The spy that lives with his lies by Lorenza D'Orio https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf Amazing award winning book en-us 2021-04-13 02:12:44 UTC 2025-12-21 00:16:34 UTC hello@padlet.com Lorenza D'Orio's Book Report ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410110600 2021-04-13 02:13:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410110600 A: Short Biography ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410114352       Viet Thanh Nguyen is the Author of The Sympathizer. This book is not a biography of his life, it is a story made for better understanding of the Vietnamese struggle during and after the war. Simply put, this book is about a North Vietnamese Spy who is an undercover communist working for the South Vietnamese military. In the interview with Nguyen and NPR he stated that this character of the spy is not based on one person alone but is similar to the life of;  Pham Xuan An. He was not a violent person but throughout the book he had to adapt to a new lifestyle. As a spy he never had to shoot a gun, pick a fight or torture any person, but as his story went on he became more and more brutal as a person. He grew sympathy for both the Southern Vietnamese as well as his American counterparts.

      In some ways the story mimics his real life in that he was born in North Vietnam, fled to South Vietnam, and finally escaped Siagon to USA when it was overtook by Communist. In contrast Nguyen arrived in a refugee camp in Pennsylvania and was soon seperated from his family. When he joined his new adopted family at the age of 4, he came to a realization that he was different when his white siblings asked him how to use chopsticks. This is when his split identity began, he is not American and also no longer fully Vietnamese.  Later on his real family moved to San Jose, CA. His parents opened up a grocery store where they worked horrendous hours. Their life there was very difficult because of Vietnamese gangs as well as discrimination.  He worked hard as a student, graduated from UC Berkley, and is now a professor at USC in Los Angeles, CA. 

      Grove Press published The Sympathizer on April 2nd 2015. Grove press began as Atlantic Monthly and was founded in Boston in 1917 and has been around ever since. They have published many award winning books along with thousands of controversial books. As I was reading about their companies timeline it said in 1962 they finally won a censorship battle with the U.S. Government. This meant this company was not allowed to produce anything they wanted. After they won the "battle" the company published any kind of book they pleased without worrying about saying the wrong words. This company also has ties to "Black Cat" and "The Mysterious Press". ]]> 2021-04-13 02:15:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410114352 B: Descriptive Summary ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410114561 The book makes a full circle, it opens as a confession to the commandment which gets you thinking: Who is the commandment? What is he confessing? Is he in trouble? Why is he in trouble? He is a spy so did he get caught by the opposing side? While the book starts with him in Saigon and introduces many characters it also jumps around with memories and anecdotes to give context. He was put under the southern Vietnamese General and Madame as a spy, they were waiting for Claude an American to help them evacuate form Saigon. Since the General was of high ranks they were able to get out. The narrator, and his two best friends, Bon and Man, were all together for the last time in Saigon.

As the planes kept filling up and their group waited for escape their hopes grew dim, especially when bombing began in the airport. The General's plane was the very last plane to evacuate, Bon and his family were supposed to go, but as they were running onto the plane his wife an child got shot. Man stayed behind in Vietnam. They first arrived in Guam before they could again be evacuated to America.  They arrived in Camp Pendleton which is in California, where they had to make regular lives. This is something they expect from marines or refugees, come to or back to America and immediately assimilate. They need to go from bombs, shootings, and reeducation threats to an apartment in LA and a 9 to 5. In order to leave the refugee camp they needed a sponsor, the narrator used his sponsor from before when he attended college, Professor Avery Write Hammer. The job he found was there at his old college where he met Ms. Mori, his soon to be lover. Bon got a job at the General's new liquor store.

Shorty after, the General came to a realization that there was a spy amongst the people that came to America. In hopes to not get caught, the narrator had to name someone else. He named Crapulent Major a fat Chinese man with two kids and a wife. Since the narrator is the one that accused the Major as the spy, the General told him to take care of it. On the fourth of July Bon shot Crapulent Major. Sonny, a journalist, was then introduced as a cocky truth writer. Even though the narrator was "with" Ms. Mori, he was fantasizing about the generals daughter Lana.

