Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

30 reviews

rutabagab's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0


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dreadpiraterudis's review against another edition

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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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girljames's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Fascinating insight into Vietnamese politics, and the war and its fallout from a Vietnamese perspective. Compelling, sympathetic main character. Pretty horrific ending.

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jennymwoo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful tense 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

4.0

This novel is hard to review because it's so many different books in one. There's the war novel, the refugee novel, and the social critique. The tone veers from serious to hilarious in the blink of an eye, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. The first part of the novel reminds me of South Park in both its satire and its crudeness (Exhibit A: the squid scene). Then we take a detour into Apocalypse Now territory before concluding with an ending reminiscent of 1984. It's a lot, and not all of it works as well as it could 
However, at its heart is a powerful tale of three best friends and the secrets and sacrifices that bind them together. That novel is five stars all the way. 

(Did I reduce my rating because of the lack of quotation marks? No, but it was very confusing in the beginning figuring out the difference between dialogue and narration. If a grammar snob like me can get past that, it must be a book worth reading.)

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stalfos's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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entommoore's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

4.5


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linthemountains's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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sofxaim's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I just could not get into this book. Like at all. It wasn't particularly interesting nor engaging. To me it reads more like a really long, kind of boring (sorry) journal entry. I might come back to it one day, though. 

Edit: I did in fact end up coming back to this book. While it was still painfully slow sometimes, it was beautifully written. It was insightful, dark, and humorous.

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sakisreads's review against another edition

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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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pianoman543's review against another edition

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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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