Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer is not your typical spy thriller, though it wears that disguise well. Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the novel follows a North Vietnamese double agent embedded within the South Vietnamese army, who eventually flees to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon. From Los Angeles to re-education camps, the story traces his divided loyalties and personal unraveling.

But this isn’t just a story about espionage – it’s a story about identity. About living between cultures, ideologies, and even languages. Nguyen uses the spy genre to explore deeper questions: Who gets to tell the story of war? And who gets forgotten in the process?

High praise from the Pulitzer Prize Committee underscores the novel’s literary significance, and its impactful storytelling.​

Nguyen, born in Vietnam and raised in the U.S., draws on his own background to inform the novel’s voice. The unnamed narrator – referred to simply as “the Captain” – is thoughtful, conflicted, and sometimes painfully self-aware. His ability to see all sides of a conflict becomes a kind of curse, leaving him without a clear sense of belonging.

By using a voice that is at once sardonic and sorrowful, the novel explores what it means to be split between cultures, between allegiances, and essentially between selves. The narrator is a man who “can see any issue from both sides,” and this ability (at first a strength) becomes a deeply isolating burden.

He is, quite literally, of two minds.

The novel also takes a sharp look at how the Vietnam War has been remembered – especially in American film and media. In one section, the narrator consults on a Hollywood war movie clearly modeled on Apocalypse Now. His frustration at how Vietnamese characters are reduced to silent background players becomes one of the book’s most powerful critiques.

Nguyen’s writing style is dense but rewarding. It’s written as a confession, with long, winding sentences that mimic the narrator’s conflicted mind. While that can be a challenge at times for the reader, it also makes for a rich, layered reading experience.

Since its release, The Sympathizer has received widespread acclaim. It’s often praised for offering a fresh perspective on a war that’s been widely covered in Western media, but rarely from the point of view of Vietnamese characters. In 2024, it made the leap to screen, with an HBO miniseries directed by Park Chan-wook. Starring Hoa Xuande as the Captain and Robert Downey Jr. in multiple roles, the adaptation captures the novel’s tone and complexity while introducing it to new audiences.

Nguyen’s debut is bold, thoughtful, and unlike any war novel you’ve read before. It asks difficult questions without offering easy answers – and that’s exactly what makes it worth reading.

Other works by Viet Thanh Nguyen

• The Refugees (2017)
• The Committed (2021)
• Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (2016)

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Fundamentally, great books don’t just tell stories – they shift how we see the world. The Sympathizer is one of those novels: sharp, intelligent, and quietly powerful. If you’re interested in books that offer fresh perspectives on history and culture, you’ll find plenty more to discover in our latest reviews. You can also find the latest bookworm thoughts and commentary on our blog.