The narrator met Auteur who was making a movie called The Hamlet. He realized he wanted to make a difference and fix  Auteur's movie. (In an interview with Nguyen he said The Hamlet was based on the movie Apocalypse Now.) They reluctantly invited him to the set, in the Philippines, to give an "authentic" opinion and he agreed to be there for 5 months. During this time, the General got bored as a lazy American, and started to assemble a new group of recruitments to spark the war once again. In their eyes the fight was still not over.

In the Philippines, the narrator was disappointed when he realized they didn't care at all about his opinion and wouldn't really change the roles of Vietnamese in the movie. It was just a Hollywood version of the truth and he was sad to find out he could not change that fact. Coming to the end of the movie, he went to the fake cemetery to say good bye to his moms fake tomb and "accidentally" got bombed on set.  The white hospital recovery room was giving him flashbacks to the rooms where interrogations were done. Once recovered he returned to America. He found the General's charity front grew enough money for his army, and it was close to ready for combat.

Ms. Mori was now sleeping with the narrator's old school mate Sonny. Sonny published an article talking about and attacking their upcoming rebellion putting their lives and freedom on the line. Sonny needed to be taken care of because he was a reckless journalist. So he did, the narrator shot Sonny around 5 times in his living room. This was his ticket back to Vietnam.

The revolution has begun, the crew living in California flew to Thailand and met up with the crew that was there. The General confronted him about his relations with Lana and said he was greatly disappointed. Bon and him went to the movies and watched The Hamlet, where they were both saddened. They began traveling through Laos to try to get to Vietnam where they could fight the Vietcong once more. As they treaded through the forest of Laos, a few of their crew got blown up by leftover land mines. They arrived at a river where they would do some speedy travel, but that's when the Communists found them. They began shooting them on the boat and throwing bombs. Many of the small crew died, so they had to surrender to the Vietcong. 

The narrator found himself jailed in the hands of the Commandment for over a year. During this time he was requested to write his confession. They wanted to reeducate him so they had to simplify his mind from an American back to a Vietnamese. However, this was the Commissar's job. To his surprise the Commissar was Man, one of his two bestfriends. They deprived him of his senses, forced him to stay awake, and starved him. They wanted him to confess about what he did to a female Communist officer during an interrogation. Although he told them the truth, there was still something they wanted him to confess. They electrocuted him every time he'd try to sleep, as Man said was necessary to seperate his mind and body. Man is suffering from the continuous burn of Napalm and wants to kill himself. 

The narrator was finally broken. Numb to life, he realized the answer they wanted was "Nothing". He went mad, the staff realized treatment was over when he continuously banged his head against the corner of the wall. He was turned back into a somewhat sane person yet still confused of who he really was. Man bought the narrator and Bon a ticket out. The two bestfriends are now on the road trying to escape Vietnam as Boat People. ]]> 2021-04-13 02:15:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410114561 C: Main Point #1 ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410114747 The War never ends. 

I believe one of the main points made by this book is that war never ends. Even if there is a settlement, or a pause, people are still going to fight. In the case of Vietnam War, the Communist were not defeated in or outside of Vietnam. This war was part of what is known as the Cold War; which is Democracy versus Communism. This war between America and the Vietcong was to  prevent the spread of Communism to other countries. America did not win this war, so Communism continued. In fact Vietnam, Laos, and China are still communist to this day. Even though America decided to back out of the war, the Cold War continues. Places like South Vietnam do not want to be Communist, so they still fight for freedom no matter where they are.

When the refugees came to America, they didn't just want to sit back and watch their country succumb to the Vietcong. They rallied as the General did in the book, a crew got together, and found away to go back. As little of an army they were they, still wanted to make a difference to help their homeland.  The reason they want to get rid of Communism in their country is because Communism gave way for corruption. You have no choice, no rights, and you have to listen to the leader unconditionally. When these refugees went to America, the land of the free, instead of just enjoying their new life, they still decided to fight for the right cause by going back to Vietnam. The Communists still had power, and just because America backed out of the war, doesn't mean everyone will. ]]> 2021-04-13 02:15:26 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410114747 D: Quote 1 ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410114885 "Long after this war is forgotten, when its existence is a paragraph in a schoolbook students won’t even bother to read, and everyone who survived it is dead, their bodies dust, their memories atoms, their emotions no longer in motion, this work of art will still shine so brightly it will not just be about the war but it will be the war." Page 178 Chapter 11. 

