rape the American soldiers committed on the agent who called herself Viet Nam, where she was raped to such brutality he believed her to be dead. In other words, he's very much the guilty character the CIA handbook talks about, the man who feels guilt not only at himself and about himself but projects guilt as coming from others.
The Doylist thought, however, refers to my interest in eroge, or erotic games, and their medium as storytelling and potential arguments for some well written eroge to perhaps qualify as postmodern works of fiction in themselves, and perhaps a lot of them less misogynistic even than The Sympathizer. In my time exploring the eroge genre, either playing eroge, playing clean versions of eroge, or listening to YouTuber Amelie Doree talk about eroge and argue for its legitimacy as art, I have found that even eroge that even depicts scenes of brutal rape, much like The Sympathizer did with Viet Nam's rape, tends to have less outward misogyny than The Sympathizer itself, in my opinion, because the women in a lot of eroge are depicted less as symbols of the main character's brokenness, or clear obvious conservative and always ugly and fat sticks in the mud, like a lot of leftist men depict women either in the left who they disagree with or consider prudish or women on the right who they rightfully disagree with but insult their appearances for being "conventionally ugly" in the case of The Sympathizer, but as humans, with interiority and identity and flaws and strengths and traumas that are as deep as the men in their lives, and in the case of queer eroge focused on women or lesbian eroge such as LOVE BAKUDAN or LOVE AND DEHUMANIZATION, are focused entirely on women and their inner lives, even as, in LOVE AND DEHUMANIZATION's case, the main female characters (she's plural) go through immense pain.
That's all my thoughts for now; I'm not good at reviews, but I'm pretty decent at voicing my many thoughts and opinions.
-I was personally excited to read this for school, for one thing. I'm what one would call a "true English major": aside from heteronormative and amatonormative m/f romance (because bi, pan, enbian and gray aromantic as well as quoiromantic) and a lot of YA novels, which, even if LGBT or T4T tend to feature heteronormative and amatonormative dynamics, I'm pretty much unbiased towards any book, from children's literature to erotica. I still found myself excited as I read it until a lot of the misogynistic chapters popped up, but then in later chapters marveled at the Nguyen's amazing prose, droll and dry sense of humor, and telling observations about American capitalist society (the society I was born, reared, and raised in, and know uncomfortably all too well). Perhaps, like Man, I have come to a dialectic synthesis: this book is both horribly misogynistic, and this book is a fantastic work of postmodernist literature, and both can be true at once. However, I still take points off for all of the female characters, even Lana and Sofia Mori, lacking particular interiority, and being mainly to motivate the male character's emotional suffering, which a great deal of it is understandable, and some portion of it (such as the killing of the "crapulent major", God, that fatphobic description of him and Sonny) being of his own making.
-Upon reaching the end of the novel and seeing that his work was inspired by Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man", I did a mental whoop and fist pump. Like, "yes, I knew it, I knew that opening mimicked the opening prologue lines of Invisible Man, give me a prize!" To be fair, I had only read the prologue and first chapter to Ellison's work, as well as the missing draft chapter taking place in a psych ward. But the opening prologue was almost word for word, tone for tone the same without being plagiarism, and the style and tone of the novel draw heavily from Ellison, as well as the themes. I felt super smart when I guessed (today in fact) that this novel was a Vietnamese answer to Invisible Man.
-
The Watsonian thought was that the rape of Viet Nam was foreshadowed largely in part by his mother's implied rape and the main character's mixed race heritage, and by the main character's inability to watch Asia Soo act the scene in which she is raped, despite him being kind of a misogynistic creep towards Lana, who he knew when she was 16 and he was 25 and they were both family members essentially, and despite him being kind of a Nice Guy TM to Sofia Mori and even not having the scruples to refrain from hitting on Asia Soo herself, who was a lesbian, he could not watch her be raped because her character Mai's rape would remind him of the brutal rape the American soldiers committed on the agent who called herself Viet Nam, where she was raped to such brutality he believed her to be dead. In other words, he's very much the guilty character the CIA handbook talks about, the man who feels guilt not only at himself and about himself but projects guilt as coming from others.
The Doylist thought, however, refers to my interest in eroge, or erotic games, and their medium as storytelling and potential arguments for some well written eroge to perhaps qualify as postmodern works of fiction in themselves, and perhaps a lot of them less misogynistic even than The Sympathizer. In my time exploring the eroge genre, either playing eroge, playing clean versions of eroge, or listening to YouTuber Amelie Doree talk about eroge and argue for its legitimacy as art, I have found that even eroge that even depicts scenes of brutal rape, much like The Sympathizer did with Viet Nam's rape, tends to have less outward misogyny than The Sympathizer itself, in my opinion, because the women in a lot of eroge are depicted less as symbols of the main character's brokenness, or clear obvious conservative and always ugly and fat sticks in the mud, like a lot of leftist men depict women either in the left who they disagree with or consider prudish or women on the right who they rightfully disagree with but insult their appearances for being "conventionally ugly" in the case of The Sympathizer, but as humans, with interiority and identity and flaws and strengths and traumas that are as deep as the men in their lives, and in the case of queer eroge focused on women or lesbian eroge such as LOVE BAKUDAN or LOVE AND DEHUMANIZATION, are focused entirely on women and their inner lives, even as, in LOVE AND DEHUMANIZATION's case, the main female characters (she's plural) go through immense pain.
