Reviews

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

aidan_walker's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

courtvaderbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

2.0

sbaum127's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.0

ghempel's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

fannachristine's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

amyjo25's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, and War

tmreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.5

suhmown's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.0

The good: I learned a lot, the spy parts were really cool, the ending was pretty fantastic. 

The bad: 250 pages were irrelevant, the entire middle felt so boring, I physically could not pick it up at times because of the dread. 


If you like long winded historical war/politics based books (which I know many do), definitely check it out. Otherwise, read the Wikipedia synopsis 😘

katsugirl's review against another edition

5.0

One of my favorites.

brianhuynh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The contradictions are endless. I feel a profound morose. I would have more to say if this hadn’t stirred a flood of thoughts.