Viet Thanh Nguyen talks about The Committed - Los Angeles Times latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s debut novel “The Sympathizer” introduced readers to its unnamed protagonist, a half-Vietnamese, half-French communist double agent navigating life, love, loyalty and espionage in Los Angeles after the fall of Saigon.
In Nguyen’s sequel, “The Committed,” his narrator is “still a man of two faces and two minds.” But now he is also “a revolutionary without a revolution,” a refugee in 1980s Paris who is grappling with politics, ideologies, and himself.
“I wasn’t done with his story,” says Nguyen, who joins the Los Angeles Times Book Club on March 10. “I’m very cognizant of the fact that people read “The Sympathizer” as a Vietnam War novel and me as a Vietnamese American writing about the Vietnam War.”
“The Sea Around Us,” by Rachel Carson
“The Forests of California,” by Obi Kaufmann
“Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future,” by Elizabeth Kolbert, is up next on her reading list.
Please tell us: What other environment and nature books do you recommend?
What’s next
This moment in photos: Francine Orr’s photos capture L.A. with compassion, beauty and a keen eye for humanity under duress. The latest example: This heartbreaking story from Orr and reporter
Joe Mozingo shows life and death decisions for two families. Join Orr on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Pacific time, when she discusses her work in our We Can Teach You That series. Sign up on Eventbrite.
How a visit to Iceland inspired a futurist novel of climate change and hope msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.