The Sympathizer (The Sympathizer #1)

by Viet Thanh Nguyen

It is always better to admire the best among our foes rather than the worst among our friends.

But I was also one of those unfortunate cases who could not help but wonder whether my need for American charity was due to my having first been the recipient of American aid.

Now a guarantee of happiness—that’s a great deal. But a guarantee to be allowed to pursue the jackpot of happiness? Merely an opportunity to buy a lottery ticket. Someone would surely win millions, but millions would surely pay for it.

But these were thoughts, not deeds. We would all be in Hell if convicted of our thoughts.

If youth was not wasted, how could it be youth?

You must claim America, she said. America will not give itself to you. If you do not claim America, if America is not in your heart, America will throw you into a concentration camp or a reservation or a plantation.

To live was to be haunted by the inevitability of one’s own decay, and to be dead was to be haunted by the memory of living.