The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen | Review

Summary

Wina Puangco warmly invites us into a dynamic review of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize winner, "The Sympathizer." Despite hesitation due to YouTube's algorithm, Wina delves into Nguyen's masterful narrative about a Vietnamese War double agent, offering a compelling mix of loyalty and betrayal. This gripping tale stands out for its engaging storytelling and nuanced characters, especially the narrator whose choices and conflicts are depicted with ironic humor and intelligence. Beyond its war-time backdrop, the novel poignantly explores themes of identity, friendship, and cultural commentary which resonates with modern readers. The review not only highlights the book's critical reception but also encourages more discussions within the booktuber community.

Highlights

• Wina Puangco tackles the rarely reviewed 'The Sympathizer' with enthusiasm despite YouTube's monetization challenges. 📘
• The book explores the conflict of a double agent during the Vietnamese War, pulling you into a rich narrative. 💥
• Nguyen's storytelling is witty and intelligent, offering engaging and sometimes humorous insights into loyalty and betrayal. 😂
• The novel uses the premise of a confession, revealing intricate character dynamics with subtle irony. 🤐
• A standout feature is its cultural and historical commentary, including references to film and identity. 🎬
• Wina encourages booktuber shoutouts, fostering a supportive and engaged reading community. 🙌

Key Takeaways

• Viet Thanh Nguyen's 'The Sympathizer' blends engaging narrative with historical depth, offering readers a gripping tale of espionage during the Vietnamese War.
• The novel's strength lies in its nuanced characters and subtle irony, especially around the themes of loyalty and identity.
• Wina Puangco's review champions the book's humor, its cultural commentary, and its exploration of complex personal and political landscapes.
• Despite being a story about war, 'The Sympathizer' is richly layered with themes of friendship and family, making it relatable and profound.
• The review encourages readers to not only enjoy the novel but to engage with the wider booktuber community to discuss its topics.

Overview

Wina Puangco embarks on a heartfelt review journey of Viet Thanh Nguyen's acclaimed novel, 'The Sympathizer.' Set against the backdrop of the Vietnamese War, this story unfolds through the eyes of a captivating double agent. It's both a historical and personal narrative, intertwining nuanced plots of loyalty and deception, and pulling readers into a world that’s as educational as it is thrilling.

The book's multi-layered narrative, delivered with Nguyen's signature wit and intelligence, vividly portrays the complexities of loyalty, identity, and betrayal. Through a confessional style, characters are fleshed out with remarkable irony and depth. This not only makes the tale engaging but also offers a lens into how deeply personal and political the stakes are, which Puangco discusses with great enthusiasm.

