Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

6 reviews

kellylover86's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book was engaging. A look at the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Vietnamese soldier, a double agent working for the communists and informing on the South Vietnamese soldiers. Lots happened in this book, and it was interestingly written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Murder, Death, War, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Violence, and Colonisation

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

samarakroeger'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? Yes

4.0

a very solid book that actually made me somewhat curious about the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon, thus prompting me to do some research about a topic I previously found quite dull. 

this truly is about the duality of man.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Excrement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Torture, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Stalking, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Violence, and War

kshertz's review

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

The writing is beautiful which is to say, way above my reading/intelligence level. But at the end it does say it’s not for the dominant white groups so that makes sense. It’s not for me. It’s not linear, there’s no way a book about the Vietnam war is going to have a happy ending. But I learned a lot, which is the whole reason to read it and it challenged me. So, I recommend it if you want to be challenged and learn a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Torture, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, and Colonisation

hanna_'s review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

 This book was full of dense and confusing prose, it felt like the author was choosing words just to show off his vocabulary and not because they were good descriptions. I found the plot hard to follow, and the dramatic tone shift at the end off putting. I have never shouted “eww!” out loud so many times while reading a book. It was full of unnecessarily graphic depictions of sexual topics, pedophilic fantasies, rape, bestiality/necrophilia (wish I could unread chapter 6), bowel movements, etc that did not add anything to the plot. The only things I liked was learning a bit about the Vietnam war.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Excrement, War, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, and Murder

ning_aling's review

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• 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

A book that was absorbing to say the least, the main character's voice is really strong and the struggles that he faces within himself and with his environment and the people around him are incredibly compelling. It has some very dark scenes, as can be expected with a reflection of the brutality of the Vietnam War on the population. Really has all the makings of a modern classic, which looks at the absurdity of fate and the constant process of reinvention. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Murder, Death, Child death, and War

Moderate: Racism, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail