They Call Us Bruce 239: They Call Us The Sympathizer

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.

What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we discuss the HBO original limited series The Sympathizer, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, with author Viet Thanh Nguyen and scholar Philip Nguyen, host of the official Sympathizer Podcast. They talk about the meta-upon-meta textual sandwich of adapting this modern classic into an epic television series, that time director Park Chan-wook came over to Viet's house -- hide the octopus! -- and the brilliant decision to cast the "dude playing a dude disguised as another dude" as alllll the white guys in The Sympathizer. BONUS: Keep listening to hear an episode of The Sympathizer Podcast with Robert Downey Jr., Hoa Xuande, Vincent Van Dyke, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Don McKellar.

Viet Thanh Nguyen wins Pulitzer Prize for 'The Sympathizer'

"A layered immigrant tale told in the wry, confessional voice of a 'man of two minds' -- and two countries."



Vietnamese American writer Viet Thanh Nguyen has won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his debut novel The Sympathizer, published last year by Grove Press. The award, announced Monday, recognizes distinguished fiction published in book form by an American author, "preferably dealing with American life."

Viet Thanh Nguyen wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for 'The Sympathizer'

The Sympathizer is part spy thriller, part political satire, telling the story of the fall of South Vietnamese government and subsequent events in American exile in Los Angeles, through the eyes of an undercover communist agent. The book explores life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.

The Pulitzer committee lauded The Sympathizer as "a layered immigrant tale told in the wry, confessional voice of a 'man of two minds' -- and two countries, Vietnam and the United States."