The Sympathizer

In July and August, we read the Pulitzer Prize Winning, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen.  This book was unusual in that it focused on the Vietnamese perspectives on the Vietnam War rather than the American or French version of the story.    He begins with a quote we talked about in our book group: I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces.  Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds.  I am not some misunderstood mutant from a comic book or a horror movie, although some have treated me as such.  I am simply able to see any issue from both sides.  The narrator introduces us to both sides of the issue of the end of the Vietnam War and the ensuing messiness of the end of a war, particularly for the main character who is a spy and has some entangled, dual and complicated relationships.  

We discussed how difficult some of the novel was to read, making some of us uncomfortable about our not knowing about the pain endured by others during the Vietnam conflict.  It was a good discussion covering our own connections with the war.  There were uncomfortable parts involving torture and death which were hard to read and we wondered a bit about the purpose, but supposed it was to bring the narrator to write his 'confession.'  His conclusion about being guilty of 'doing nothing.'  was very powerful.   While it was a difficult book to read, we were all glad to have had the experience together.  

For October, we decided upon Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo.  We planned to meet at Mindy's, hosted by Lexi at 6:45 on October 18th.