While touching on themes of war, Puangco makes sure to highlight the novel’s warm undercurrents of friendship and family, making it accessible to an audience beyond history buffs. Her review is not just an invitation to read the book, but also a call to join the broader conversation within the booktuber community, encouraging interaction and exploration of such enriching narratives.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction The introduction details the reasons behind the speaker's decision to stop doing book reviews on their channel. They candidly share that the decrease in viewership was a significant factor, hinting at the challenges faced by content creators on platforms like YouTube where revenue and popularity influence content decisions. The underlying tone reveals a struggle between personal interests and the demands of maintaining an engaging channel capable of generating income.
• 00:30 - 02:00: Thoughts on YouTube and Book Reviews The chapter delves into the relationship between YouTube and its content creators, particularly small YouTubers. The author reflects on how YouTube was built on the foundation of individuals uploading videos without initial profit motives. They express frustration with the platform's current dynamics, highlighting the challenges faced by creators who primarily use it due to the lack of better alternatives.
• 02:00 - 03:30: The Sympathizer Review - Overview The speaker briefly touches on their intent to review 'The Sympathizer' but does not delve into it due to anger and the existence of better reviews online. Instead, they decide to include two booktuber shoutouts in future videos as a compromise for not discussing the book extensively now.
• 03:30 - 05:00: The Sympathizer Review - Writing Style and Engagement The chapter provides a review of 'The Sympathizer' by Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from 2016. The story revolves around a protagonist who is a sympathizer during the Vietnam War, highlighting the conflict where the U.S. intervened between left and right ideologies. The book's intricate details about the war and personal allegiances are explored within the narrative.
• 05:00 - 07:30: The Sympathizer Review - Characterization and Themes The chapter provides a review of 'The Sympathizer,' focusing primarily on characterization and themes. It is narrated from the perspective of a character who acts as a double agent for both conflicting sides, educated in the United States to breach the right, yet holding a stronger allegiance to the left. The chapter suggests that, initially, one might expect the book to be overwhelming and didactic, given its perspective from an outsider. However, the narrative manages to deliver its insights in a manner that can be appreciated for its depth and presentation.
• 07:30 - 09:00: The Sympathizer Review - Humor and Commentary This chapter reviews the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Sympathizer." The reviewer praises the book's exceptional writing and engaging storytelling. The narrative is described as highly captivating, making it difficult to put down. The narrator is charming, but the book also ensures that readers remain critical and aware throughout the story.
• 09:00 - 10:30: The Sympathizer Review - Identity and Friendship The chapter discusses the protagonist's questionable choices and the intense psychological dimension of the narrative, highlighting how the reader anticipates danger just before the protagonist does, creating a deep emotional engagement.
• 10:30 - 12:30: Shoutouts The chapter titled 'Shoutouts' revolves around a confession detailing the experiences of an individual who served as a double agent. The narrative explores his nuanced view of friendships and associations on both sides of his espionage work, highlighting an impressive use of subtle irony. Despite his role as a double agent, his loyalty was firmly rooted in leftist ideologies. The chapter reflects deeply on the people he interacted with, primarily focusing on those from the opposing side.
• 12:30 - 13:00: Conclusion The chapter titled 'Conclusion' reflects on themes of deceit, loyalty, and emotional connections. It discusses how the book explores the deceitful nature of constructs like loyalty, which often ties us to people and ideas without full understanding. The narrative highlights how the main characters are bonded more through emotion than rational thought, unveiling the complexities of their shared memories.

