Reviews - Der Sympathisant

4.39k reviews for:

Der Sympathisant

Viet Thanh Nguyen

4.01 AVERAGE

anjasch4's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 8%

Not for me

idahovic's review against another edition

4.0

A book of literary fiction with the spy part being secondary. An excellent read. A story of friendship, commitment, war, deceit, corruption, and belief. I'll be reading more Nguyen.

streator's review against another edition

3.0

The problem with this world weary and angry book is that their is no one that is very likeable in the text. You just keep hoping someone will do something good and live up to some ideal. Spoiler alert, doesn't happen. I have enough of this going on in real life. I don't need to be reminded of it....

etpram's review against another edition

3.0

Parts of this were great, and there were several philosophical lines on the futility of war that I found moving. But overall the book was a slog and took me ages to finish. I’m glad I read it and learned a bit about different perspectives on the Vietnam war (which I know next to nothing about).

bradydt98's review against another edition

5.0

"The Sympathizer" reads as though written by an English professor at an elite university (which it was). After finishing this book, I believe the Pulitzer Prize was well deserved. While the book was rife with ideological contradictions, it made me constantly mull over my preconceptions and world-view, which I believe was the author's intentions. While a hard read at times, I highly recommend Nguyen's work.