A review by cmvoelkel
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

I have to admit that I am happy to have finished this book though I am equally glad to have read it.  Dark, intelligent, challenging and unforgettable, I‘ve never read anything like this.  I picked it up after just having finished The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai because I thought it would be interesting to read another perspective on Vietnamese history.  I was really taken aback at how different these  two books were.  The former focused more on how the war impacted one family and the everyday lives of civilians whereas The Sympathizer focused on the violence, politics and raw workings behind the ugliness of war.  Whereas I connected more to the emotional nature of The Mountains Sing, I am glad to have this very powerful and unique perspective as well, for one can not really truly examine war without examining the politics, philosophies, power dynamics, racism and sexism that pervades through this book.  A much more intellectual enterprise, and impressively so.  This is a very hard book to read but a very important one. 
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