The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
caidyn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.0
Wow. This book. I started it yesterday and couldn't put it down until I was finished. This book was absolutely amazing. I so enjoyed it, even though I was repulsed by it at times. The narrator is so flawed. He's sexist, borderline homophobic, and has done/witnessed horrible things without stopping them. Yet, I was compelled to read it in one sitting. I cannot wait to read the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Xenophobia
emgulph's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Don't get me wrong, I loved this book. It was a stunning visual into the intricacies of the Vietnam war, with a refreshing focus on the crimes of all the powers involved, not taking sides. The refuges and victims of the Vietnam War are allowed to be both angry with their so-called American saviors and with their home country in disrepair.
That being said, much of the content in this work is shocking and not for the faint of heart. It's a book about war. Fresh out of finishing this, I'm sure there are content warnings I forgot to list below. There were many moments where I needed to pause and catch my breath.
That being said, much of the content in this work is shocking and not for the faint of heart. It's a book about war. Fresh out of finishing this, I'm sure there are content warnings I forgot to list below. There were many moments where I needed to pause and catch my breath.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Mental illness, and Xenophobia
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content
bookscoffeetour's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
CW: rape, xenophobia, racial slurs, sexism, homophobia
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer was such an interesting read. I really enjoyed going into the mind of our unnamed protagonist. The writing style of this book is so wonderful.
This may make me a dumb reader, but it took me a bit to get into a groove with reading this book because there are no quotations. It was jarring at first, but once I got used to it, I started to really enjoy this stylistic decision.
I don’t know a lot about the Vietnam War. I vaguely remember learning about it in the general sense in school, but it always fell at the end of the year and I felt like we rushed through it. This book was an eye-opening novel to read about the war, specifically from the Vietnamese perspective. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, The Committed that hit shelves earlier this month. I also grabbed Nguyen’s short story collection, The Refugees, from the library and look forward to reading it as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Homophobia
waterlilyreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-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? Yes
4.0
I've genuinely never read a book like this before. In my senior year of high school, I took a Vietnam War lit and film class, so I've seen and the propaganda-filled media alluded to in The Sympathizer. Most of these were from the perspective of American soldiers and medical staff, so I was looking forward to reading this book from the Vietnamese perspective. I was expecting more of the action to be in-country during the war, but the perspective of being in America in the aftermath was still compelling.
Viet Thanh Nguyen's writing style is powerful. He writes in an almost poetic style, full of metaphors and analogies that draw you in and make the imagery all the more real. The lack of quotation marks was an interesting choice, and often difficult to follow given the length of many paragraphs, but I managed.
The unnamed narrator provided a very interesting perspective on the war. He talked about his Eurasian identity, and how he often felt as if he didn't fit in any community because of his conflicting identities. He (and also the author) provided many compelling thought points about communism, art in revolution, political theory, and morality. Every character in this book is about as morally-grey as it gets. I am one who prefers mostly loveable protagonists, but this perspective is still necessary and highlights the complexities of the war.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I was a little wary of the graphic material in the book. I understand that it is important to not shy away from the horrors of the Vietnam War and the treatment many Vietnamese people faced at the hands of American military leaders, but some of it was very difficult to read. Please be aware of the content warnings from this book--when it says graphic, it means GRAPHIC. The narrator also regularly expressed explicit misogyny and some heavily-implied homophobic sentiments in his internal monologue. I understand that these views were commonplace in the 20th century, but it still uncomfortable to read--especially in a book written in the last decade. There was no indication that the author did not feel this way, especially given that the narrator is unnamed and is difficult to separate from the author; I am wary of books where this distinction is not clear.
I can totally see why this won the Pulitzer Prize. Reading it made me uncomfortable in good and bad ways and provided a new perspective on the Vietnam War. I am looking forward to reading more on the Vietnamese side of the war, especially from the side of those who remained in the north before, during, and after the war.Â
Viet Thanh Nguyen's writing style is powerful. He writes in an almost poetic style, full of metaphors and analogies that draw you in and make the imagery all the more real. The lack of quotation marks was an interesting choice, and often difficult to follow given the length of many paragraphs, but I managed.
The unnamed narrator provided a very interesting perspective on the war. He talked about his Eurasian identity, and how he often felt as if he didn't fit in any community because of his conflicting identities. He (and also the author) provided many compelling thought points about communism, art in revolution, political theory, and morality. Every character in this book is about as morally-grey as it gets. I am one who prefers mostly loveable protagonists, but this perspective is still necessary and highlights the complexities of the war.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I was a little wary of the graphic material in the book. I understand that it is important to not shy away from the horrors of the Vietnam War and the treatment many Vietnamese people faced at the hands of American military leaders, but some of it was very difficult to read. Please be aware of the content warnings from this book--when it says graphic, it means GRAPHIC. The narrator also regularly expressed explicit misogyny and some heavily-implied homophobic sentiments in his internal monologue. I understand that these views were commonplace in the 20th century, but it still uncomfortable to read--especially in a book written in the last decade. There was no indication that the author did not feel this way, especially given that the narrator is unnamed and is difficult to separate from the author; I am wary of books where this distinction is not clear.
I can totally see why this won the Pulitzer Prize. Reading it made me uncomfortable in good and bad ways and provided a new perspective on the Vietnam War. I am looking forward to reading more on the Vietnamese side of the war, especially from the side of those who remained in the north before, during, and after the war.Â
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Violence
More...