The Symphathizer is a remarkable book, both heavy and funny. It's the ultimate "insider's" view of the Vietnam War (called "the American War" by the Vietnamese, by the way) written with deep insight. The protagonist is a 1/2 French, 1/2 Vietnamese man whose worldview and sympathies literally mirror his mixed heritage. He has the ability (?) or curse to understand both sides of the equation, which gets him in some trouble as he is a communist mole in the S. Vietnam military intelligence. He escapes on the day of the fall of Saigon and spends some time in America. His observations about the differences in Asian and American culture are expressed with tremendous wit but jarring wisdom. His involvement as the cultural liaison for an Apocalypse Now-like war film, romantic connection with a university clerk and "professional" relationship with the "Oriental scholar" in the Asian dept are all high points. It's hard to believe, but The Symphathizer is Nguyen's first book; it deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2015. For those of us who have consumed fiction and movies depicting the War from the American perspective for decades, this book is a welcome eye-opener.
For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/the-sympathizer-by-viet-thanh-nguyen.html?_r=0
For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/the-sympathizer-by-viet-thanh-nguyen.html?_r=0
