A review by bookreviewswithkb
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

cw: descriptive scene of rape, murder, torture 

i have such a love hate relationship with this book. did i enjoy reading it? absolutely not. do i think it is an extremely important read? absolutely yes. 

i appreciate how intelligently the sympathizer is written. it uses elements of satire and irony to make points about the Vietnam War, Communism, the aftermath of war. it is clever and insightful and certainly not written to appease and entertain the white audience

butttt it was often too intelligent for me to understand (which admittedly is a me problem, not a book problem). and although i can understand the use of sexual inferences and misogynistic viewpoints in order to make a point, i don’t always agree that it’s necessary, which i found true several times throughout this book. it is also pretty devoid of any emotion at all 

i don’t know, that’s all i have to say