Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

43 reviews

bookreader247's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, War, Torture, Rape, Murder, and Gore

mapmaker87's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Racial slurs, Colonisation, Murder, and Racism

amyjo25'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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, and War

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious 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

4.5

Finally a book about the Vietnam War by a Vietnamese person. Took a while to finish this. Wanted to savor it but also, it was a lot to digest. Strongly recommend reading the op-ed and Q&A at the end too. Gives me a much greater in depth insight into the book by setting it from the author’s perspective.

PS, have a dictionary handy. There were a LOT of SAT words!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, War, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Religious bigotry

kisstheladder's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Genocide, Torture, Sexual assault, Racism, Suicide, War, Violence, Gun violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

amandas_bookshelf'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Torture, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, War, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Gore, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Ableism, Alcohol, and Murder

badmom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Torture, War, Colonisation, Classism, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

cassreading's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Suicide, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and War

lavenderlion's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

dmichb's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.75

This one took me a while to finish, in part because it is sort of stream-of-consciousness (dialogue is not separated or marked by quotations), which my dyslexic brain struggled with at times. The other contributing factor is that the prose is so detailed and gripping—you don’t want to miss a thing.

This is really an incredible and visceral book. I am in awe of the story crafting and the ride it takes you on, while weaving in very real situations. My only question is why didn’t the author give Fanon a little shoutout since there are mentions of other theorists, but I digress. Absolutely worth a read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Obviously if you read the synopsis it is clear this book will talk about war and violence, but there is also a detailed depiction of rape near the end of the book so be forewarned.