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A review by songofkenneth
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
5.0
The TV series which I loved so much (check it out) brought me here.
I enjoyed the prose, written in first person without some punctuation marks except when quoting someone else.
I have never read about the Vietnam war beyond the American POV movies. While this will not pass as historical fiction, it did give me a glimpse of the war (called "American war" in Vietnam) from the Vietnamese POV. I did not know they were colonized by the French, before the American occupation in the 'guise of preventing the spread of communism.
It is told with sarcasm, and a sense of humor and the lead character, "Captain" is a biracial man with a lot of the existential problem of biracial kids - who am I? The Vietnamese people do not accept me, and neither do the West - stuck in between. "Twice of everything" as his mom told him.
The book tells us about the fall of Saigon, the flight of the American backed South Vietnam as refugees to the USA and other parts of Europe. Their struggle with the change in social status - General to liquor store owner/Minister to chicken flipper at a fast-food restaurant. The overt and subtle racism they felt, the sadness of having lost a country while trying to fit into another.
Then there are the covert espionage operations still taking place in America in an attempt to launch a counter-attack in Vietnam.
Is freedom and independence worth the violence and loss? I highly recommend this book.
I enjoyed the prose, written in first person without some punctuation marks except when quoting someone else.
I have never read about the Vietnam war beyond the American POV movies. While this will not pass as historical fiction, it did give me a glimpse of the war (called "American war" in Vietnam) from the Vietnamese POV. I did not know they were colonized by the French, before the American occupation in the 'guise of preventing the spread of communism.
It is told with sarcasm, and a sense of humor and the lead character, "Captain" is a biracial man with a lot of the existential problem of biracial kids - who am I? The Vietnamese people do not accept me, and neither do the West - stuck in between. "Twice of everything" as his mom told him.
The book tells us about the fall of Saigon, the flight of the American backed South Vietnam as refugees to the USA and other parts of Europe. Their struggle with the change in social status - General to liquor store owner/Minister to chicken flipper at a fast-food restaurant. The overt and subtle racism they felt, the sadness of having lost a country while trying to fit into another.
Then there are the covert espionage operations still taking place in America in an attempt to launch a counter-attack in Vietnam.
Is freedom and independence worth the violence and loss? I highly recommend this book.