Reviews

Hangman by Maya Binyam

discocaptain's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

what a strange book! it took me for a ride, i really loved the first third, found the second part dragging and then the third just about punted me into space. the protagonist's inner thoughts were so uniquely described, obsessed with how he kept forming opinions on things based off of how beautiful he thought they were. and of course, the main star of the show: his cousin's ugly jacket. hideous thing. it made me bark out a laugh often. i really enjoyed how surreal reading this was, like it never tipped over into magical realism it was just strange. and BOY did i hate almost every single person that we met yall were so annoying and its a testament to binyam's writing that i felt like this. good book :-) perhaps i hyped it up in my head a little, i recommend going in blind and also having a read of binyam's interviews as well she's really cool (i loved this one a lot!! https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/writer-maya-binyam-on-prioritizing-inspirational-relationships-over-professional-connections/)

sidenote: i did go CRAZY bonkers when i finished this at the library desk when it was revealed that the good looking man from the cafe was actually the protagonist's son. insane thing to do ms binyam i tip my hat off to you!!! incredible!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Terminal illness

vishnu_'s review

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

amalvarez0313's review

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

snailspace's review

4.5

The title as allegory for this novel is slowly catastrophic.

You're traveling the plot with the protagonist and you think there's some empathy sparking in you, some recognition of oh yes I've been in these social situations before. And abruptly but also gradually, at a snail's pace as we'd say, it's apparent

we the fools identified with an apparition of a man and there's something in it for us.

anna_oreally's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

lindseyzank's review

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.0

tkendri's review

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

motifenjoyer's review

funny mysterious reflective

5.0

"I looked at the sun, thinking it was still too early, but knowing that even if I believed it was still too early, whatever was going to happen to me was going to happen to me, because the time for it to happen had finally come."

jaxgulasy's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

beckyjzw's review

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0