To Save and to Destroy

A series of emotional tales that makes palpable [Nguyen’s] intellectual understanding of an artist’s role in the political discourse and the way politics works its way into art. – Erin Vanderhoof * Vanity Fair *
An essential addition for collections about the process and theory of writing, authors of diverse backgrounds, and particularly the experiences of Asian Americans, immigrants, and refugees in the United States. – Rebecca Brody * Library Journal (starred review) *
One of contemporary American fiction’s most fearless writers of conscience…explores the idea of the outsider in literature. * Literary Hub *
Nguyen explores works of literature that he has found most useful and inspirational in helping him define his worldview, his political and literary aesthetics. – May-lee Chai * Star Tribune *
Profound…Nguyen explores the idea of being an outsider through literary, historical, political, and familial lenses…while addressing concerns about the writer’s responsibility in a time of violence and the burdens and pleasures of the “minor” writer in society. * Poets & Writers *
Over the course of six captivating and moving chapters, Nguyen explores the idea of being an outsider through lenses that are, by turns, literary, historical, political, and familial. * USA Today *
Does not simply reflect on the role that alterity plays in the formation of marginalised identities. It asks us to consider what it means for such a significant part of the population to be continuously singled out and labelled as ‘other’. By forcing us to acknowledge global currents and solidarities, the unresolvable paradoxes of entangled national identities, Nguyen makes us question how well we really know our selves. – Lynda Ng * Australian Book Review *
A meditation on what it means to be “the other,” both in establishing necessary distance, as well as being cast aside by stigma and outside perceptions… Nguyen invites his audience to seriously consider the pitfalls and promises of writing as an other. – Anson Tong * Chicago Review of Books *
Seamlessly weaves together personal reflections and literary analysis…thought-provoking and cogently argued. * Publishers Weekly *
A provocative exploration of the writer as storyteller, anthropologist, and knowing outsider. * Kirkus Reviews *
A profound exploration of identity, displacement, and the burdens of belonging from one of the most important voices in contemporary literature. Nguyen brilliantly weaves together personal history with literary criticism and political commentary to confront the complexities of race, power, and solidarity in America. This is essential reading. – Reza Aslan, author of Zealot and An American Martyr in Persia
Viet Thanh Nguyen offers insight into how we can form allegiances beyond racial identity to global solidarities built from shared struggles against colonialism. As we now face the precipitous erosion of American democracy, Nguyen’s incendiary and generous intellect is more necessary than ever. – Cathy Park Hong, author of Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
Brilliant, rigorous, and generous, To Save and to Destroy is part autobiography, part criticism, and wholly illuminating. A dazzling feat from one of today’s great writers and thinkers. – R. O. Kwon, author of Exhibit

Viet Thanh Nguyen is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, Nothing Ever Dies, and To Save and to Destroy. A recipient of the MacArthur Foundation and Guggenheim fellowships and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Nguyen is a Writer in Residence at the University of Southern California.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.