The Sympathizer

Viet Thanh Nguyen

This is a fabulous investigation of identity. The time setting is the end of the Vietnam war and our protagonist is a North Vietnamese man who has been embedded with a South Vietnamese general as a spy. After the fall of Saigon, they escape to the US and continue (as southerners in exile) to work toward the defeat of the communist north. This work involves raising money and keeping the U.S. political interest in an anti-communist southeast Asia alive. As a spy, it involved regular reporting back to his superiors and even working as a consultant on a hollywood movie. At one point, in discussing the merits of working on this movie we find Mao's discussion about the role of art and literature as tools for both revolution and domination. At the end of the discussion about the value of the movie

...emotions [about the movie] were irrelevant. What mattered was that the audience member, having paid for the ticket, was willing to let American ideas and values seep into the vulnerable tissue of his brain and the absorbent soil of his heart.

This is the essential argument about consumerism and marketing. We can all claim that what we watch and/or read is just entertainment and does not need to reflect our values. But somehow, by spending our money (placing value on) this entertainment, we are opening our mind and spirit to the message. It seeps... and has over time ability to change our identity. Maybe the question becomes, does awareness prevent, or slow, that identity change? Does self-reflection allow us to maintain our role as audience member, or is isolation the only way to maintain a value system? Many religious sects have chosen the later...

This is but one example of the thinking about identity and culture that is prompted. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.

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