The Sympathizer
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The Sympathizer
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Narrated by:
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Francois Chau
About this listen
*** WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016***
WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL 2016
WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION 2016
'A fierce novel written in a refreshingly high style and charged with intelligent rage' Financial Times
It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the last flights out of the country. The general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware that one among their number, the captain, is secretly observing and reporting on the group to a higher-up in the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story, The Sympathizer explores a life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.
'A bold, artful and globally minded reimagining of the Vietnam war . . . The Sympathizer is an excellent literary novel, and one that ends, with unsettling present-day resonance, in a refugee boat where opposing ideas about intentions, actions and their consequences take stark and resilient human form' the Guardian
'Beautifully written and meaty'
Claire Messud
'[A] remarkable debut novel . . . In its final chapters, The Sympathizer becomes an absurdist tour de force that might have been written by a Kafka or Genet'
New York Times
'This debut is a page-turner (read: everybody will finish) that makes you reconsider the Vietnam War ... Nguyen's darkly comic novel offers a point of view about American culture that we've rarely seen'
Oprah.com (Oprah's Book Club Suggestions)
What listeners say about The Sympathizer
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Will
- 11-12-15
Graphic violence you can feel
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I would not recommend this book and would not listen to or read it again. That said, the vocabulary and drawn comparisons were both brilliant. It was however overshadowed by too much violence which I did not feel comfortable with.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Learning a side to the Viet Nam war I was unfamiliar with.... least was the heavy dose of descriptive VIOLENCE
Would you listen to another book narrated by Francois Chau?
yes
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
no
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38 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D. Adams
- 07-21-19
Compelling, complex and never dull!
Though all the characters felt like real people, the first person narrator brought new levels of complexity and intrigue. The writing is witty, poetic and at times viciously satirical—but that never detracts from the tension of the story. In my mind this novel is up there with Vonnegut’s Breakfast Of Champions and Camus’ The Fall.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Aron Corbett
- 12-24-15
Vietnam and human consciousness.
Viet Thanh Nguyen poetically shows how the US genocide in Vietnam marked a turning point in the human story. Global Consciousness was altered, great novel.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Guera
- 09-08-19
magnificent
The writing is rich, artful, and playful. Jumping between withering sarcasm to visceral scenes to philosophical pondering with elegance and grace. This is a brilliant work of decolonization literature and so much more.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Vikings2473
- 05-30-24
Fantastically enjoyable; uncannily disturbing
Poetic that it’s narrated by the dharma scientist from Lost (who reads fabulously by the way). This is as surreal as that show, but as real as human history. Singularly literary, with belly laughing jokes à la Douglas Adams, and horrifically disturbing sequences, it’s the most literarily significant piece I’ve read in many years.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rick
- 06-12-24
Outstanding story about a troubled journey.
The author using an extraordinary prose has crafted an amazing story inside a period of American history that makes this book worthy of the awards it has received for it is entertaining while taking us, the readers on a journey through the eyes of his protagonist which helps us understand what life was like at the end of the war in Vietnam.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amanda Mercier
- 05-23-24
Such a powerhouse
As profound and daring as James Baldwin, as epic and geopolitical as Earnest Hemingway comes distinctly Vietnamese storytelling and powerhouse prose. This is one of the best books I’ve read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jamison Bryce Hidysmith
- 05-23-24
A rare gem
Probably the best historical novel, and the best spy novel I’ve ever read. Realism at its finest, where it becomes inevitably surreal given how weird a world we live in.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 01-03-23
Fascinating!
Like no other book I have ever read, or listened to. Give it a listen. Not a master work, but a very good work.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-04-24
New perspectives from the Vietnam War
An eye opening book that sheds light on the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese perspective.
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