This quote was interesting to me because it was very powerful. In so many instances like now, we are living in a disastrous time  that makes our whole world seem crazy. When it passes and time goes on, it turns from real life into a story that gets forgotten. The Vietnam war lead to massive destruction of not only Vietnam, but Laos and Cambodia as well. These countries faced military shootings, bombings, landmines, Napalm, Agent Orange, mass executions, and so much more. The war killed over 2 million Vietnamese as well as many others in surrounding countries. The people who lived on that peninsula still are affected by all these weapons. The land is forever affected from Agent Orange and Napalm where it is deep within the soil, forests, groundwater, and all fields used to grow crops. Not only did they effect the land, but it also altered people's genetics. Even after three generations, Children are still being born with birth defects. Landmines laced through the forests of Cambodia and Vietnam have continued to kill people since the war.

Just like the quote, most of the people who survived the war are either dead, or close to it. Time is passing and new problems are arising. In America many people have forgotten of the Vietnam War. We are literally learning about it in our text book from this class. It is devastating to realize how important this war was, and how it had been pushed to the side. 

The very last part of the quote where it says, "...it will not just be about the war but it will be the war." is a little confusing. I interpreted it to mean; since the war had been forgotten, its affects brushed under the rug, and its people continuously affected. The Vietnamese and possibly other countries will come back to do unto America as we have done unto them. Even though America acts as a super power, with enough allied forces they could damage our country awfully. ]]> 2021-04-13 02:15:30 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410114885 E: Favorite Character ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410115029 Crapulent Major 

The Crapulent Major was first introduced in this book in an interrogation scene. He was there with the narrator and Claude during the torture and rape of the Communist Agent lady. This is not why I chose him as my favorite character. 

The reason I chose Crapulent Major as my favorite character was for a few reasons. First off, I think it was funny that they felt the spy was a wealthy fat Chinese man when in reality the spy was one of them, the Captain of low ranking personnel under the general. Picking on an outsider was clearly obvious. Spy's are people on the inside, they are not people that stick out so clearly, so I am surprised the General didn't catch on when the Captain suggested it to be him. To save his own cover, he had to get rid of the Major to prove his loyalty. So on the Fourth of July Bon and the narrator went over to his house to meet him and give him gifts, little did he know, that would be his last day alive. While talking to him from the front, Bon came up behind him, tapped on his shoulder, and shot him right in the forehead. The main character didn't kill him or anyone else yet for that matter. Even though he was part of the war, he didn't see the gore of it. The image of the third eyehole in the Majors face rests with the narrator from then on. This is the second reason why he is my favorite character, because he is in the book more as a thought in the narrator's head than he was when he was alive. He spends so much time thinking about the major it drives him nuts. In his head the major is usually taunting him or laughing. He is the presence of guilt that you live with after committing a horrendous mistake. It is one thing to live with the guilt of being a traitorous spy, but another to kill someone who you blamed. Crapulent Major showed up at the wedding as a severed head, at his mothers fake tombstone at the set of The Hamlet just before the bomb goes off, in his own apartment next to his wife, when he went to kill Sonny, on the plane headed to Thailand, at the grave of a lieutenant in Laos, and during the final interrogation. After he killed Sonny, he joined the Crapulent Major in torment. They were both there in his head ever since he left America to continue the war. The Crapulent Major haunted him as a ghost only he could see, this began his mental torture.]]> 2021-04-13 02:15:34 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410115029 F: What I Learned ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410115163 The Vietnam war never really meant anything to me in high school, we didn't learn much about it so I never really paid much attention to it. That is one of the main reasons why I wanted to take this class, I wanted to become more aware of things that I don't know. I didn't know much about Asian history or culture so I was very interested in learning. 

One thing I realized that struck me is that America will do as they please no matter the situation. The reason America got involved in the Vietnam war was because of the Cold war. Vietnam was already fighting a battle between themselves; the North Communist and South Free State. Neither side wanted America to step in and join their fight, but we did. At the end of the day America caused more damaged then they helped. They bombed, shot, and killed so many people for the sake of not allowing Communism to spread throughout Asia but the Vietcong were victorious anyways. 

The most important thing I learned was how the United States sided with the Khmer Rouge against the Vietcong. The Khmer Rouge was a Communist party in Cambodia. The United States sided with a Communist party to fight against Communism with another Communist party. This is how screwed up America is. They didn't even realize the damage they were causing. Not only did Vietnam become a communist state but so did Cambodia and Laos.

Lastly the devastation of the people who live on that peninsula will never be forgotten. America was bombing, sending Napalm, Agent Orange and militia men which did not only attack the Vietcong but killed many ordinary people, men, women, and children. America wanted to prove a point and it didn't matter the cost. 

I realized, no matter the stakes America will do what it takes to prove they are the boss and will be a sore loser after. This makes me less than proud to be an American. We are a country of oppressed people that continues to oppress other people. When will it stop? ]]> 2021-04-13 02:15:37 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410115163 D: Quote 2 ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410116693 “They cannot represent themselves: they must be represented.” Page 144 Chapter 9

This is actually a quote within a quote, the General is speaking but he is ironically quoting something he remembered from Karl Marx, a famous Philosopher who has influenced Communist ideals.

This quote was used and referenced a few times in the book. When the General made this statement, they were at the country club with the congressman where he met Dr. Richard Hedd and a few other people. I feel the use of this quote was by far more prominent in the Auteur's filming of The Hamlet. He wrote a script for a movie about the Vietnam war. Instead of it being based in fact and history, this movie is about the Vietnam War, however it is being represented by an American hero. This is because the only way for a movie to be accepted in the USA, we need to be the good guys. The public can never know the full story. Beyond this, he also wrote the movie script but not one line was written for a Vietnamese to speak until the narrator told him this was absolutely necessary. Even after all this, they didn't allow Vietnamese to represent themselves in the movie. The movie was filmed in the Philippines so the cast were Filipinos.

The sad truth is this is how America views it. The war started because the US Government didn't think South Vietnam could represent themselves, so they asserted themselves against the Vietcong. Even in history textbooks, majority of minorities are written from the white point of view instead of both sides or a nonbiased opinion. They teach you like this from a young age so you think it's the proper way to understand people. In reality, other country's textbooks and versions of history are definitely different than ours. They can represent themselves, they do not need to be represented by a white counterpart. Their voice is equally valid. ]]> 2021-04-13 02:16:14 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410116693 D: Quote 3 ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410116997 “...if you do not claim America, if America is not in your heart, America will throw you into a concentration camp or a reservation or a plantation.”
Page 274 Chapter 16

The narrator made this comment when he was talking to Sonny right before he killed him. They went in two different paths after college in America. Sonny became a full blooded American, adapted his whole life to eat, breathe, and sleep as an American does. He became a journalist that reports what he believes to be the truth of what was happening around Los Angeles. Where as the narrator went on a different path after he graduated; he left America, went back to Vietnam, and became a part of the war effort. 

One thing they both agreed on was the necessity to assimilate when you are actually in America. As he said in the quote, if you act as an outsider you will be treated as an outsider. Everyone in the United States that was or is not white has definitely been negatively affected. They are treated less than the white man whether you are Native, Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, and/or etc. In history they have all been treated with brutality, force, and less than remorse. The United States is one of the most racist, systematically screwed places, and it is because they like to put people into concentration camps, under forced labor, and remove you from your own home for their benefit. We see less of this today but it can and will still happen. Even if the people assimilate as best as they can to the American "culture", it does not matter they will still put people of color in a box and toss them to the side. I believe the most recent incident of concentration camps was actually here in Los Angeles and other areas of the western U.S.. These concentration camps housed Japanese families during and after WWII. My best friend's great grandmother was telling us what she remembers from living in a concentration camp located in Long Beach. She showed us a doll she hid from everyone because it was the only thing that would keep her from crying while imprisoned there. 

