10 best books of April: the Monitor's picks

Here are the 10 new April 2015 book releases that Monitor book critics placed on the "must read" list.

9. "The Sympathizer," by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Part thriller, part darkly humorous social commentary, this razor-sharp debut novel begins with the American exodus from Saigon. The story’s narrator is a Vietcong spy who makes it out of Vietnam and on to a new life in the US, only to become a consultant on an “Apocalypse Now”-style film – complete with a dissipated Marlon Brando-like star and a pompous Francis Ford Coppola-like director. Nyugen’s wit is biting, to be sure, but also keenly insightful.

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