The Committed

novel by Nguyen

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July 23, 2026

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The Committed is a novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, published in 2021. It serves as a sequel to his acclaimed debut novel, The Sympathizer. The story follows the same unnamed protagonist, a half-French, half-Vietnamese double agent, as he navigates life as a refugee in Paris after the Fall of Saigon.1

Nguyen's work often explores themes of colonialism, imperialism, Asian American identity, and the lasting trauma of the Vietnam War on the Vietnamese diaspora. He famously stated, "All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory". The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016 and was adapted into a television miniseries.12

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Viet Thanh Nguyen
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…a sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed, which follows the first novel’s titular spy as a refugee in Paris. His “meta-narrative” A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial was published two years later. (Its title comes from the first sentence of The Sympathizer.) He has also…
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…a sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed, which follows the first novel’s titular spy as a refugee in Paris. His “meta-narrative” A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial was published two years later. (Its title comes from the first sentence of The Sympathizer.) He has also…
Read More