The Sympathizer books in order

The Sympathizer series follows Viet Thanh Nguyen's unnamed narrator, a communist spy with a divided conscience, from the fall of Saigon through his life in Paris, across two formally inventive and politically sharp novels.
Series · Literary Fiction · Historical Fiction · Spy Fiction · Satire

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 Sympatisören 2015 Viet Thanh Nguyen N/A
2 The Sympathizer 2015 Viet Thanh Nguyen Buy
3 The Committed 2020 Viet Thanh Nguyen Buy
4 Il Militante 2021 Viet Thanh Nguyen N/A

The Sympathizer (2015) opens with the fall of Saigon and follows a North Vietnamese spy embedded among South Vietnamese refugees fleeing to America. It’s a confession, a satire, and a spy novel all at once, narrated in an urgent, sardonic voice that doesn’t let anyone, American or Vietnamese, off the hook. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016.

The Committed (2020) moves the story to Paris, where the narrator becomes entangled in the criminal underworld and continues his philosophical reckoning with colonialism, identity, and violence. The series has also appeared in Swedish (Sympatisören) and Italian (Il Militante), though English readers will want to start with the two main entries.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the The Sympathizer series?

There are four books in the The Sympathizer series, published between 2015 and 2021.

What is the first book in the The Sympathizer series?

The first book in the The Sympathizer series is Sympatisören, published in 2015.

Do I need to read The Sympathizer before The Committed?

Yes. The Committed is a direct sequel that picks up immediately where The Sympathizer ends, and it assumes familiarity with the narrator’s history and situation.

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