Play Book Tag discussion

This is not an easy read. It demands thought and consideration and putting away your ideas about the Vietnam War and its aftermath (especially if you are American). The story opens as Saigon falls in 1975. A South Vietnamese General, with the help of his Captain, are deciding who will be able to get on a plane and then to America. Essentially, they are determining who will live and who will die. It is the Captain's story, and moves both back and forward through time. But from the very beginning, you know that he is a Viet Cong spy. I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds. When he comes to California, he continues to spy on the General and the South Vietnamese veterans who hope to return to Vietnam to take back their country. The book is very critical of America's colonialism and cold war chess games that ended in the death of millions of Vietnamese people. It also presents a very depressing view of the life of these immigrants who struggled to assimilate to life in America. Although some desribed the book as "funny," I did not. It is very satirical. Perhaps the part of the book that gets closest to funny is when the Captain becomes the consultant to the director of an epic movie about the Vietnam War, which is most certainly supposed to suggest Apocalypse Now. His job is to make the movie a more authentic representation of the Vietnamese people. But when he gets the script, not 1 Vietnamese character has even 1 line. Is that not a metaphor for the Vietnam War? The last part of the book is very difficult to read, as the Captain is forced to come to terms with all that he has done and all that he has NOT done. The reader as well as the Captain are left with the realization that there are no winners and losers in this war, or in any war. The "winners" have prevailed over the oppressors only to become the opressors in their now unified country. Yes, so as I said, this book is very demanding and thought provoking and heavy. It is the kind of book that really needs to be read twice but I can't read it again. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2016 and that is not at all surprising.

I just picked this up and am looking forward to reading it.
I love this writer's think pieces but haven't read his books.

He has a great piece in the New York Times about Da Five Bloods.
I loved the movie, but he does make you look at it and other Vietnam war movies in a different light.

Great review - I loved this book but agree that it does not make for comfortable reading!