Kindle books kindle unlimited prime reading bestsellers kindle daily deal kindle monthly deals free kindle reading apps buy a kindle content and devices kindle support. Summary and analysis of the sympathizer ebook by worth. We try to make our book selections month in advance so that those of us who prefer to not buy the book will have plenty of time to get it from the public library. He came to the united states as a refugee in 1975 with his family and was initially settled in fort indiantown gap, pennsylvania, one of four such camps for vietnamese refugees. His novel the sympathizer won the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction, as well as five other. The narrator drives the general to a country club in anaheim where the congressman has invited them. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the sympathizer. It is a very interesting and worthwhile book, with some sections that are captivating and others that are more philosophical. Hosting means preparing a treat for club members to eat and conducting the discussion on the months book. The sympathizer audiobook viet thanh nguyen audible.
The sympathizer by viet thanh nguyen overdrive rakuten. If you are a club that generally does adventurous and challenging reads, by all means go into the sympathizer blind. What book is asia soo reading when the narrator approaches her by the pool in chapter 10. A guide for book clubs the reading room book group notes get 90 days free of amazon music unlimited with the purchase of any eligible product. The sympathizer viet thanh nguyen, 2015 grove atlantic 384 pp. What is the first number that lana performs at the club in chapter 14. Told in firstperson, the narrator addresses this storyhis confessionto the commandant, who is holding the narrator in a solitary confinement cell somewhere in the commandants camp. The sympathizer is the breakthrough novel of the year. It is a bestselling novel and recipient of the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction. Chugging through the story one is nearly derailed but the denouement spectacularly realigns a listeners direction and destination. Maxine hong kingston, author of the fifth book of peace it is a strong, strange and liberating joy to read this book, feeling with each page that a broken world is being knitted back together, once again whole and complete. A guide for book clubs the reading room book group notes ebook. The sympathizer examines the legacy of the vietnam war through the eyes of one man who has conflicting beliefs and loyalties winner of the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction. Join the leading website for book clubs with over 35,000 clubs and 20,000.
This is one a very few books to explore the viet nam war by a vietnamese author. The sympathizer explores more complex ground, from the life a spy who feels genuine affection for those he spies upon, to resettling in america and the refugees experience. A novel pulitzer prize for fiction kindle edition by nguyen, viet thanh. Tom lutz chose the sympathizer for the larb book club in june 2015, long before anything like the pulitzer prize was on the horizon. In the beginning, the sympathizer seems like another version of a war americans would like to forget. The sympathizer summary and study guide supersummary.
This brief overview of the sympathizer tells you what you need to knowbefore or after. Hes the kind of person, brotherinlaw dave mockingly notes, who has an assigned chore for each day. I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Our local book club is meeting to talk about the sympathizer. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides for challenging works of literature. The sympathizer is a novel of literary, historical, and political importance. The sympathizer is a person who is able to see many sides of a story. How much did you know about the vietnam war era before reading this book. Transcription by kate atkinson is a historical fiction novel full of spies, deception, conflict and wit. Viet thanh nguyen was born in vietnam and raised in america. With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose that has been compared to graham greene and saul bellow, the sympathizer is a sweeping epic of. Which brings me to viet thanh nguyens remarkable debut novel, the sympathizer. A profound, startling, and beautifully crafted debut novel, the sympathizer is the story of a man of two. This week, we present you with reading group discussion guides for each book, put together by members of the carnegie committee.
Each volume in the worth books catalog presents a summary and analysis to help you stay informed in a busy world, whether youre managing your toread list for work or school, brushing up on business strategies on your commute, preparing to wow at the next book club, or continuing to satisfy your thirst for knowledge. Viet thanh nguyens the sympathizer brilliantly draws you in with the opening line. The sympathizer is the 2015 debut novel by vietnamese american professor viet thanh nguyen. Chapter 1 the sympathizer begins with a declaration by a nameless narrator. By turns harrowing, and cut through by shards of unexpected and telling humor, this novel gives us the conflict in vietnam, and. It is only fitting that the fall of saigon, which observed its 40th anniversary last year see beyond the book, serves not as bookend, but as the opening act for viet thanh nguyens spellbinding debut, the sympathizer. Robert olen butler, pulitzer prizewinning author of a good scent from a strange mountain the sympathizer is a remarkable and brilliant book. However, despite all that is to be expected, the sympathizer is not a conventional war novel. One suggestion i would make to book clubs taking this on is a little contrary to my usual advice, which is read the book, and then do the research. I am not some misunderstood mutant from a comic book or a horror movie, although some have treated me as such. The sympathizer book austin public library bibliocommons. Book club kit discussion guide the sympathizer by viet thanh. Another update 2nd update ive been reading through my kindle book again the last few days of this book looking over my notes taking new ones. Its thrilling, rhythmic, and astonishing, as is the rest of nguyens enthralling portrayal of the vietnam war.
My book club felt that it was one of the best discussions we had had, and im sure that it was because i was able to use this to prepare. Congressman, an anticommunist republican representative of orange county, who later organizes a meeting at a country club with other western sympathizers of the south vietnamese plight. His novel the sympathizer won the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction, as well as five other awards. The sympathizer by viet thanh nguyen, paperback barnes. Book club kit discussion guide the sympathizer by viet thanh nguyen author. This is a great way to start any discussion of this book. Ron charles ron charles writes about books for the washington post. Our book selection was the sympathizer by viet thanh nguyen. Viet thanh nguyens the sympathizer was one of the most widely and highly praised novels of 2015, the winner not only of the 2016 pulitzer prize for fiction but also the center for fiction first novel prize, the edgar award for best first novel, the andrew carnegie medal for excellence in fiction, the asianpacific american award for literature, and the california book award.
Last week, andrew carnegie medalwinners viet thanh nguyen and sally mann accepted their awards at the ala annual conference in orlando, florida. Replete with ambushes, betrayals, double agents, espionage, freedom fighters, refugees, and taboo sex, viet nguyens debut novel the sympathizer has what readers have been trained to expect from war narratives and spy thrillers. The sympathizer, by viet thanh nguyen the new york times. The sympathizer is a pulitzer prizewinning novel by viet thanh nguyen about a man who is living among leaders of the south vietnamese army while spying for the viet cong. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
Print word pdf take our free the sympathizer quiz below, with 25 multiple choice questions that help you test. The sympathizer by viet thanh nguyen plot summary litcharts. The story of a south vietnamese captaina man brought up by an absent french father and a poor vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in americawho returns to vietnam to fight for the communist cause. The sympathizer defines the idea of a world citizen.