On Saturday, somewhere across the middle of Canada at 38,000 feet up I victoriously finished Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Sympathizer.” I was on the plane returning from the Senior Tennis Nationals in Ottawa, which was competitive but good fun too. (See the clay courts at left.) I had spent a couple of weeks studying “The Sympathizer” and underlining its key passages. I’m sure one could write his or her dissertation on this novel about the Vietnam War and its aftermath. It’s that type of “important” book, one told from a Vietnamese perspective — on the other side of the war — that’s rarely ever heard.
Over the years I’ve read my share of Vietnam War and refugee stories and seen the American Vietnam War movies, but I haven’t experienced anything like this book, which holds all sides accountable. It’s unsparingly angry and satirical, especially towards the U.S. involvement in the war and American culture. In an interview at the back of the paperback, the author says he wanted “readers to be rattled by the book” and provoked to “rethink their assumptions about this history, and also about the literature they’ve encountered before.” Well no doubt he succeeded: I was rattled anew.
The novel is a bit unusual in that the entire story is told as a confession. The narrator is detailing what has transpired in his life and his thoughts to someone called the Commandant. You don’t really figure out everything about this and the Commandant until the book’s end. But needless to say, it’s a bit ominous. You wonder: what’s all this confession about?!
The Vietnamese narrator is a bit different too, he sees himself as a revolutionary who’s working at the end of the war for a South Vietnamese general, but he is secretly feeding information to the communists. He seems both humane and inhumane. On the one hand he’s utterly loyal and protective of the blood brothers he grew up with and fighting for the people, on the other, his actions to cover up his spying results in the deaths of innocent civilians.
The narrator’s story, you come to find out, is quite a journey. He barely escapes the fall of Saigon in 1975, only to join the General as a refugee in Los Angeles. There he continues to spy for the communists, passing along info on the General’s plan to mount a secret invasion via Thailand to get Vietnam back. Eventually this lands the narrator on a dangerous reconnaissance mission in Laos that results in scary repercussions.
Oh my! You won’t escape the war’s suffering in this book, or how it pulled people apart. It’s a story that lambastes U.S. imperialism, but it doesn’t absolve the communists or South Vietnamese either. There’s one section of the book that’s particularly satirical in which the narrator gets hired as a consultant on a Vietnam War movie called “The Hamlet” being filmed in the Philippines. On set, there’s an egomaniacal director and no speaking lines for the Vietnamese, represented in the film by Korean and Filipino actors. Need I say more? What follows is a dark spoof of what in reality is a takeoff of “Apocalypse Now.” Whoosh, it’s a must read.
In the end, I thought “The Sympathizer” was not exactly an easy book — it was dense in its delivery as one’s person confession without much in the way of dialogue or paragraph breaks. Its unbreaking text often stretched the length of a page. It was also confrontational (in a good way), upending assumptions about the war as it went along. But it was also a novel that had a lot of good lines in it and important things to say about ideology, identity, and the history of the war. By the end, my copy was completely marked up and underlined. I found “The Sympathizer” one of those rare, “big” books that comes out only once in every blue moon.
As an encore to that, I listened to the audiobook of Paul Kalanithi’s popular nonfiction book “When Breath Becomes Air,” which had finally come off hold at the library. Many know this is about a 36-year-old doctor’s battle with lung cancer, which he is diagnosed with during the last year of his residency to become a neurosurgeon.
Oh this is a sad book, but it’s told rather beautifully and matter-of-factly. From the story within, Paul seemed a very bright and outstanding person. After a decade worth of training, he was finally on the verge of becoming the doctor he had always wanted to be — only to receive such a horrendous diagnosis. How he finished his last year of residency while undergoing treatment — and managed to write this book too — is nothing short of miraculous. I found his battle with cancer and his efforts to help others very courageous.
Somehow I had mistakenly thought this book would be mostly about the choice he and his wife made to have a baby after he received his diagnosis. And though it touches on their decision and the baby, the book focuses mainly on Paul’s battle as well as his medical career. He details what made him want to become a doctor, his medical practice and his medical cases to quite an extent. (If you’re really squeamish about hospital stuff, just a slight warning.)
Although Paul didn’t get the chance to finish writing his book, his wife’s very well-done epilogue really brought his story together for me and also made me lose it. How very sad it is, but his story and battle are also strangely comforting and inspirational, too. I think others would benefit in reading or listening to Paul’s book. I’m sure I will think of him & his fight for a very long time.
Now I could use something happy and light next. What about you — have you read either of these books, and if so what did you think?
It’s great to have you back, Susan. I hope you had a good time in the tournament.
I haven’t read either one. I’ve read great reviews of The Sympathizer, yours included. It sounds like a book I should read so I’ll keep it in mind. When I was younger, I read several accounts of the Vietnam War from the Communist perspective, which was the only one allowed. They tended to be heavy on the sugar factor as they praised Communists. This one sounds more balanced.
Thanks Carmen. It’s good to be back. I think you will find that The Sympathizer is not sugary for either side. The narrator has ideals but then they don’t always pan out. He finds that out by the end. I was very young during the War, so only came to understand what was going on much later. Each perspective I’ve read helps to broaden my understanding of it.
I am so happy (is that the right word?) to know another champion for The Sympathizer. It is one of the best books I have read this year. That war really impacted my life and I was always against it, though I was young and quite ignorant at the time. Your review is a worthy one.
I am glad you liked the other book. I have a personal aversion to books about people who lose to cancer. I don’t even know why. I feel that our toxic environment and the insidious long lasting effects of nuclear testing and accidents as well as the indiscriminate use of cancer causing pesticides have made this disease so prevalent, though I know it has been with us for eons. I guess I would rather work on the causes than read books about its victims. But I do respect your review.
