The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
May. 16th, 2021 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorSo, when I found out The Sympathizer had a sequel, I of course had to read it. While I didn't think any sequel could outdo such an ambitious predecessor, given my predilection for serials, I could hardly imagine passing it up.
So I finished The Committed last night. It's a philosophical gangster thriller taking place in France which occurs after the events of The Sympathizer. I found it a worthwhile addition to the original, though despite being deeply linked to its predecessor, it's a very different kind of story in many ways. I feel like ultimately the two stories are intentionally taking a different approach to their subject matter, so I'm not sure they can really be compared in an apples to apples sense.
The second novel leans heavily into unreality, and indeed after I finished the story, went to sleep, and woke up the next morning, ruminating over the events of the ending, my perception of the whole thing had a moment where it shifted, and I started to question my ultimate interpretation of what had really happened in the story. Still haven't decided whether I think my original interpretation is 'correct', the second interpretation is 'correct', or if perhaps they are both supposed to be correct. So that was interesting. I think I'm going to want to look over that story again.
So I finished The Committed last night. It's a philosophical gangster thriller taking place in France which occurs after the events of The Sympathizer. I found it a worthwhile addition to the original, though despite being deeply linked to its predecessor, it's a very different kind of story in many ways. I feel like ultimately the two stories are intentionally taking a different approach to their subject matter, so I'm not sure they can really be compared in an apples to apples sense.
The second novel leans heavily into unreality, and indeed after I finished the story, went to sleep, and woke up the next morning, ruminating over the events of the ending, my perception of the whole thing had a moment where it shifted, and I started to question my ultimate interpretation of what had really happened in the story. Still haven't decided whether I think my original interpretation is 'correct', the second interpretation is 'correct', or if perhaps they are both supposed to be correct. So that was interesting. I think I'm going to want to look over that story again.