Viet Thanh Nguyen: The Sympathizer, 9781472151360, Corsair (Atlantic Grove) paperback

German: Viet Thanh Nguyen: Der Sympathisant,  9783896675965, Karl Blessing Verlag, Gebunden

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s „The Sympathizer“ won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016 and several other internationally important literary prizes. It is one of the most unusual books I read all year with the 
potential to become a classic about the Vietnam War and the aftermath years, written from a Vietnamese viewpoint. 

Often the novel feels like an espionage thriller but especially towards the end the book turns into a philosophical, psychological and political reflection on what happens to societies once revolutions, ideologies and uprisings succeed. This was the most brilliant part of the book for me.

I read Nguyen’s follow up first, a book of short stories called “The Refugees”, centering on Vietnamese refugees in the US in particular before reading his debut, loving his exquisite storytelling and language.  The author fled Vietnam with his parents as a young boy and is now a Professor at the University of California.

“The Sympathizers”  I had to read with interruptions not finding it easy at times which was probably due to the fact that his writing is unusual in every  sense requiring dedication and concentration, very few characters appear with real names but most are referred to as “The General”,  “The captain” etc.  with very little direct speech throughout the book. 

The book is a confession by an unnamed narrator, a Vietnamese army captain with divided loyalties. Born to a Vietnamese mother with a French priest as a father, his  rank is with the South Vietnamese army but in secret he belongs to a Viet Cong cell in Saigon working for North Vietnam's victory.  With the fall of Saigon he is told to leave his homeland together with his general on one of the last planes out of Saigon heading for the US.  The descriptions of the fall of Saigon, the agony and misery of those lucky or unlucky enough  to make it having to start a new life in the US with all privileges of their  Vietnamese past gone,  are intense yet often funny.

The almost 500 pages never let up on intensity; they make for riveting reading,  humorous on occassion and at other times difficult to digest.
The description of murder, torture and the brutality of war made me take a deep breath several times.

Having visited Vietnam a few years ago, I knew why I did not want to 
visit the museum of war in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) displaying all the atrocities committed. 
This is a book which will stay with you for some time. Anyone visiting this buzzing, beautiful country still affected by the Vietnam War would do well reading this novel before they leave.