The Sympathizer
By Viet Thanh Nguyen
Grove Press,9780802124944, 2016, 384 pp.
The Short of It:
Thrilling, at times funny, but relentlessly fast-paced.
The Rest of It:
Many books have been written about the Vietnam war. We’ve all seen our share of movies too about the subject. The Sympathizer is different in that it’s narrated by a double agent. Building a life with refugees in Los Angeles, he also reports back to his communist superiors in Vietnam.
The story is told in jarring episodic bursts of storytelling. At one point, I had to go back to make sure my Kindle did not jump to another book because all of a sudden the characters are engaged in making a movie about the Vietnam experience. This was a very weird, surreal part of the novel. The portrayal of the events and how the the Vietnamese were represented was at once front and center, and also an afterthought.
The entire book is push/pull. Some events are highly detailed and graphic and then the author lures you back in through a comical interchange. It’s hard from me to describe the story because the frenetic energy of the storytelling keeps you moving forward even though you’re not sure what you just read! But, even though it seemed like work to keep things straight, I did enjoy the reading experience.
It should be mentioned that it’s won a ton of awards. Have you read it? There is a sequel out if you enjoyed this one.
Source: Borrowed
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Book Chatter 
Nice post
I have not read this book. It is on the list of books that intimidate me. I don’t always have a reason for the intimidation it’s just there.
Hope you’re feeling a bit better and getting some answers.
I get the intimidation because I felt the same way going in but it was not at all intimidating. Oddly enough.
I really loved this book. You can read my review here: https://savvyverseandwit.com/2017/05/the-sympathizer-by-viet-thanh-nguyen.html
We read it for a book club read — it was my selection that month. I love his frenetic style. I’ve also read the sequel, but I didn’t like that one as much.
I did enjoy his style quite a bit.
Yes this book took me a long while to read in 2016. I found it pretty dense & not easy to get thru but also interesting and worthwhile too. I’m impressed you picked it up. I think the movie part was one of my favorite parts / very satirical. Here is my review of it: https://www.thecuecard.com/books/sympathizer-breathe-becomes-air/
I hope that earlier message went through? Not sure. But we read it for my book club. It’s a pretty wild book right? It took me forever … but I made it. https://www.thecuecard.com/books/sympathizer-breathe-becomes-air/
Nice review. I’m definitely keen on this novel, I have a copy but it is way down my very long TBR pile at the moment. Having read it are you keen on the sequel?