SOURCE: skylightbooks.com The Sympathizer (Grove Press) It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking old burgundy and drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the helicopters that will soon abandon the city. A captain is working with the general on this list, a man who makes sure to save himself and a select group of others. When the group arrives in Los Angeles, this captain speedily writes a letter to an “aunt” in Paris–a woman who he has never met. She will pass the letter, with its coded descriptions of his compatriots and their efforts to continue fighting the war, to its true recipient: the captain’s friend Man, a high-up within the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who received his education in life and love in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. A man who is a spy and a sympathizer. A man who does not know who he really is. In this stunning and beautifully written novel of betrayal, espionage, and the legacy of the Vietnam War, Viet Thanh Nguyen explores a life between two worlds. Totally unlike the novels or films of the Vietnam War that have preceded it, and with a literary elegance and dark wit, The Sympathizer gives voice to the perspective of a conflicted subversive and idealist, examining a side of the war and its aftermath America has never seen before. Praise for The Sympathizer: “Magisterial. A disturbing, fascinating and darkly comic take on the fall of Saigon and its aftermath and a powerful examination of guilt and betrayal. The Sympathizer is destined to become a classic and redefine the way we think about the Vietnam War and what it means to win and to lose.” —T. C. Boyle “Trapped in endless civil war, ‘the man who has two minds’ tortures and is tortured as he tries to meld the halves of his country and of himself. Viet Thanh Nguyen accomplishes this integration in a magnificent feat of storytelling. The Sympathizer is a novel of literary, historical, and political importance.” —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. As far as I am concerned, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer —both a great American novel and a great Vietnamese novel—will close the shelf on the literature of the Vietnam War.”—Bob Shacochis, author of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul “The Sympathizer is a remarkable and brilliant book. By turns harrowing, and cut through by shards of unexpected and telling humor, this novel gives us the conflict in Vietnam, and its aftermath, in a way that is deeply truthful, and vitally important.”—Vincent Lam, author of Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures and The Headmaster’s Wager “Read this novel with care; it is easy to read, wry, ironic, wise, and captivating, but it could change not only your outlook on the Vietnam War, but your outlook on what you believe about politics and ideology in general. It does what the best of literature does, expands your consciousness beyond the limitations of your body and individual circumstances.”—Karl Marlantes, author of Matterhorn and What It Is Like to Go to War “Not only does Viet Thanh Nguyen bring a rare and authentic voice to the body of American literature generated by the Vietnam War, he has created a book that transcends history and politics and nationality and speaks to the enduring theme of literature: the universal quest for self, for identity. The Sympathizer is a stellar debut by a writer of depth and skill.”—Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain “I think I’d have to go all the way back to Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert to find the last narrative voice that so completely conked me over the head and took me prisoner. Nguyen and his unnamed protagonist certainly have made a name for themselves with one of the smartest, darkest, funniest books you’ll read this year.”—David Abrams, author of Fobbit Viet Thanh Nguyen’s stories have appeared in Best New American Voices, TriQuarterly, Narrative, and the Chicago Tribune, and he is the author of the academic book Race and Resistance. He teaches English and American Studies at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles. Photo by BeBe Jacobs Francois Chau is best known for his role as the mysterious, multi-named, head of “The Dharma Initiative”, “Dr. Pierre Chang” on ABC’s ground breaking series, Lost. His most recent television credits include, Bones, Criminal Minds, Rizzoli & Isles, Hawaii Five-O, The Mentalist, Nikita, and the upcoming SY-FI series, The Expanse. His film appearances include, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Rapid Fire, 21 & Over, The Boy Next Door, What’s Cooking directed by Gurinder Chada, and Rescue Dawn directed by Werner Herzog. He recorded the audiobook version of The Sympathizer. Event date: Friday, April 10, 2015 – 7:30pm Event address: 1818 N Vermont Ave Los Angeles, CA 90027 http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/viet-thanh-nguyen-reads-his-debut-novel-sympathizer-together-francois-chau
Note: We are not responsible for typo error, price change, substitute item, or available of item from online ads.
SOURCE: vietnguyen.info Join Viet for the debut of his novel at Skylight Books in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles! Date: Friday, April 10th, 7:30PM Address: 1818 N Vermont Ave Los Angeles, CA 90027 Here’s a picture of the ingredients that go into the evening’s signature drink, The Sympathizer, courtesy of book rep and bartender Andrea Tetrick. It’s appropriate to have a cocktail, given how many cocktails the sympathizer actually drinks in the course of the novel. Plus a spectacular little video to kick off the night, as well as a Q&A with the author conducted by actor François Chau (Pierre Chang of Lost, among many screen and stage credits), who performs the audio version of the book for Audible. http://vietnguyen.info/2015/sympathizer-debuts-la-skylight-books-april-10th]]>
