Reviews tagging 'War'

A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, a History, a Memorial by Viet Thanh Nguyen

7 reviews

gvstyris's review

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

4.75

Americans, who continually struggle to be greater than the sum of their parts, live in a culture of forgetfulness, that fifty-first state of Denial. This is a country where so many would rather not remember what the poet William Carlos Williams calls the orgy of blood from which the nation was born and that still soaks the land so many citizens, including those who were once refugees, continue to profit from. 

A Man of Two Faces somehow manages to simultaneously be moving, compelling and witty...and I'll be thinking about it for a long time.   

I have too many thoughts so main highlights include: 
- the discussion about what 'whiteness' actually entails and how its definition has changed throughout history 
- the unpacking of the cycle of colonisation & how the colonised become colonisers
- everything about the importance of decolonising the literary canon and how 'the Great American novels' represent a very white, straight, cis, upper-class, male POV
- the way this novel intersects history & anecdotal experiences 
- how white supremacy influences the way different racial minorities interact with one-another 
- Nguyen's sensitivity towards his parents (& later children) 
- the second person narration!
- the underlying dry humour 
- Nguyen's self-awareness and honesty 

Such an important read, and I'm so so excited to hear Nguyen speak at the Auckland Writers' Fest. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Mental illness, Colonisation, Gun violence, Hate crime, and War

onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Colonisation, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Hate crime

nikkiehippie0's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Racism, and War

joannalouise's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Gun violence, and Death of parent

lizmart88's review

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

I read The Sympathizer and appreciated its brilliance even as I struggled with it. I feel a little bit the same about this new book. First off, it's much easier to follow and understand at least on a surface level. Viet has said he deliberately wanted to defy genres. This book is part memoir, part poetry, part cultural critique, part taking back power. It feels like the book written for himself, which is the best thing an author can do. It deals with really hard topics - his mother's time in a psychiatric hospital; the abandonment of his adopted sister when his family left Viet Nam; his own understanding of what it means to be Vietnamese and American. There's a pretty rampant and strong critique of America's historical and current preference for war and invading other countries, which I  agree with so appreciated! 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Mental illness, and Genocide

swee_p's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, and Gun violence

creativerunnings's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, War, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Infertility, and Pandemic/Epidemic