Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

45 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

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.

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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 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

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

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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

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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. 

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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. 

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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

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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

cassreading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was wonderfully and thoughtfully written. It has so much to say about the Vietnam war, American imperialism, racism, the American Dream™, politics, language, representation. It's incredibly ambitious, and yet I think it manages to do what it wants well for the most part.

The ending was brutal to read (read TW). It definitely shows the brutality of war, the limits of sympathy, but I still feel unsure about it, and about the book's representation of women as a whole. Still working through that mentally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and War

lavenderlion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and War