From the Bookshelves: The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Scenes of Afghan evacuation and refugee resettlement after a forever war evoke memories of the US involvement in the Vietnam War. Continuing the connection, I picked up a book that has been on my night stand for a few months: Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s new book, The Committed (Grove Press or purchase on Amazon.com).

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s new book is a sequel to The Sympathizer, which won him the Pulitzer prize and is being made into a TV series. The Committed continues the travails of a communist spy and narrator, Eurasian Ulysses, who is now relocated to France. Having survived a communist reeducation camp, a perilous sea crossing, and a long sojourn in an Indonesian refugee center, he arrives in Paris on July 18, 1981 — the birthday of Nelson Mandela — to become a refugee once again. 

The New York Times book review delves into the literary aspects fo the book. The NPR book review highlights the political messages in The Committed.

From a satirical James Bond-esque spy story in The Sympathizer, the author shifts to James Baldwin’s intersectional politics in The Committed to address greed, prejudice, and violence.

The author has conducted many interviews discussing the book that are collected here. 

MHC