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!

[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!