The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

By Viet Thanh Nguyen

Book Overview

Now an HBO Limited Series
from Executive Producers Park Chan-wook and Robert Downey Jr., Streaming
Exclusively on Max

Winner of the 2016
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Winner of the 2016 Edgar
Award for Best First Novel
Winner of the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal
for Excellence in
Fiction

One of the
New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
One
of TIME's 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All
Time

" A] remarkable debut novel."--Philip
Caputo, New York Times Book Review (cover
review)

Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer
Prize, a startling debut novel from a powerful new voice featuring one of the
most remarkable narrators of recent fiction: a conflicted subversive and
idealist working as a double agent in the aftermath of the Vietnam
War.

The winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for
Fiction, as well as seven other awards, The Sympathizer is
the breakthrough novel of the year. With the pace and suspense of a thriller
and prose that has been compared to Graham Greene and Saul Bellow, The
Sympathizer is a sweeping epic of love and betrayal. The narrator, a
communist double agent, is a "man of two minds," a half-French, half-Vietnamese
army captain who arranges to come to America after the Fall of Saigon, and
while building a new life with other Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles is
secretly reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam.

The Sympathizer is a blistering exploration of
identity and America, a gripping espionage novel, and a powerful story of love
and friendship.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802123457
• ISBN13: 9780802123459
• Release Date: April 2015
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

One of the best Asian American perspectives I've read on the war.

A rare look into the Vietnamese perspective of the war. It flips the usual American narrative on its head. And who doesn't love a gripping spy novel intertwined with sharp satire? What struck me most were the layers and themes. Power vs. powerlessness. Loyalty vs. betrayal. America vs. Vietnam. And the uneasy space of being caught between identities. Nguyen doesn’t just show the clash of Communism and Capitalism, but also the Vietnamese wrestling with themselves. Viet Thanh Nguyen is a master of words. His writing in razor-sharp. Sometimes funny, sometimes devasting. Yet, his writing will pull you into paradoxes you don't see at first glance. Blink you'll miss the humor. Blink again and you miss the critique hiding underneath it all. Not a light read by any means. But its one that lingers. Refreshing, necessary, and one of the best Asian American perspectives I've read on the war. A story not of right vs wrong, but right vs right. 4.5/5 Rounded to 5/5.

Seeing the war in Vietnam from the other side..

Nguyen is a gifted writer who is able to let the reader understand what life was like for the Vietnamese during America's ill fated war against this small and troubled country. He tracks the life of Vietnamese citizens through the war and as they migrate to America where they are seen as 3rd class citizens and then in this case back to Vietnam, where they are not again ever accepted in their homeland. The writing is incredible... Loved the book.

a great read!

This was not an easy read but it was so worth it! The story is amazing and really makes you think about small details that happen to people and how we see others and see ourselves.

Witty and Real. Sooooooo Goooood!

The plot, characters, the WRITING! The symbolism and wit! The absolute realness!!!! I'll reread this for sure! A must must must read!