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merle98's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
tense
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
Great book but I am detracting 0.5 stars for the fact that every single female character in the book is either a food-providing wife/mother, a love interest or sexual partner or being brutally raped/tortured/killed off to advance the male protagonist's plotline (or a mix thereof).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Gore, Murder, Vomit, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Colonisation, Blood, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, and Abandonment
space_corgi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Finishing this book took me months. And I do mean months. Do I still rate it at 4.75 stars? Yes, yes I do.
As told in other reviews, the writing is VERBOSE. At some points, it is gratuitously verbose. But that is the voice of our narrator. An intellectual who is trying to dissect himself, but doesn’t quite get there until he is confronted with his own sins. If that sounds cool to you, you would like this book. Otherwise, this is not a spy novel. I mean, it is, but it’s more a reflection on power, control and war.
Also, I would say calling this a thriller is a stretch. You’ll be thrilled by certain passages that you want to underline, frame and paste on the folds of your brain lobes. But the pacing is slow. Arduously slow. And that doesn’t fall in line with a “thriller”.
Now let’s hop into what wasn’t so great. The narrator’s view on women is complex and disgusting at points in the novel. The sexualization of war and disturbingly detached descriptions of women’s bodies is frankly tough to read through. It’s as if every male author who wants to be seen as intellectual subscribes to using sex/analogies to sex/sexual violence as a way to show the primitive nature of any action. Reverting to cavemen? What better way to illustrate than to bastardize all men through what (presumably) they all desire? Come on people. Let’s do better for all the women that have to read through this crap.
As told in other reviews, the writing is VERBOSE. At some points, it is gratuitously verbose. But that is the voice of our narrator. An intellectual who is trying to dissect himself, but doesn’t quite get there until he is confronted with his own sins. If that sounds cool to you, you would like this book. Otherwise, this is not a spy novel. I mean, it is, but it’s more a reflection on power, control and war.
Also, I would say calling this a thriller is a stretch. You’ll be thrilled by certain passages that you want to underline, frame and paste on the folds of your brain lobes. But the pacing is slow. Arduously slow. And that doesn’t fall in line with a “thriller”.
Now let’s hop into what wasn’t so great. The narrator’s view on women is complex and disgusting at points in the novel. The sexualization of war and disturbingly detached descriptions of women’s bodies is frankly tough to read through. It’s as if every male author who wants to be seen as intellectual subscribes to using sex/analogies to sex/sexual violence as a way to show the primitive nature of any action. Reverting to cavemen? What better way to illustrate than to bastardize all men through what (presumably) they all desire? Come on people. Let’s do better for all the women that have to read through this crap.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Gun violence, Violence, Rape, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Racism, and Torture
Moderate: Vomit and Murder
Minor: Blood, Confinement, Classism, and Infidelity
alexhaydon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Rape, Gun violence, Body horror, Gore, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Child death
ning_aling's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A book that was absorbing to say the least, the main character's voice is really strong and the struggles that he faces within himself and with his environment and the people around him are incredibly compelling. It has some very dark scenes, as can be expected with a reflection of the brutality of the Vietnam War on the population. Really has all the makings of a modern classic, which looks at the absurdity of fate and the constant process of reinvention.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture, Murder, Death, Child death, and War
Moderate: Racism, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
cademia's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The lack of quotation marks made this book really hard to get through, but the finale and lyricism of Nguyen’s writing make the length worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Racism
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Murder
melf's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
this is so dark but soooooo well written and compelling. especially as someone who doesn’t know much about the vietnam war (thanks us education system!) this really brought to light a lot of things that i didn’t know about the war. can definitely see why it won a pulitzer but it was still written by a man and there are some grizzly scenes that i didn’t think were really necessary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Murder
julianship's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-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
4.5 stars. By turns bleak and witty, this was such a satisfyingly unsettling read. I would check content warnings with this one (for perhaps obvious reasons) but the prose is incredible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder, Rape, War, Sexism, and Racism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
erenreads12's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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
3.75
Some aspects of this felt a little confusing - I felt as though this book wasn't quite what I expected from the description; less a tale of espionage and more a commentary of media and literature in the wake of the Vietnam War, with admittedly very elegant and deep understanding of race and racism. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing - more that it simply wasn't quite what I anticipated. The last 100 pages or so, however, were brutal and unexpected - equally well written, but somehow out of kilter with the relatively jovial themes running through the rest of the book. Overall a confusing read, but still engaging and interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Torture, War, and Violence
Moderate: Racism
bjerz's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Rape, and Sexual violence
annreadsabook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
tense
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
This book can easily pegged as both a spy thriller and searing social commentary, so if you like either or both of those topics, you are definitely in for some good reading.
We view life through the eyes of the book’s protagonist, an unnamed half-Vietnamese, half-French agent who acts as a spy for the North after fleeing Vietnam during the capture of Saigon. The narrator, a self-proclaimed “spook,” navigates life as someone who finds himself teetering the fence between dual identities in many aspects. Through this character, Viet Thanh Nguyen grapples with questions of white saviorism, the US military industrial complex (and Hollywood’s role in stoking that flame), racism, and US culture so skillfully (and, at times, with a pinch of humor) that I’m sad when I have to put it down.
I honestly don’t want to say much more about it right now because there’s so many layers to this book and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone!!
We view life through the eyes of the book’s protagonist, an unnamed half-Vietnamese, half-French agent who acts as a spy for the North after fleeing Vietnam during the capture of Saigon. The narrator, a self-proclaimed “spook,” navigates life as someone who finds himself teetering the fence between dual identities in many aspects. Through this character, Viet Thanh Nguyen grapples with questions of white saviorism, the US military industrial complex (and Hollywood’s role in stoking that flame), racism, and US culture so skillfully (and, at times, with a pinch of humor) that I’m sad when I have to put it down.
I honestly don’t want to say much more about it right now because there’s so many layers to this book and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Death, and War