Genre: Book
Grade: A-
Notable People: Viet Thanh Nguyen
Title: “The Sympathizer”
Review: Pulitzer Prize winning first novel by this Vietnamese -American author is an intensely thoughtful look at the end of the Vietnam War- told though the eyes of an exiled- to America- NVA regular, who is secretly a Communist-Vietcong spy……got that? The book is complicated, but a remarkable debut-both as a thriller and powerful social satire. It is not kind about the American involvement in the winless war, and tackles all kinds of social injustices- but thankfully, with a very subtle but persistent sense of humor. May be the first real effort to novelize the War from the Vietnamese point of view- which is refreshing. Nguyen can get over –heady in his writing and some of the thought and dream sequences are a bit hard to follow/swallow, but the story is riveting. A powerful and important book.