The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

Why do those who call for independence and freedom take away the independence and freedom of others?

Was it any surprise that other people thought we were happy with conditions to which we were merely resigned?

blurring the lines between us and them can be a worthy behavior.

our fecund little country no longer produced significant amounts of rice, rubber, and tin, cultivating

who, if they thought of others at all, preferred to think that others were just like them or could be just like them.

Americans saw unhappiness as a moral failure and thought crime.

(Nothing, the General muttered, is ever so expensive as what is offered for free.)

had an abiding respect for the professionalism of career prostitutes, who wore their dishonesty more openly than lawyers, both of whom bill by the hour. But to speak only of the financial side misses the point. The proper way to approach a prostitute is to adapt the attitude of a theatergoer, sitting back and suspending disbelief for the duration o

is always better to admire the best among our foes rather than the worst among our friends. Wouldn’t you agree, Commandant?