The Sympathizer is the debut novel by Vietnamese American professor Viet Thanh Nguyen.  It was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Set as a flashback in a coerced confession of a political prisoner, the book tells of the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975, and subsequent events as an American exile in Los Angeles, through the eyes of a half-Vietnamese undercover communist agent.  Though the story is serious, it is written with a comic touch that belies the tragedy of the events.  Our book group had mixed feelings about this book and gave it a 3/5 rating.

Mary Thornton

Book Group 2, October 26, 2016