Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

80 reviews

annatan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Police brutality, Violence, Rape, Murder, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Grief, Bullying, Colonisation, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

yasmin_raev's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Racism, War, Torture, Gun violence, Rape, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia and Fatphobia

mirroaoror's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I genuinely don't know how to rate this book because I am honestly shaking in my boots as I am writing this. The amount of times this book has horrified me is too many to count. But I will say that it suceeded in presenting me a new perspective on the events that happened in those times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Body horror, Death, Violence, Rape, Blood, Torture, Xenophobia, and Sexual violence

Moderate: War, Gun violence, and Misogyny

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

estragal's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

Wow, wow, wow. I compulsively consumed this book in three days, enamored by Nguyen's engaging prose and beautiful illustration of a life lived twice. Cannot recommend this enough 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, and Violence

Minor: Addiction

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

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

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

katherine_shelton's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

The writing is meticulous, the characters are complex, the story is fascinating, it's just an excellent book. It's also enjoyable to read, despite being dark and very violent. My Dad is a Vietnam war  veteran and I was exposed to all THOSE movies, including Apocalypse Now, at a weirdly young age (WTF, Dad!) and reading about them from the perspective of these fictionalized Vietnamese characters was really embarrassing. I definitely grimaced reading some of the scenes that I specifically remember seeing in film ages ago. The author has a really clever style of writing that evokes empathy without being self-pitying or preachy. It holds a mirror up to American Colonialism, and other atrocities, such as disco fashion, without beating you over the head. In fact, it's hard not to feel like you're on the protagonists side, even though he's very morally flawed. Anyway, I recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

bookmaddie's review against another edition

It’s soooo masculine and nothing has happened.

Yeah, he killed a man but somehow that’s been made BORING?!

Like give me some action! Isn’t this a spy book? I’m confused. And also pages of explanation or like.. smart asides and observations. Which are sometimes clever and thoughtful, but the descriptions are overwrought to me. I just didn’t care and everything felt so tedious.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Torture, and Blood