Books: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

This book was an extremely well-written work that was entertaining, funny, clever, and occasionally nightmarish.

I really enjoyed the writing style of the author. He sometimes wrote in big walls of text but the contents of these were full of pithy sayings and memorable metaphors. The sense of humor of the main character was self-deprecating enough that it appealed to my own humor preferences.

I felt like the twists were easy to see coming most of the time – a little more surprise would have been nicer, but overall it was a pleasure to hear about the main character’s life in America.

However the whole book isn’t quite the same style. The last quarter of the book veered off in a different (and powerful) direction. This part was a bit “out there” for me – and I felt like it was a little over-ambitious. But I’m not the Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Next I am reading Careless People by Sarah Wynn Williams.


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