Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

48 reviews

kellylover86's review against another edition

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

eher1305's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, War, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

catebutler'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

4.5

MENG 6510 Eminent Writers: Lahiri & Nguyen Fall Semester 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Death, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Genocide, Sexual content, and War

pich's review against another edition

my teacher got in trouble for assigning us this book oops 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Death, Violence, and Sexual content

jmcampbell57's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Death, and Murder

Moderate: War and Racism

ponydanza's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Rape, and Torture

hopscotchreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Murder, Death, Torture, Violence, Racism, War, and Rape

Moderate: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Animal cruelty

jmbz38's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Torture, and Forced institutionalization

veronicats's review against another edition

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

welkinvault's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

This  dark, challenging Pulitzer prize winning novel explores the Vietnam war and the war's many legacies (public and personal) from the point of view of a unamed Vietnamese spy  as he writes his confession (to whom and for why is not clear until the last few very dark chapters).  The protagonist (as expected with a character experiencing the duality of being a spy, an unreliable narrator) is forever the outsider, the illegimate child of a French Catholic priest and young teen housekeeper, sent to the US (where he gets a university education and proves his prodigious intellect) and on his return becomes an aide to a General with ties to the CIA while being a mole for the communists.  

This is a sprawling book.  The fall of Saigon and the frantic wait for a plane to leave the country could have been a book on its own.  Or the gently paced section in the 80s and 90s settling into immigrant life in California with its fascinating asides into how even Vietnamese food is not quite right with Chinese ingredients, or the blinkered racism from a university professor, let alone the movie shoot section (both incredible and WTF part of the book), that could also be another novel or two.  The last section, where The Captain goes back with his closest friend (one of the few named men in the book) to help the communists and then subsequent capture and torture them - is just difficult, dark and heartbreaking.  It took me a considerable amount of time to finish the last few chapters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Bullying