The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

[unspeakablehorror]

After seeing a number of posts by tobermoriansass about the novel The Sympathizer, I decided to read this novel.  It's a novel focusing on a double agent who is sent to America at the end of the Vietnam War.  I'm not well immersed in the genre of spy stories, so I can't really talk about how it fits into that, but there's definitely a lot in this story that I do have thoughts on.  It's a story about the aftermath of the Vietnam War that's both deeply reflective and sharply humorous.  I interpret the title as both referring to the political definition of sympathizer and a sympathizer as someone who feels sympathetic towards others.  This is a novel about deep human connection and about how brutal people can be to one another.  I can't really write a whole lot at the moment, but I just wanted to get a few of my thoughts out.

Comments

[chamerion]

That novel wrecked me in the best way. Glad you enjoyed it/are enjoying it!

[unspeakablehorror]

It's intense for sure! I realized after reading your comment that I forgot to mention in my post that I've recently finished the novel. It took me 6 days to read it.

[tobermoriansass]

!!!!!!! I find it fascinating as an addition to the spy canon simply because its so unlike the conventions of the standard spy novel and touches on the propaganda aspect more than a lot of standard spy novels do, even the ones that do deconstruct espionage vv Alan Furst or Le Carre.

Also lol as Chamerion says, the novel completely wrecked me. Would love to hear more of your thoughts when you do have the time/brain space to put them down!

[unspeakablehorror]

I'll probably be processing it for a long time! I hope sometime I can write up something that can be a more adequate review of it, but I can say that it just kind of gripped me and didn't let go. Some things I've been thinking about: all of the parts about The Hamlet movie, the ghosts and their role in the story, the protagonist's childhood and how that impacts and relates to the events in the story, the Nietzsche quote at the beginning, and the depiction of torture in the story (which, by the way, that sleep torture part really got to me, being a person who loves to sleep).

Also, was definitely quite a shock to get to the part where he finishes his confession to the commandant and discover there was still about a hundred pages left when I was expecting it would tie up pretty soon after that point, one way or another.

Definitely one of the most insightful stories I've ever read, and one that delivers equal measures of horror and humor.