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A review by debojoy
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
5.0
I didn't learn much about the Vietnam War—just bits and pieces from protest events, songs from Woodstock, and movies. No one seemed to want to talk about it. I was 20 when the US abruptly departed in April 1975 (also the same month my father passed away—perhaps I was distracted) but I clearly remember the people scrambling to get aboard helicopters to escape.
I learned a lot from this book, which was beautifully written. Sprinkled with satire, some passages made me laugh out loud. And yet, there were painful underlying messages. How the author pulled this off makes me want to go back and see how he did it.
Never have I read a book that moved me enough to plaster it with sticky notes! There are paragraphs and pages of prose that I will read again and again.
Savor this one: it is deliciously wonderful—and dark and raw.
I learned a lot from this book, which was beautifully written. Sprinkled with satire, some passages made me laugh out loud. And yet, there were painful underlying messages. How the author pulled this off makes me want to go back and see how he did it.
Never have I read a book that moved me enough to plaster it with sticky notes! There are paragraphs and pages of prose that I will read again and again.
Savor this one: it is deliciously wonderful—and dark and raw.