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen | Review Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey guys welcome back to me no wonder so today I'm going to be doing the very rare book review the truth is I sort of stopped doing book reviews because they didn't get as many views that's sort of like not a very popular thing to say I guess especially on YouTube where somehow YouTube assumes this content just sort of magically pops up and makes them revenue and I'm trying not to be like that super angry irrational person about the whole YouTube de monetizing
• 00:30 - 01:00 small youtubers thing but I really don't know how and I think the thing that YouTube forgets is that it literally made a fortune on people uploading videos on the Internet and that the people who uploaded those first videos they didn't go into it thinking that they would make money and so the big thing for me that really really grates in my nerves especially as someone who is on YouTube for a lack of like any other better medium to sort of
• 01:00 - 01:30 talk about books on it's just like how dare you so anyway I don't want to talk about that too much just because I think a lot of people have done much more coherent videos and also I'm still angry so I feel like I might say something stupid but I want to say that from here on in I'm going to be including two booktuber shout outs at the end of every video so yeah I just thought it would be sort of a good long-term solution because I wasn't free to film anything during the whole small
• 01:30 - 02:00 booktubers Sunday thing that happened a couple of days ago anyway on to the review today I'm going to be talking about the sympathizer by veteran who Ian it is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for 2016 is the story of a guy who has a sympathiser during the Vietnamese War for those of you guys who may not be familiar with sort of the things that happened during the Vietnamese War basically it was a war in which the u.s. intervened and the war was as always between the left and the right this book
• 02:00 - 02:30 is told from the point of view of a guy who was sort of a double agent for both sides and who was educated in the u.s. to better infiltrate the right and his allegiance was mostly to the left even when it's about if you like this book from an outsider's perspective you would expect it to be extremely heavy and sort of heavy-handed as well when it comes to the facts and when it comes to sort of bombarded you with information but now I a hundred percent see why this
• 02:30 - 03:00 book won the Pulitzer number one it's extremely well written and by extremely well read and I don't just mean intelligent or I don't just mean witty although it is those things I mean it is SuperDuper engaging I mean the way that the story is told really pulls you in and refuses to let you go the narrator is extremely endearing but also not to the point where you aren't made aware of
• 03:00 - 03:30 the questionable choices that he's making and I think the psychic this sense is done so well in this book because even if you're there with him you sort of see you see the bullet coming an incident before he does and I feel like that it's just such a great way to grip someone emotionally number two the characterization of everyone else and this is incredible so if you guys don't know much about this book it sort of takes the form of a
• 03:30 - 04:00 confession where he's talking about his entire experience as a double agent and the way that he talks about his friends and the way that he talks about people on both sides is so freakin incredible and something that I love about this is that it does irony in such a subtle way he was a double agent but his allegiance was to the left however most of the people that he talks about in this are the people he was
• 04:00 - 04:30 supposedly betrayed one of the most beautiful things about this book I think is how it tackles exactly how deceitful construct lawyer can be and how deceptive because most of the time the things that we are extremely loyal to are also things that we don't quite know that we don't quite understand people who we are bound to more out of emotion than rational thought all of the memories shared by the main characters
• 04:30 - 05:00 are just so well fleshed out in this way that is at once nostalgic and also not too sentimental and I really really enjoyed that another awesome thing about this book is the humour with which it's written there are parts in this that reference Apocalypse Now which is a film by Francis Ford Coppola and it is set in the Vietnamese War but the funny thing about that movie is that it was actually
• 05:00 - 05:30 shot in the Philippines because obviously they couldn't go to Vietnam at the time and it just provides such a good commentary on Philippine history and politics as well and I'm a sucker for that you guys know that because no one ever talks about us Thank You Viet anh you Ian I found the stuff that he had to say about the Philippines really insightful and just that part was really really hilarious I don't want to give it away but it's just so funny the way that
• 05:30 - 06:00 white people treat Asian people in this I think is on point basically all my job since I've gotten out of college I have been employed by companies owned by white people and it's just so hilarious how true the stuff in this still stands this is just such a good book it's a book it yes is about war and is about these different political movements but it's also a book that is very much about identity and friendship and family and I
• 06:00 - 06:30 think it's one of the best books that I've ever read and I'm kind of sad that I haven't seen more in views about this I haven't seen it talked about at all actually on booktube if you ever got the chance to pick this up i 100% would recommend and i think it's a very important book so that's it for the review now i'm going to do two shout outs first person i want to shout out in this video is mike from micro reads Michael is amazing he reads so many books I think he's one of
• 06:30 - 07:00 the most underrated people on YouTube he is Filipino by descent but he grew up and currently lives in Georgia and he's just such an awesome guy the selection of books that he reads as well so amazing and I haven't read a book yet that Michael has recommended Bush I haven't liked so you guys should definitely go and check him out I think he has some of the most unique content on booktube I also want to give a shout out to the boki from okie-dokie Bochy she is one of my favorite people on
• 07:00 - 07:30 YouTube I just love the way that she talks about things she is also a scientist by the way and she's breaking on t-cells to help cure cancer so I don't know if you can get like any more freaking badass than that but whatever it is that she talks about if it's books if it's science if it's a movie a series a kdrama whatever she it just makes every conversation feel both substantial and friendly if that makes any sense it's just one of those people that I feel like I could listen to talk forever and if you don't follow her then you are
• 07:30 - 08:00 definitely missing out that's it for today's video and I hope that you guys enjoyed it I hope if you end up picking up the sympathiser you guys really like it and I'd love to know what you guys think if you have read this book before don't forget to like this video if you liked it and subscribe if you haven't already and that's it for this video thank you guys for watching I'll see you next time