A profound, startling, and beautifully crafted debut novel, The Sympathizer is the story of a man of two minds, someone whose political beliefs clash with his individual loyalties.
It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be gi...
A profound, startling, and beautifully crafted debut novel, The Sympathizer is the story of a man of two minds, someone whose political beliefs clash with his individual loyalties.
It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the last flights out of the country. The general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware that one among their number, the captain, is secretly observing and reporting on the group to a higher-up in the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story, The Sympathizer explores a life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.
Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of the novel The Sympathizer (Grove Press, 2015). He also authored Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America (Oxford University Press, 2002) and co-edited Transpacific Studies: Framing an Emerging Field (University of Hawaii Press, 2014). An associate professor at the University of Southern California, he teaches in the depart...
Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of the novel The Sympathizer (Grove Press, 2015). He also authored Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America (Oxford University Press, 2002) and co-edited Transpacific Studies: Framing an Emerging Field (University of Hawaii Press, 2014). An associate professor at the University of Southern California, he teaches in the departments of English and American Studies and Ethnicity.
He has been a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies (2011-2012), the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard (2008-2009) and the Fine Arts Work Center (2004-2005). He has also received residencies, fellowships, and grants from the Luce Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, the James Irvine Foundation, the Huntington Library, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Creative Capital and the Warhol Foundation.
His short fiction has been published in Manoa, Best New American Voices 2007, A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross-Cultural Collision and Connection, Narrative Magazine, TriQuarterly, the Chicago Tribune, and Gulf Coast, where his story won the 2007 Fiction Prize.
His writing has been translated into Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Spanish, and he has given invited lectures in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Germany. He is finishing an academic book titled War, Memory, Identity.
I would rate the book 3.5 stars out of 5. Nguyen is truly a master of language. His elaborate wording renders the book nothing short of a joy to read. However, I am a bit disappointed in how the plot ...I would rate the book 3.5 stars out of 5. Nguyen is truly a master of language. His elaborate wording renders the book nothing short of a joy to read. However, I am a bit disappointed in how the plot unravels in the final few chapters where Nguyen seems to be rather carried away.(展开)
A lack of knowledge about the Vietnam War made me detach from the novel. Nguyen was very critical of the role of the Americans in Vietnam. Neither grateful nor confrontational, he had such an angry t...A lack of knowledge about the Vietnam War made me detach from the novel. Nguyen was very critical of the role of the Americans in Vietnam. Neither grateful nor confrontational, he had such an angry tone towards American culture and Southern Vietnamese politics. Like his satirical approach to a political connoted literature work. SY 8/9(展开)
文笔绝妙,画面感强烈。开始和结尾的几章,因为军事术语和虐待场景太多,令人痛苦。No one is on the right side, everyone should be held accountable. 看待越战的新视角。No apology, no explanation. 在移民文学中鹤立鸡群。
作者对得起他English prof的职位的 用GRE词汇写了这本小说。作为Asian American literature, 这本书是要得满分的 即魔幻又现实。然而以我个人的审美偏好来说,仅仅reflective isn't enough, one needs sensational charms to be a masterpiece(还是说我审美观已被white washed
0 有用 Mr. D 2019-01-02 01:00:23
I would rate the book 3.5 stars out of 5. Nguyen is truly a master of language. His elaborate wording renders the book nothing short of a joy to read. However, I am a bit disappointed in how the plot ... I would rate the book 3.5 stars out of 5. Nguyen is truly a master of language. His elaborate wording renders the book nothing short of a joy to read. However, I am a bit disappointed in how the plot unravels in the final few chapters where Nguyen seems to be rather carried away. (展开)
5 有用 啄木桑的诗极好 2017-10-10 14:57:35
"I'm dying because this world I'm living in isn't worth dying for! If something is worth dying for, then you've got a reason to live."
0 有用 Soo Yung 2019-10-07 08:33:48
A lack of knowledge about the Vietnam War made me detach from the novel. Nguyen was very critical of the role of the Americans in Vietnam. Neither grateful nor confrontational, he had such an angry t... A lack of knowledge about the Vietnam War made me detach from the novel. Nguyen was very critical of the role of the Americans in Vietnam. Neither grateful nor confrontational, he had such an angry tone towards American culture and Southern Vietnamese politics. Like his satirical approach to a political connoted literature work. SY 8/9 (展开)
0 有用 salty yuzu 2022-03-24 04:55:06
文笔绝妙,画面感强烈。开始和结尾的几章,因为军事术语和虐待场景太多,令人痛苦。No one is on the right side, everyone should be held accountable. 看待越战的新视角。No apology, no explanation. 在移民文学中鹤立鸡群。
26 有用 Hesperia 2017-03-02 11:47:18
作者对得起他English prof的职位的 用GRE词汇写了这本小说。作为Asian American literature, 这本书是要得满分的 即魔幻又现实。然而以我个人的审美偏好来说,仅仅reflective isn't enough, one needs sensational charms to be a masterpiece(还是说我审美观已被white washed