2.5 stars, rounded up. 
 Did I read the same book as everyone else? This has been described as a spy novel, a thriller, "hilarious," "a joy to read." Sure, the narrator is a spy, but this is NOT a spy novel. There are thrilling battle scenes, but this is not a thriller. There are touches of bleak, ironic humor, but this novel is by no means funny, and though the narrative voice is remarkable (it's unlike anything I've read and thus "remarkable" by definition), it does not feel like a joy to read. Rather, it feels like an unwieldy and befuddling sprawl of a book, one that felt ultimately unsatisfying. 
 This novel dabbles in dozens of themes and literary genres, but doesn't stick with any of them long enough to form a cohesive perspective. A sampling of themes that are touched upon with an initial avidity then quickly abandoned or glossed over: duality, race relations, refugee experience, representation in media, the importance of art in politics and culture, futility of war, morality of killing (murder vs assassination), the American "pursuit" of happiness, torture, communism/imperialism/capitalism/liberalism. 
 The first paragraph reads: 
 I am a spy, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds... I am simply able to see any issue from both sides. Sometimes I flatter myself that this is a talent, and although it is admittedly one of a minor nature, it is perhaps also the sole talent I possess... 
 Here's the thing: I spent 400 pages in the narrator's head and still do not know what he really believes, who he is, what he wants, or why any of it matters. I've puzzled over how much of this book's ambiguity, inconsistency, and contradictions are deliberate, and how much is a failing of the book itself. Either way, the result is unsatisfying. 
 I came away from this book with the impression that the narrator is a coward--not just ambivalent, but indifferent, he has no particular ideology, no talent, no SYMPATHY. He did more to aid the opposing side than to subvert it. He didn't seem calculating, but passive. At no point in the novel was I convinced of the basic premise that this man is in any way a sympathizer. He barely seemed political. 
 In terms of the writing style: 
 Nguyen's prose is dense, both visually and in content (unbroken paragraphs, no quotation marks--it's often unclear what is being thought vs what is being said, and by whom). 
 Every sentence feels like an info dump. The writing is over-saturated, everything so exhaustively described, so suffused with metaphor, so weighed down with adjectives, by the time you've sussed out what he's saying the impact of the prose is lost. Any beautiful passage is crowded out by the overgrown prose around it. 
 This book is the epitome of a "clever" book. Some reviewers seem to like the cleverness, or find it "funny," but it made me TOO aware of the writing, and distracted me from the story. On a number of occasions, I actually rolled my eyes at the precious witticisms. Some examples of "clever" passages: 
 Although every country thought itself superior in its own way, was there ever a county that coined so many "super" terms from the federal bank of its narcissism, was not only superconfident but also truly superpowerful, that would not be satisfied until it locked every nation of the world into a full nelson and made it cry Uncle Sam? 
 Another: 
 This odd suit suited me, for it was of a cutting-edge cut. Wearing this inside-out suit, my seams exposed in an unseemly way, I understood, at last, how our revolution had gone from being the vanguard of political change to the rearguard hoarding power. 
 I can see that others found this to be "smart" and funny writing. I found it to be cutesy at best, or distracting and obnoxious at worst. Either way, the heavy-handed cleverness grew tiresome. 
 Still, there were enough passages that struck me with their beauty and brilliance, have haunted me and will continue to haunt me. So though I did not "enjoy" reading this book, I am glad to have read it. Any book that provokes a strong reaction from me (be it positive or negative) is noteworthy. 
 Will I recommend this book to others? Probably not. Am I desperate to speak to people who HAVE read it about what a bucking, wild horse of a novel it is? Absolutely. I still have no idea what to make of it.