Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

18 reviews

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. 

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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

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 definitely did not expect Man, his 'blood brother' to be the Commissar hired to be the 'reeducator' (torturer)! 😫

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 ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Classism

annatan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Rape, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Murder, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

fkshg8465's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Finally a book about the Vietnam War by a Vietnamese person. Took a while to finish this. Wanted to savor it but also, it was a lot to digest. Strongly recommend reading the op-ed and Q&A at the end too. Gives me a much greater in depth insight into the book by seeing it from the author’s perspective.

PS, have a dictionary handy. There were a LOT of SAT words!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

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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

anarmandameg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

Just gonna recycle my review from The Hanging City and say 'Weirdly Horny'

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Blood, and Classism

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kellylover86's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book was engaging. A look at the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Vietnamese soldier, a double agent working for the communists and informing on the South Vietnamese soldiers. Lots happened in this book, and it was interestingly written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

scrapeen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, and War

Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia

randomman0880's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

This book occupies a very interesting part of literature in that it's an expectionally written book that handles Asian American identity and it's complexities well, exploring the historical and political contexts of the demographic without lecturing. However, occupying a niche that seemingly confronts Invisible Man and Miss Saigon, the book wields its own form of casual misogyny and unwieldy narrative that builds the main characters personality but seems unnecessarily excessive at times. The book sometimes uses its own brand of cruelty to demonstrate tragedy in contrast to the epic senseless violence that other Vietnam War stories often embrace, and I wish that this was less impactful on the story. The general treatment of several other side characters in the interest of atmospheric setting are in my opinion somewhat excessive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Racism

deals heavily with post traumatic stress and trauma generally