The Sympathizer

Viet Thanh Nguyen's 'The Sympathizer' is a rather original take on the phenomenon of the 'boat people' : Vietnamese refugees who fled their homeland following the victory of Hanoi over the South Vietnamese and their American allies in 1975. The author is a master of political satire by employing a first person narrator who is a Eurasian refugee in the United States-- and a double agent as well. This ingenious character identity allows the author the opportunity to convey a hilarious form of self-deprecation at the expense of the character's Asian as well as Western origins. Whether it be the depiction of defeated officers trying to recreate a sort of Vietnamese paradise in California or a certain American film maker deciding to content himself with the Philippines to 'duplicate' the Vietnamese locale for a gory war film, Viet Thanh Nguyen is never afraid of throwing a few barbs at either his country of origin or of salvation. An amusing yet thought provoking novel never afraid to offend.