Thanks Judy. It’s not always easy to write these reviews especially with multi-faceted books, but I’m pleased with how this one came out. It’s quite a novel no doubt; I’m glad you reviewed & liked it first. As for the cancer book, I figure we have all been touched by cancer in our lives through friends or relatives etc, and those books done well can help others. We are all in this together. And there are times when the writing is so good; it can touch on life like nothing else can. So although I very seldomly read such books — I’m glad I did. I had heard so much about this person. Glad I got to know him briefly thru his words.
Hello Susan – welcome back lady champion. This is a fabulous review. I haven’t read either one, but I’ve read great reviews of The Sympathizer, yours and Judy. The second book is kind of difficult, I just can’t read books about cancer (maybe is because two of my close friends had struggled with this terrible disease). I wish you a great weekend ahead (here is Thursday, one more day then weekend start, yuppie).
Thanks RT. Love the tennis! Both books were powerful in different ways. Glad my review turned out all right. As for books about cancer, see the comments above that I wrote for Judy. I know sometimes cancer hits way Too Close to home to read about. I can understand that, for sure. Have a good weekend.
When Breath Becomes Air was a tremendous book wasn’t it?
It was very sad at times, but it wasn’t heavy with it, if that makes sense. Having family and friends who’ve been through various cancer treatments over the years, hearing him talk about how, even as a doctor, he found it to be very difficult to take in the all information and making decisions about medications and courses.
The Sympathiser is on my radar for one day. I do enjoy the Pulitzer prize winning books & your review has tempted me. Having visited Vietnam, I discovered that, of course, they do not call it the Vietnam War. For them it is the war against America.
Thanks Brona for your comments. Yes the Sympathizer author talks about the “American War” at the end of the book. I wonder what your trip to Vietnam was like? I think there are beautiful parts, right? I’m glad to know you also thought the cancer book was tremendous. It was quite interesting about a doctor facing these things. I found his words & fight courageous. Helpful too. Thanks for stopping by.
Interesting. I didn’t know that Vietnam called the war The War Against America.
You are so right about The Sympathizer- not an easy read, but worth it. I was fortunate to get to meet the author when he was in Seattle and it was fascinating to hear his take on the Vietnam War. And then there was a veteran in the audience who was angry about the book (as if it were non-fiction) and a Vietnamese woman- it got very heated, making me realize it is still a sensitive topic.
Wow. Yeah I can imagine many US Vets would not be happy with The Sympathizer. It really is critical of America’s role etc. It made me a bit uncomfortable but I knew where the author was coming from. So much loss of life. & destruction of his original homeland. That’s great you got to hear the author speak. Thx for telling me about what happened. The war in Vietnam is so sensitive; I don’t even broach it with my own parents.
Didn’t read The Sympathizer but did read When Breath Becomes Air after a recommendation by another blogger. Yes, it was sad but also I thought life-affirming, similar to Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, in that we shouldn’t take anything for granted, ever.
Thanks Bryan, yeah I thought Paul’s book was life affirming in that as his wife points out everyone dies and his words were reaching out to others about that process and what everyone eventually faces. Thx for stopping by
Sounds like an intriguing journey….and restful. The Sympathizer looks like a book I would love to read, as seldom do we get a perspective from the other side. As someone who protested in the US involvement in Vietnam, I am definitely curious.
Thanks for sharing.
I meant to say “protested the US involvement in Vietnam.”
Yes Laurel I know what you mean. I thought The Sympathizer was quite a unique book. I haven’t read books like it. It’s a bit dense but worth a read.
Great reviews Susan! I always enjoy your perspective and your choices in reading.
Hey thanks Darlene! How have you been? I’ll stop by your site to see how your summer has been.
My husband and I have listened to half of the Sympathizer this weekend so we are just at the half way point in the book (at The Hamlet). We are loving the language, the use of double meaning, the use of phrases so familiar to us but turning them on their heads. I understand the book is really difficult to read because of the long paragraphs but we are missing all that in the audio format. I have thought that I’d like to have a print edition of the book to markup, too.
Hi Anne, glad to hear that the audio of The Sympathizer is good and that you’re enjoying it! The Hamlet section is an interesting part of the book! At the end of the paperback in the acknowledgments, you see that the author did a lot of research and reading about the making of Apocalypse Now, which is interesting to find how he did a takeoff of that for The Hamlet. Because I’m reading it for my book club, I’m glad to have been able to mark up a print version. There are a lot of good lines in it. It helped me to keep things clear.
I just finished When Breath a few weeks back. I came away from it thinking what a waste he’d spent so much time preparing for his life and so little time living it.
Thanks for sharing The Sympathizer with us, too.
Yeah Deb, he spent a lot of time studying & training to become a doctor (which was too bad it didn’t fully pan out) — but by his residency he was working on medical cases and with patients and I think he was doing & living how he had always envisioned. I think that’s why he continued on with it that last year. He loved working as a doctor on his cases and he was good at it.
I’d say it’s time for something light after those two books! I do want to read them both at some point, though. You have me more interested in The Sympathizer than I was before.
I recently read Dogs at the Perimeter by Madeleine Thien, which is about the war in Cambodia specifically.
What did you decide to read next?
Hi Naomi, how have you been? I’ll stop by your site to see how your summer went. These books were indeed pretty heavy, so I followed them up with The BFG, which did the trick. Thank goodness I needed something charming & light. 🙂 I haven’t heard of the Madeleine Thien book but will look it up. Thanks.