BOOK REVIEW continued from page 13
neat little heap, with helmet on top of blouse and boots beneath trousers, that a ray gun appeared to have vaporized the owner. In a city where nothing went to waste, no one touched these uniforms.” Or this bull’s-eye description of
the attendees at the opening of the General’s American business, a liquor store at the wrong end of Hollywood Boulevard: “The constituents, in this case,
were old colleagues, followers, soldiers and friends, a platoon of thirty or so middle-aged men whom I had rarely encountered without their uniforms…Seeing them again in mufti, a year later, confirmed the verdict of defeat and showed the men now to be guilty of sartorial misdemeanors. They squeaked around the store in bargain-basement penny loafers and creased budget khakis, or in ill-fitting suits advertised by wholesalers for the price of buy-one-get-one-free…what was really needed was cologne, even of the gigolo kind, anything to mask the olfactory evidence of their having been gleefully skunked by history.” These are two small examples of
the wondrous writing that propels The Sympathizer unrelentingly towards its climax. It truly is a page-turner, but not in the “edge of seat” way that over-used phrase is usually applied. Certainly there is excitement and action in this excellent novel. I read it in pretty much one sitting, that’s how good it is. Then I went back and re-read it
slowly, savouring not just the story but all the insights and thoughts that bind it together so compellingly. Nguyen has crafted a minor masterpiece here – a different take on societies, cultures, philosophies, ideologies and individuals impacted by an immoral war. Insightful and powerful, it is profound while completely entertaining. The Sympathizer is wholly worthy of the praise and awards it has received.
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BOUNDER MAGAZINE 55
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