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.

Book now a bookring and here are participants:

1. BookBirds
2. erishkigal
3.valpete

Sorry, I was out of town for a bit helping my dad in the hospital (he is back home now recovering from the stroke & brain surgery). Now here to say this book is in safe hands! Will read soon but I kind of feel bad reading if my dad can't read to go back to work. I'll be working on it with him. I've been looking forward to this one, especially because it made it pretty far in the Morning News Tournament of Books (which I like mentioning whenever I can.) Thanks for sharing!

With a French priest dad and a Vietnamese girl for a mom, it's no wonder that naturally the main character here (mentioned at times as the prisoner, the pupil, or the patient) can sympathize with many sides while fighting in the Vietnam war. I do appreciate seeing things from the perspective of a Vietnamese man but I can also appreciate that Nguyen doesn't choose sides. At all.
To me, I feel like there are shades of many amazing classic books within this one, primarily Adam Johnson's stunning 'The Orphan Master's Son'. Oddly enough, though Jun Do in The Orphan Master's Son is an every man who does many terrible things yet still maintains so much sympathy from me, the reader. The main character in 'The Sympathizer', I am mostly indifferent with possibly due to his many-sidedness, which made it tough for me to delve into the book like I would have wished. Another character this one reminds me of is Paul Beatty's 'Sellout' where the main character in each book can see from many sides. (To be fair 'The Sellout' did arrive on the scene around the same time as 'The Sympathizer'.) (But I should love a character called the sympathizer like I loved the Sellout -- the main character is even called a sellout!) Other books I was reminded of: 'Catch 22', 'Someone Knows My Name' by Lawrence Hill for its 'others say we don't belong here or there' element, 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison, 'Heart of Darkness' by Conrad, '1984' by Orwell. All of these books I feel I loved more (except Catch 22). Though on a sentence level, there are some stunners, possibly the book went over my head. Possibly the book wasn't tying together for me as it was for other readers. Maybe I thought it was pulling from too many other books. And how Kafkaesque is my reading life when almost all of the books seem to take Kafka for inspiration? It's interesting that an author of something called 'The Sympathizer' takes no sides of anyone participating in this war: not the Americans or the North Vietnamese or the South Vietnamese. If anything, the book is necessary from the point of view of a Vietnamese man from a Vietnamese American author. The world needs all the voices from all the people in all the places.

Will send to the next reader when I can... it might be a while. Thank so much for sharing!

FINALLY sent out. It took an unacceptably long time to read and post this. Sorry about that but I do appreciate the sharing! Thanks

I was beginning to wonder if this one had disappeared into the wilds of the postal system. But it has arrived, as is often the problem with rings, at a super-busy time, when I'm already backed up.

I know you said a month, and I will try to manage... but it's the holidays, and I've taken extra work~~ahhhrr! It is one I have wanted to read for quite awhile...maybe I can slip in bits among the others already here that must move on....

ps~ interested in seeing how he refrains from subjectivity (per earlier journal).

I finished this a couple of days ago, and have been processing since... don’t even begin to know where to start talking about it...

So for now, I’ll just say thank you for graciously allowing me to take so long with it. After finishing the ring already here, I got super busy with work and holidays and didn’t start till Boxing Day. Then I went on two weeks to Yellowstone; took the book, but it never made it out of my suitcase. So when I did finally get to seriously reading, I started at the beginning again.

I will be back to actually write about the book and/or my reactions to it. But at this point, I am still kinda numb.

THANK YOU for sharing this incredible book with me!
Pming valpete for her address.

Sorry this took so long! I seem to be suffering from an extreme form of “out of sight, out of mind.“ And then didn’t even remember it was part of a ring-yikes ! Thanks for jogging all, Ravencat, again profuse apologies.

Tracking 9549 0161 8076 9197 5427 26

Thanks for sending this along. It will be a while before I get to it. I promise to journal it when I do.
Brilliant writing! "The narrator, a communist double agent is a "man of two minds," a half-french, half-Vietnamese who arranges to come to America after the fall of Saigon."

"The Sympathizer does what great literature is supposed to do--force us out of our comfort zone to rethink assumptions. This wonderful, disturbing, challenging novel will do more than that--it will affirm something indomitable and essential about us all--a desire to carry on, and to live."

Returning this back to the originator of this Ring.

Book arrived home and thanks to the participants.