Back to the challenge. This week’s task was to read a book
by an author that is from Southeast Asia.
The Sympathizer by
View Thanh Nguyen is not for the faint of heart. I’ll admit that I skimmed parts
of the book due to graphic narratives of torture or battle. However, in the
end, the novel gives important insight into war, its aftermath, and its
displaced peoples.
The narrator of this novel is a self-described man of two
faces and two minds. He is a communist sympathizer working for the South
Vietnamese army. The son of a European priest and a Vietnamese mother, he is
also fluent in American English (and culture). He makes it out of Vietnam on
one of the last transports and finds himself, along with his commanding general,
in Los Angeles. His connections lead him to work as a consultant on a movie
about the war, and he soon travels to the Philippines to oversee the casting of
the Vietnamese extras in the film. Meanwhile, the General suspects someone is
leaking information to the enemy. To detract attention from himself, the
narrator blames an innocent man and commits himself to the General’s call for
another mission to liberate his people from the Viet Cong. When the narrator is
captured by the communist camp, he reveals the novel’s previous pages to be his
coerced confession.
More than just a confession, the pages become a reflection
of his attempt to live a life as two men. It gives the reader insight into not
only the conflict, but the aftermath. Those left behind are driven to extremes
to survive. Those who have fled must figure out how to start over in a foreign
culture.
To paraphrase one of the book’s final passages, tomorrow we too
may find ourselves among strangers. If we do, will we cling to the past?
Assimilate to the new? Or try to do both.
1 comment:
I have been reluctant to read this novel, and probably won't, because I would have to skip some scenes like you did. However, the idea of remaking oneself, of forging a new life despite past pecadillos and crimes, is an interesting one.
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