Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The Sympathizer

As a wasian/hapa myself, this hit close to home. I still think about my favorite quotes. Lots of important conversations here. But some of the writing is pointlessly verbose and there's a men-writing-women feel that is super annoying sometimes.

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veronicats's review against another edition

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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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bjerz's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

The Sympathizer is like a perfect sculpture, achingly beautiful as you gaze upon it, then you realize that the face is twisted into an ugly, distorted mask of agony. The writing is challenging (I had to look up a LOT of words) yet both delicious and often funny. You will come away with a new appreciation of what the victims of war go through.

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jthuctran's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

a lot to think about. it was overall a meaningful read - something that'll stick with me for a long time.

the big critique i have with this is that the middle section aka the bulk of the book

(where he goes to work on that film abroad, and later gets injured at his mother's fake grave)

felt as though it was just one big filler episode. i didn't quite see the point in it, there was some meaning in it but it felt like it dragged on for longer than it should have, and i was praying and praying for it to be done with.

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sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review against another edition

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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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