Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

6 reviews

anarmandameg's review

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

Just gonna recycle my review from The Hanging City and say 'Weirdly Horny'

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Drug use, Murder, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Trafficking, Gore, Genocide, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Infidelity, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Deportation, Drug abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Domestic abuse

catebutler's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective 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

4.5

MENG 6510 Eminent Writers: Lahiri & Nguyen Fall Semester 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Death, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Genocide, Sexual content, and War

veronicats's review

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, Racism, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, War, Sexual content, Slavery, Misogyny, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Torture

aidrielle's review

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

[lots of thoughts i won't be able to expound] all i can say right now is i wish all asian american literature were like this (critical of the imperialist US that forcibly displaced many of them from their countries of origin in the first place) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

bagxofxtricks's review

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

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Rape, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture

sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I don't know which books it was competing against, it deserves the Pulitzer and any other awards it won. 

Also satire goes over my head, so I might have missed things. 

This book made me put down the book then go down a rabbit hole of Wikipedia to learn more about the Vietnam War (or as it's also known, The American War). Love how Viet Thanh Nguyen wasn't pulling any punches, and he was not necessarily writing to the white audience or those without a working knowledge about the war.

Two themes that I picked up that on - not all on screen representation is good (parody/fictionalisation of Apocalypse Now), and belonging (will probably explore more of this in my IG caption).

Also, while the author has likely done many podcasts interviews, I highly recommend listening to Asian Enough, Season 1, Episode 2. It's my absolute favorite season 1 episode (and John Cho was the guest in the first episode, so that's a high bar in my eyes)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Genocide, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Torture