The Sympathizer (2015) by Viet Thanh Nguyen is a gripping and darkly comic spy novel that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The story is narrated by an unnamed Vietnamese communist double agent, a “man of two minds,” who embeds himself in a South Vietnamese refugee community in Los Angeles after the Fall of Saigon in 1975.
Working as a captain in the South Vietnamese army while secretly reporting to the Viet Cong, the protagonist navigates the chaos of war, exile, and identity. The novel opens with his escape to America alongside his South Vietnamese general and fellow refugees, only to continue his espionage under the watchful eyes of both his communist handlers and paranoid allies.
Nguyen’s razor-sharp prose blends espionage thriller with biting satire, dissecting American imperialism, Orientalism, and the absurdities of war. The narrator’s conflicted loyalties—to his country, his friends, and his own fractured conscience—culminate in a harrowing return to Vietnam for “re-education,” where the physical and psychological brutality forces him to confront the cost of his ideals.
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2016), Edgar Award for Best First Novel.
For Fans Of: The Quiet American’s political intrigue, The Things They Carried’s war trauma, or John le Carré’s morally complex spies.
“Nguyen’s spy isn’t just a double agent—he’s a hall of mirrors, reflecting the absurdity of every side.” — The New York Times
