The Sympathizer

The only name the narrator of this book has is his title, “Captain.” He's a man pulled between two poles in many ways–illegitimate son of a French Catholic priest and a Vietnamese village girl, educated in America, assistant to a general in the South Vietnamese army, and a spy for the Communists. He's also “blood brothers” with a fierce anti-Communist countryman AND an equally fierce secret Communist.

The story covers the Captain's escape from Vietnam during the fall of Saigon with the General and his anti-Communist blood brother Bon, their time as refugees in California, and their secret journey back to Vietnam in an attempt to continue the war against the victorious Viet Cong.

It's both a spy novel in the tradition of John Le Carre and a dryly funny novel about being a Vietnamese refugee in America. The Captain characterizes himself as a man who can see both sides of any issue. He is ambivalent about whether that is a virtue or a hazard. What he describes of his life shows us that the accident of his birth means that he is not fully accepted in any of the worlds where he travels. In Vietnam he's a bastard and a half breed, and thus disreputable. In Western society, although he has an advanced Western education, he's burdened by all the preconceptions and stereotypes foisted upon Asians generally and Vietnamese particularly.

This is just a brilliant book, for the combination of complex character being pushed and pulled by forces both inside and outside of him, spy thriller, and wry social commentary. I loved it.