Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Sympathiser by Viet Thanh Nguyen

43 reviews

drewfead's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad 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: War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Colonisation, Torture, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Vomit, Xenophobia, Murder, Blood, Confinement, and Suicidal thoughts

pagesintranslation's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Rape, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol and Pedophilia

samarakroeger'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? Yes

4.0

a very solid book that actually made me somewhat curious about the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon, thus prompting me to do some research about a topic I previously found quite dull. 

this truly is about the duality of man.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Excrement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Torture, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Stalking, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Violence, and War

douglasreaddimg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Misogyny, War, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

jacobinreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense fast-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

4.25

Ooh boy. This book is so good, and so difficult,  and so worthwhile.

Darkly comic, and unrelentingly honest in its evisceration of both reaction and revolution,  this is a fantastic exploration of Imperialism, diaspora, ambivalence, and in some important sense- modernity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, and Torture

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, War, and Xenophobia

luciuh's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

this is a good ass book. read it for school and wrote an essay, and it is so good. it is very heavily loaded and takes a second to read but it’s totally worth it. it’s very blunt to the point where the satire becomes too real (but still very enjoyable), and is a very interesting exploration of the dynamics between the vietnamese and the american. it is a very unique story regarding the vietnam war, nice

 i  think it’s necessary to mention that you should def check trigger warnings especially for the last chunk of the book, especially for the rape scene.

edit:  it’s interesting because it’s more on the aftermath of the vietnam war from the perspective of someone not quite vietnamese but also certainly not american

edit again: forgot to mention, it is so sexist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Child death, Death, Murder, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

yvespiders's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, War, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Violence

196books's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, and Violence

Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism

kingsamong's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Racial slurs, War, Murder, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual content

aidrielle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

[lots of thoughts i won't be able to expound] all i can say right now is i wish all asian american literature were like this (critical of the imperialist US that forcibly displaced many of them from their countries of origin in the first place) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia