It’s coming upon a full year since I took my sabbatical, and I suppose it’s pretty much over now. Aside from giving me time to write, this break also allowed me to do more reading than I normally could in the hurly burly of attending to a full time teaching load. Here are the books […]
Books I’ve read on my year off Read More »
These days, when the plight of refugees so often make the news, the Vietnamese diaspora seems to be experiencing a literary renaissance. Foremost is the celebration of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, with its deserved Pulitzer Prize for fiction (read my review here). Alongside Nguyen, we have Nam Le’s collection of stories The Boat, Qui
Four Voices from the Diaspora Read More »
This review has also been published on Bliss Saigon in their culture section. M idway through Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, the protagonist of the novel, a Vietnamese spy for the north on assignment to follow a Southern Vietnamese general who is exiled to America after the war ended, is tasked with hiring extras to play Northern Viet Cong “baddies”
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer winner: “The Sympathizer” Read More »