TeaReads has been up for nine months. I’ve written for this blog in snowstorms, in torrential rain, on sunny spring days, and on warm summer nights. The leaves are changing now, and the nights are getting longer. My morning walks require a coat to keep the chill out. Fall isn’t my favorite time of year, but October is easily one of my favorite months. Why? Well, bonfires are fun. Orchards, pumpkin patches, and corn mazes are great, too. Hoodies and sweaters are back in fashion. Apple cider donuts make a comeback. Hot tea. Hot chocolate. And, obviously, the best part: Halloween. 

I mentioned last month what a fan I am of things that go bump in the night. October is a month-long celebration of that love and, for me, is the only reason I look forward to the change of seasons. Yet, when I revisited my book list after sending out August’s monthly newsletter, I made a realization. 

The book I’d chosen for October wasn’t a horror book. 

By that time the one horror book on the list was already announced for September, and it didn’t feel right to try and take it back. So, from the bottom of my heart: My Bad. That’s an oversight I won’t make again. 

That said, I’m not sure we should discount this month’s book, The Sympathizer, and its potential to send shivers down our spines. There’s something about the blurb, the research, and the first few paragraphs I’ve read that makes me think that maybe, just maybe, I didn’t completely mess up by placing it in the October slot. 

The Sympathizer is a fictional first-person narrative about an unnamed Vietnamese man, raised in both Vietnam and America, who is present at the fall of Saigon. Working as a Viet Cong mole in the American military, he travels back to America with his comrades to spy on their movements. Throughout his time in America, his dual identities and loyalties are tested, illuminating the dangers of extreme politics and the way war affects those entrenched in it. A debut novel from author Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer won several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction in 2016. 

You’d be forgiven for thinking The Sympathizer is a historical, political thriller after reading that blurb. After all, you’re not wrong; those are two of the main genres attached to this book, and why I initially thought I’d messed up by slating this book for October. But when you check the Wikipedia page, do you know how many genres are listed for this book? I’ll save you some clicking and counting: eight. There are eight genres listed for this book. They include immigrant, mystery, political, metafiction, dark comedic, historical, spy, and war. Granted, some of those genres overlap, like in the cases of war, historical, and political, but I can’t help being a little flabbergasted. None of the books we’ve read this year have had so many interesting, slightly conflicting genres piled into one narrative. 

The one that grabs my attention is “dark comedic”. Comedy is not something I associate with the Vietnam War, a war that was so mishandled by the US that it’s seen as a shameful stain upon our history (one of… many). Finding a way to laugh at our sorrows is a tool humans use to make the best out of bad situations, and I’m curious how much that plays a role in this specific genre classification. 

If I’m being honest, though, the amount of what I know about the Vietnam War could fit into a thimble. I know that there were large protests against it, I know that television helped swing the war’s popularity, and I know that the veterans who returned weren’t treated well. Most of that information comes from documentaries or side-plots in popular movies. The American media’s reframing of the Vietnam War with movies like Rambo or Forrest Gump is something that author Viet Thanh Nguyen explores in The Sympathizer. The reviews that call this both a realistic historical narrative and an examination of how we use media to reframe and recontextualize war are the ones that excite me the most. I want to learn more. I want my initial perception, built on the backs of American media giants selling me hippy culture, to be challenged. Besides, I’m a big nerd. I’m always down for some film critique. 

The more I look into The Sympathizer, the more I think some heavy, graphic topics may be covered. It may not be a typical horror book for October, but I think I may end up more disturbed than if it were a book about vampires or ghosts. After all, what’s scarier: Stories about things we know don’t exist? Or the real horrors that exist in this world, the ones that do touch us? War? Media manipulation? Governmental overreach? Those, more so than any story about ghouls or zombies, keep me up at night. They should keep you up, too.

Happy Halloween.