Book Reviews: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

In many ways this novel feels less like a novel and more like an interesting essay on the realities of the Vietnam War from the perspective of (maybe either a socialist or neoliberal?) person who takes a critical lens at both sides. The reader expects this both sides take because they are introduced at the very beginning to our titular character, a half Vietnamese communist spy. This book focuses on Vietnamese representation in media, life as refugees in America, the role of America in the revolution, and then finally in the last chapters in Vietnam. 

I appreciated the way this novel asks the age old question, how can you force a revolution on a public? How can communism exist when its participants are unwilling? The narrator does not have the answers to these questions, only more questions and a deep hatred for the American War Machine. 

For the entirety of the novel the tongue in cheek satirical tone takes a hard turn at the end, becoming deeply graphic and violent in its imagery. This was effective at showing the reader the reality of the cruelty and images while still keeping hold of the agency of the narrator, disallowed from becoming another faceless nameless tragedy for the American public to consume we are given only complex and many times irreconcilable human beings. 

I think while the book attempts to take a feminist role in showcasing the lives and realities of Vietnamese women, this is the one aspect it really fails in. Women only have roles in this novel, they are hardly characters. It also suffers from a case of the Madonna or Whore phenomenon, and I struggled with both the main character's treatment of women but also the novel's literal displays of graphic violence. I think in a lot of ways this blindspot serves the titular character's characterization but it leaves the reader with a slight distrust of the author, and question's his ability to write female characters.  

I know to some extent this novel is satire, and furthermore that we are supposed to find the sex scenes indicative of the loneliness and alienation our protagonist feels at being half French & half Vietnamese but… sigh. Every author by a man that ends up reaching some level of critical renown always has some sexual awakening scene that is supposed to shock or disturb the reader in some way, in this case I think its intended to fit into the comedic portions of this book? The prose itself dealt with the situation humorously but I’m going to be honest, I didn’t need it ! Leave the poor squid alone lol If anything it distanced me from the character and only sought sow seeds of mistrust between me and the author’s voice. Even Mrs. Mori who is supposed to be seen as a liberated woman, is only seen through the character's eyes as a potential lover. Her complexity nearly completely stripped away at the end, when she decides to pursue another man other than our protagonist.  

This facet aside, this book taught me things I never knew in interesting ways. I liked how the author used the language of the world to talk about scenes,  “Empty beer cans surrounded him like bullet casings” after they had just escaped war torn Vietnam for America.  I think it can be almost unanimously decided by the public at this point that The Vietnam War was ineffectual, useless, and an embarrassment for America; in this way it acts as the perfect stage for this double agent character with incredible empathy that is just trying to survive. I have an idea that the author takes the perspective of at least a socialist who casts a critical lens on America & their role on the Vietnam war but also on the tactics of some of the communist leadership. The themes espoused by this novel remind me much of my parent's ideals- having also left a communist country (Russia) their feelings were extremely critical of America but also of their previous regime, in essence they ended up believing in nothing but survival which is almost exactly where our main character is left by the end of the book. 

I recommend this book for those that don't know much about the Vietnam War who are looking for a Vietnamese American perspective on it.