Reviews with content warning for War - The Sympathizer

Reviews tagging 'War'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

94 reviews

cassreading's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was wonderfully and thoughtfully written. It has so much to say about the Vietnam war, American imperialism, racism, the American Dream™, politics, language, representation. It's incredibly ambitious, and yet I think it manages to do what it wants well for the most part.

The ending was brutal to read (read TW). It definitely shows the brutality of war, the limits of sympathy, but I still feel unsure about it, and about the book's representation of women as a whole. Still working through that mentally.

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lavenderlion's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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patchworkculture's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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friendlypoet's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

maviemerveilleuse's review

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dark funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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bookmaddie's review

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It’s soooo masculine and nothing has happened.

Yeah, he killed a man but somehow that’s been made BORING?!

Like give me some action! Isn’t this a spy book? I’m confused. And also pages of explanation or like.. smart asides and observations. Which are sometimes clever and thoughtful, but the descriptions are overwrought to me. I just didn’t care and everything felt so tedious.

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claired01's review

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challenging dark

5.0

I have nothing to say!

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haleyburns0123's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

rei_vitalize's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

Very philosophical book. I really enjoyed the prose of the book. Not my usual type of book I read but did enjoy it but was often confused by the plot. Also some very weird flashback stories and character very sex obsessed which wasn’t expecting based off the synopsis. Plot was almost like different vignettes about the character. Intrigued enough to read the sequel but don’t think I’d read this one again.

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jessaustin111's review

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

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