That's all my thoughts for now; I'm not good at reviews, but I'm pretty decent at voicing my many thoughts and opinions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, and War
Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Xenophobia
Minor: Fatphobia and Rape
aducharme4's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Homophobia and Infidelity
dreadpiraterudis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Such a breathtaking read. Engaging, painful, poignant and just a fucking good book. It engages with politics, philosophy, history and media through a protagonist who felt so alive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
mshoneyyy's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The writing is phenomenal, the author is truly gifted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Minor: Racial slurs
sakisreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The Sympathizer was a tough read for me; I had little understanding of the context and the descriptions felt long-winded 😳 I also kept picking it up and then putting it back down, so perhaps my disjointed reading didn't help either.
I can understand, though, why it won a Pulitzer Prize. It does not shy away from the horrors of the war (which is often depicted as the 'Vietnam War' by American people and the 'American War' by Vietnamese people, and as Viet Thanh Nguyen points out in an interview happened in Cambodia and Laos). The unnamed narrator faces some horrific fates and also does some horrific things; there is no denying this.
I am giving it 3 out of 5 stars and would still recommend to people who are looking for a challenging, dark but fascinating tale on what it means to be a spy for two opposing sides! Thank you ✨
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Classism
pianoman543's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Incest, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, and Colonisation
mapmaker87's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, and Colonisation
bookishevy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.75
I saw that the #HBO series based on this book is already streaming, so I had to push it up my TBR list.
Most of the story is told through the confession of a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain working as a communist double agent who comes to the U.S. after Saigon has fallen. The unnamed narrator settles in LA and rebuilds a life among other Vietnamese refugees while secretly gathering intelligence and reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam.
The narrator makes the perfect spy because he's steeped in dualities. Born and raised in Vietnam but educated in the US. From the north but fighting alongside the south. He serves the Viet Cong but also sympathizes with anti-communists. He struggles with his identity, hence why he doesn't have a name. He says he's "able to see any issue from both sides." Herein lies his conflict.
In his confession to the Commandant, the narrator shares his feelings on his father's identity and how it affected his and his mother's lives, his views on the French and American occupations of Vietnam, how Asians are viewed in America and their stereotypical portrayals on film, how him being part French and his unaccented English made him more palatable to white Americans. He even talks about his love interests. But is he telling everything?
With themes like friendship, loyalty, and betrayal, this part satire spy thriller explores the legacy of the Vietnam war. I didn't think I would laugh out loud while reading this novel, but I did so quite a few times. Funny observations aside, this story deals with heavy, real-life issues like separation from loved ones and other horrors that come with war. I was stunned at the end of chapter 19.
This would have been a 5/5 for me if it weren't for how the dialogue was written. I've read books that don't have quotation marks, but Nguyen also places entire conversations in one paragraph. It's a dense read.
TW: War, violence, murder, graphic rape, torture, grooming, antiasian, and antiblack sentiment
I hope the series does it justice.
Most of the story is told through the confession of a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain working as a communist double agent who comes to the U.S. after Saigon has fallen. The unnamed narrator settles in LA and rebuilds a life among other Vietnamese refugees while secretly gathering intelligence and reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam.
The narrator makes the perfect spy because he's steeped in dualities. Born and raised in Vietnam but educated in the US. From the north but fighting alongside the south. He serves the Viet Cong but also sympathizes with anti-communists. He struggles with his identity, hence why he doesn't have a name. He says he's "able to see any issue from both sides." Herein lies his conflict.
In his confession to the Commandant, the narrator shares his feelings on his father's identity and how it affected his and his mother's lives, his views on the French and American occupations of Vietnam, how Asians are viewed in America and their stereotypical portrayals on film, how him being part French and his unaccented English made him more palatable to white Americans. He even talks about his love interests. But is he telling everything?
With themes like friendship, loyalty, and betrayal, this part satire spy thriller explores the legacy of the Vietnam war. I didn't think I would laugh out loud while reading this novel, but I did so quite a few times. Funny observations aside, this story deals with heavy, real-life issues like separation from loved ones and other horrors that come with war. I was stunned at the end of chapter 19.
This would have been a 5/5 for me if it weren't for how the dialogue was written. I've read books that don't have quotation marks, but Nguyen also places entire conversations in one paragraph. It's a dense read.
TW: War, violence, murder, graphic rape, torture, grooming, antiasian, and antiblack sentiment
I hope the series does it justice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Torture, Murder, and War
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
janineledet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
A tense and difficult read, but well worth it, including the interview with the author at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexual violence
badmom's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Infidelity, Excrement, and Pregnancy