Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer, says that he decided not to worry about what the audience thought, or more specifically thought of Asian Americans. “I had to stop caring. Because even as conditions of narrative scarcity were true, which they are, I don’t think a writer can allow herself or himself to be shaped by those conditions. … For example, the anxiety that because there are so few stories about us, we have to write our stories to make our own community look good, whatever that community is.” – The Millions