The Sympathizer
Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press)
Let’s be clear, there have been
a lot of books written about that “great scar on the American psyche”, the Vietnam War. From historical treatises through first hand accounts like Michael Herr’s Dispatches and Philip Caputo’s A Rumour of War to fictional works like Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato and Karl Marlantes’ Matterhorn, the list seems endless. Hell, I’ve got five or six myself
including two of the above. You’re unlikely to read a better novel on that tragic Southeast Asian intervention than Nguyen’s The Sympathizer though. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in anniversary of the
2015 (the 40th
fall of Saigon) and a bucketful of other awards, this debut novel is superlative in its perspective, its comprehension, its pacing and, perhaps most of all, its understanding of that oft-written about conflict. The Sympathizer is about both
duality and separation – of genes, of citizenry, of ideologies, cultures and of the chasms between East and West. Here is the Vietnam War aftermath from a Vietnamese perspective, written with perception, irony, rage and sarcasm, yet humor too. There are many more
complexities at play. The unnamed narrator is a trusted aide-de-camp for the head of the South Vietnamese secret police (The General) but he’s also a North Vietnamese mole. He is also internally torn. He’s Eurasian – despising his French priest father, adoring his native mother - American educated, sworn to a blood oath with his childhood friends (one his handler, the other loyal to the south) cavorting with CIA spooks, flirting with bar girls and trying to bed the General’s daughter. He dislikes violence but commits violent acts. In short, he is an
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anguished, questioning soul embroiled in shady, covert activities. There are echoes of, and praiseworthy comparisons to, the characters of Graham Greene, John LeCarre and Joseph Conrad. Effortlessly, with
crackling, thoughtful and lushly descriptive language throughout,
Nguyen somehow ties together a myriad of genres: confessional, thriller, historical overview and social critique. The writing is razor sharp, the insights and depictions transcendent and devastatingly accurate. His descriptions of the last days
of Saigon - with the NVA on the edges of the city - are riveting. You can palpably sense the fear, despair and trapped terror of the citizenry, cloaked in a fatalistic acceptance of
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BILL MACPHERSON
their future plight. As the narrator, the General and a few other chosen officers plus family take a bus trying to get a final flight out of the under-bombardment airport, Nguyen captures it beautifully. “The streets were deserted…
Nearly as vacant were the sidewalks, haunted only by the occasional set of uniforms shed by deserters. In some cases, the gear was in such a
continued on page 55
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