The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) (The Sympathizer, 1)

I really, really did not enjoy this book. Frankly, I think I only finished it as some kind of act of defiance. It’s a mildly interesting story, populated mostly by characters that I couldn’t care less about, written in a plodding style that makes every minute of reading feel like ten. To make matters worse, it’s stuffed full of long pseudo-politico-philosophical passages, where the only question I could grapple with was the meta-question of whether this was supposed to be a serious exploration, or some kind of postmodern, ironically self-aware, tongue-in-cheek critique of political philosophy itself. I suspect it was actually supposed to be something at a meta-level one or two steps further removed from even those layers. And let me be perfectly clear: I could not possibly care one iota less. Like the protagonist himself, there were long periods of time where all I wanted was a pistol to put me out of my misery. But I finished it, if only so I could say with some credibility: You should not do the same.

I remember visiting Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, taking in all the history, and all the many ways their countries and their people were exploited and destroyed by the US (and others), and I wondered why they welcomed us there or even allowed us in. Such a shameful part of our history that have lasting effects even now.
Nguyen brings it to light in even more stark detail, on a more personal, individual level, but also told with dark humor at times. He also does not let the Vietnamese people off the hook so easily, acknowledging that they were literally their own worst enemy at times.
I liked the running theme in the book of the conflicting identities of the protagonist in the story as a stand-in for Vietnam as a whole.
Very compelling and eye-opening book.

Worst book I have ever read hated from start to finish no action I like books with action and this had no action never read this book unless your boring and like boring stuff but trust me this is ver boring trust

This book is a surprising, sometimes shocking, and an incredibly important perspective of the Vietnam War era from a Vietnamese refugee perspective, a side of the story that Americans don't learn in school. Written as the confession of a captured spy addressing his captor, our narrator recounts his entire life - from his mother's loving care to the senseless murder of a colleague - until the present moment, when he must finally face his faceless captor and learn the deep dark secret of "revolution." I can't wait for Viet Thanh Nguyen's next book!

Did I enjoy this book? Not really.

Am I glad I read it? Absolutely.

I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about history. I know very little about Vietnam and the fall of Saigon and even less about the Vietnamese people. By the time I reached the 5th chapter I stopped because I could not figure out what was going on. I was lost. I put the book down and hit the internet for some background on the fall of Saigon and interviews with the author. Not everyone will need to do this but it certainly helped me get my mind into the proper context in preparation for the book.

While this book was a fictional story about a double agent, it weaves in a great deal of history, culture and many-layered characters. It makes you think. It truly is deserving of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction award, as it is well-written with many beautiful descriptions, double-meanings, broad vocabulary, and metaphors, which I loved and I hated. By the last third of the book all the descriptions and metaphors became tedious and I began impatiently skimming over the words to move things along. Even so, the story was interesting, eye-opening, and at times, touching. You'll ponder the story and events long after finishing the book. I'm glad I read it. In fact, I'm liking it now far more than I did while reading it. I appreciate the skills and talents of the author. He certainly achieved one of his goals -- I now have a much greater awareness and understanding that "Vietnam is a country, not a war".