America doesn't care what color you are, how old you are, your gender, if you are not white then they will do everything they can to disrespect you. This past year, Latinx families were held in detention centers all across the boarder. These actions and fears are not of the past. What the quote said stands strong to this day. America will eat you up and spit you out. ]]> 2021-04-13 02:16:22 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410116997 ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410119999 Lana sang this song as a cover of Nancy Sinatra. It made the narrator realize how privileged Americans are. She never experienced real gun shots or explosions with loved ones in her own home as Vietnamese and Lana did. 
Page 237-238 Chapter 14 ]]> 2021-04-13 02:17:37 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410119999 C: Main Point #2 ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410120371 The people you hold most dear may stab you in the back. 

When a person chooses to become a spy, it makes sense that they wouldn't have any friends or much family. This is so that top secret information doesn't get out to just anyone. When you are a spy or a military personnel, you do not know who you could trust. Whether you are the spy or not you cannot trust anyone around you. In this situation, the main character is the spy, but he has no family and two bestfriends. One friend, Bon, is on the South Vietnamese side; his other friend Man is on the Vietcong side. After the three of them seperated in Saigon, the main character kept in touch with Man, while living with Bon. He would send letters often informing him of how they are doing, and what was going on in America. He also informed Man that the General and a few others were forming a rebellion against the Vietcong and will soon be there to fight them. Little did the narrator know that telling Man these things actually sabotaged their little war effort. The narrator realized this when they ended up being jailed by the Vietcong. Over one year later he met the Commissar which turned out to be Man. Because of all the letters, Man knew everything about him. Even though Man said the reeducation was for his best interest, he tricked him all along. Man ended up putting the narrator through some horrendous mental torture. This torture essentially crippled him mentally and physically. After his torture, the narrator referred to himself as "we" because he no longer felt together as one. This is a very extreme example of how a Best friend could stab you in the back, no matter how close you believe you are to them. ]]> 2021-04-13 02:17:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410120371 “After all, mama said, we are a people born from the mating of a dragon and a fairy.” ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410186204 Page 269 Chapter 16]]> 2021-04-13 02:43:54 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410186204 Works Cited ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410453515 Ogino, Yoshiko and Likas, Eri. Bio 
of Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2021. 
https://vietnguyen.ino/author-viet-thanh-nguyenf

Fresh Air. “Author Viet Thanh Nguyen Discusses 'The Sympathizer' And His Escape From Vietnam”, NPR, 2016. 
https://www.npr.org/2016/05/17/478384200/author-viet-thanh-nguyen-discusses-the-sympathizer-and-his-escape-from-vietnam

Viet Thanh Nguyen. The Sympathizer : A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). Vol. First edition, Grove Press, 2015.

Mason, Colin. A Short History of Asia, Macmillan Education UK, 2014, pp. 306-311, 315-319. 


]]> 2021-04-13 05:14:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1410453515 Viet Thanh Nguyen ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1414453717 2021-04-14 00:41:19 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1414453717 Political Cartoon ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1479856724 I think this Political Cartoon is very important in my understanding of the Vietnam War. Many Vietnamese did not want Americans to come to their country to fight this war. As the war continued on, even Americans did not want to fight the war in Vietnam. Many protests started out in universities with students, but as seen in this cartoon the protest population grew and started to include many other people. Number one, this war was inhumane because of how the Vietnamese were treated. Secondly endless amounts of young American men were being sent off to war. This is the main reason why a lot of people were Anti-war at this time. They didn't see the point of fighting this war while our men just kept going and never came back. Lastly, many people just wanted Peace. During this century, there was WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, the Cold War, the Korean War, and then finally the Vietnam War arose. The American people had been in war from 1914 all the way up through the Vietnam war to the late '80s. They wanted an end to all of this continuous fighting, and just wanted peace.

]]> 2021-04-30 20:04:54 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1479856724 ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1479926896 This is how I imagine the Crapulent Major continuously harassing the narrator. ]]> 2021-04-30 20:32:50 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1479926896 Thank you for reading my book report! :) ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1479972161 2021-04-30 20:52:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1479972161 ldorio11 https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1479975358 2021-04-30 20:54:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ldorio11/mzmbqhp8pqvhrntf/wish/1479975358