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A review by liberrydude
The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
4.0
This is a dark descent into depravity well told. A great discussion on philosophy and political science throughout the book as the main character finally realizes he believes in nothing. Or does he not? Much like the first book captured Conrad’s Heart of Darkness this one is like a Vietnamese version of the film The Deer Hunter.
Vo Danh, the Communist double agent, has been released from re-education camp in Vietnam. Instead of returning to the USA he goes to Paris. His blood brother, Bon, who is fervently anti-communist, accompanied him. They get jobs in the worst restaurant in the city which is a cover for an Asian gangster. Vo soon becomes a drug dealer peddling hashish to the French bourgeois. Bon is burning with revenge to get the commissar who presided over their camp. Ghosts of the men Vo has killed come to him in his dreams. Gang warfare starts with the Algerians. It’s ugly involving torture with hammers and Russian roulette. But an opportunity under the guise of Vietnamese culture presents itself for the long awaited showdown with Bon’s nemesis.
Lots of great lines in the book.
Charm is but the seduction of subjugation.
the homeliness of one’s own people was always comforting. Page 33
That’s the problem with loyalty. The Boss sighed. It’s great until it’s a pain in the ass. Page 40
I mastered English without ambivalence because it had never mastered us. Page 54
There was no need for the French to condemn us. So long as we spoke in their language, we condemned ourselves.
Page 55
Nothing is so expensive as what is given for free. Page 60
The American Way of Life! Eat too much, work too much, buy too much, read too little, think even less, and die in poverty and insecurity. Page 63
I’m wondering whether the story is over or will there be a third book. Quite a surprising ending.
Vo Danh, the Communist double agent, has been released from re-education camp in Vietnam. Instead of returning to the USA he goes to Paris. His blood brother, Bon, who is fervently anti-communist, accompanied him. They get jobs in the worst restaurant in the city which is a cover for an Asian gangster. Vo soon becomes a drug dealer peddling hashish to the French bourgeois. Bon is burning with revenge to get the commissar who presided over their camp. Ghosts of the men Vo has killed come to him in his dreams. Gang warfare starts with the Algerians. It’s ugly involving torture with hammers and Russian roulette. But an opportunity under the guise of Vietnamese culture presents itself for the long awaited showdown with Bon’s nemesis.
Lots of great lines in the book.
Charm is but the seduction of subjugation.
the homeliness of one’s own people was always comforting. Page 33
That’s the problem with loyalty. The Boss sighed. It’s great until it’s a pain in the ass. Page 40
I mastered English without ambivalence because it had never mastered us. Page 54
There was no need for the French to condemn us. So long as we spoke in their language, we condemned ourselves.
Page 55
Nothing is so expensive as what is given for free. Page 60
The American Way of Life! Eat too much, work too much, buy too much, read too little, think even less, and die in poverty and insecurity. Page 63
I’m wondering whether the story is over or will there be a third book. Quite a surprising ending.