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merle98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
space_corgi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
As told in other reviews, the writing is VERBOSE. At some points, it is gratuitously verbose. But that is the voice of our narrator. An intellectual who is trying to dissect himself, but doesn’t quite get there until he is confronted with his own sins. If that sounds cool to you, you would like this book. Otherwise, this is not a spy novel. I mean, it is, but it’s more a reflection on power, control and war.
Also, I would say calling this a thriller is a stretch. You’ll be thrilled by certain passages that you want to underline, frame and paste on the folds of your brain lobes. But the pacing is slow. Arduously slow. And that doesn’t fall in line with a “thriller”.
Now let’s hop into what wasn’t so great. The narrator’s view on women is complex and disgusting at points in the novel. The sexualization of war and disturbingly detached descriptions of women’s bodies is frankly tough to read through. It’s as if every male author who wants to be seen as intellectual subscribes to using sex/analogies to sex/sexual violence as a way to show the primitive nature of any action. Reverting to cavemen? What better way to illustrate than to bastardize all men through what (presumably) they all desire? Come on people. Let’s do better for all the women that have to read through this crap.
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit and Murder
Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Blood, and Classism
alexhaydon's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and War
ning_aling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Torture, Murder, and War
Moderate: Gore, Racism, Excrement, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail
cademia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Racism and Torture
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Murder
melf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Murder
julianship's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Murder, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
erenreads12's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Racism
bjerz's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, and Colonisation
annreadsabook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
We view life through the eyes of the book’s protagonist, an unnamed half-Vietnamese, half-French agent who acts as a spy for the North after fleeing Vietnam during the capture of Saigon. The narrator, a self-proclaimed “spook,” navigates life as someone who finds himself teetering the fence between dual identities in many aspects. Through this character, Viet Thanh Nguyen grapples with questions of white saviorism, the US military industrial complex (and Hollywood’s role in stoking that flame), racism, and US culture so skillfully (and, at times, with a pinch of humor) that I’m sad when I have to put it down.
I honestly don’t want to say much more about it right now because there’s so many layers to this book and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone!!
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and War