The novel follows a half-Vietnamese, half-French officer in the Southern Vietnamese military forces who is also a Northern Vietnamese spy, taking place in the days immediately before the fall of Saigon as well as during initial period of mass Vietnamese immigration to the United States.

 

"The Sympathizer" is also a finalist for the 2016 PEN/Faulkner Award and the 2015 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was named one of the New York Times' 100 notable books of 2015.

Thanh Viet was born in Buon Ma Thuot city, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. He is an associate professor at the University of Southern California and editor of diaCRITICS.