Hangman is a meandering story about a man's search for his identity and reconnecting with a home, family and past that he'd drifted away from due to immigration. I did struggle with the repetitive language at times and the lack of named characters (there weren't any) meant it was hard for me to connect with any of them. It was almost like the lack of names didn't really establish them in my mind as real people, which meant the message of the book probably didn't fully come through. Perhaps this was a choice in order to illustrate that these characters are in fact representative of large numbers of real people, which I don't doubt they are. The book definitely highlighted the struggles that ordinary people go through due to government decisions and the corrupt systems that they're part of and it was well-written. The ending was really harrowing and emotional and it felt weirdly open-ended in terms of interpretation but perhaps I just didn't quite get it!

I'm grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this captivating book. From the first page to the last, I was thoroughly engrossed in the story, unable to put it down. The characters were well-developed, the plot was gripping, and the writing was superb. Overall, I immensely enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to fellow readers. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this wonderful reading experience.

"Hangman" by Maya Binyam is a haunting collection of essays that explore themes of identity, memory, and loss. Binyam's prose is both evocative and thought-provoking, offering a powerful literary experience.

A very original novel, with a completely original narrative voice that keeps you guessing what on earth is going. A man is being put in a plane to be transported back to his home country after 26 years of exile. He presumes the reason for the trip is that he is expected to visit his sick brother. But is it?
I enjoyed it not only for the intrigue, but also the dry humour, confident writing and intelligent observations about developing aid and the emigrant-returning-home experience. This is a debut, so all the more impressive and author to follow for the future.

Writer and editor Maya Binyam’s memorable but uneven debut is narrated by an unnamed, middle-aged man visiting an unnamed country in sub-Saharan Africa. After twenty-six years abroad, he's journeying through his former homeland in search of his brother who’s almost certainly dying. Although aspects of the narrator’s life and experiences echo Binyam’s father’s, her novel isn’t conventionally autobiographical or strictly realist. The overall narrative framework is deceptively simple, for the most part operating as a vehicle for a series of intricate arguments about exile, cultural identity and relationships between the West and those defined as its other.

As the narrator travels to find his brother, he encounters a number of strangers who insist on telling him their stories. These combine to form a portrait and a kind of oral history of the country. A land in the grip of social and economic turmoil, riddled with corruption, weighed down by tradition. It’s a place in which entire communities are hemmed in by the strategies of global corporations; often easy prey for well-meaning, but delusionary, international aid workers and misguided missionaries. In many ways the country might seem to fulfil the stereotype of “struggling” African nation. But this image is gradually undermined through a series of subtle - and not-so-subtle – juxtapositions. These indicate that the narrator’s adopted country, which closely resembles America, is not dissimilar.

Binyam’s partly inspired by her family’s past, its tangles with migration and quest for refuge. But she also draws from other diasporic writers notably Sam Selvon, Jamaica Kincaid and Tayeb Salih. Her piece operates rather like a mystery, at the heart of which is her oddly-enigmatic narrator, someone who seems to be both with and without agency, invested in his quest but also strangely detached. These contradictions add to an atmosphere of growing tension broken up by seductive bursts of drily, absurdist humour. There was so much I really liked about Binyam’s writing here, her style, the fiercely political arguments running through her narrative. But I felt let down by her plot which hinges on a final, "momentous" twist – except I’d worked out the basic concept midway through. The attempt at a shock ending just didn’t work for me, it felt too manipulative and melodramatic, threatening to undermine what came before –though I appreciated its links to Binyam's broader exploration of Western hypocrisy and systematic racism. However, despite reservations, I think this is worth exploring, at its best it’s intriguing, inventive and powerful.

Hangman has the best opening and closing chapters I’ve read so far this year and I ate every word up.

In Hangman an unnamed man is asked to return to his home country following news that his brother is gravely ill. What follows is a funny, rich African journey about belonging covering complex themes with a mundane, matter of fact voice that I just loved.

But please, this book is EVERYTHING. It’s afro surrealist, it’s experimental, it’s a tragedy, it’s satirical and by not naming the country he returns to, Mayam has allowed her debut to remain gloriously pan-african.

I won’t go any further into the plot because it would ruin the reader's experience. But you might like this if you like weird, surreal books, the writing style of Miranda July or are interested in exploring the African, transnational experience.

One point. You might find yourself confused in the middle of the story. I would urge you, stick with it. It’s under 200 pages, so ideal for this sort of experimental writing.

My recommendation? Let go of convention for this one and just be in each moment that Binyam offers us. It really is an exceptional book.

As always, thank you NetGalley for this ARC copy in exchange for a fair review.

Hangman is out on the 3rd August.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for the access to this Arc. I need start this review talking about the PROSE in this book. Is rare now days find a unique prose like the one in this book. And I liked it very much the fact that we have no idea of the name and who is the narrator in the story made it a bit captivating for me.. it game me the sense of be a dreamlike plot and we just floating on it. But in one sense we can describe this book as a very unique book. You need focus you need put all your attention in this book this book may not be a cuppa for everyone. I would say some people will find ir difficult and quit it . But for me was a good, interesting and refreshing read.

A man returns home, to the country he left 26 years ago, to see his brother who is dying. HANGMAN is the story of the man’s journey, a man who seems curiously detached from the world, prone to misunderstanding the situations he finds himself in, as he drifts from place to place, listening to people’s stories, and hoping he ends up where he needs to be.

HANGMAN is a rather strange book, made even more so by the protagonist’s unusual perspective on events, through which the story is entirely told. I found his perspective interesting, but difficult to fully engage with. I didn’t always understand why he did what he did, even when more of the man’s situation was revealed as the story progressed, although I did like the way his life story was gradually revealed. As much as I love the idea of a book that isn’t overly plot-driven, this combined with the flat writing tone meant I wasn’t particularly keen to keep reading. I also have to admit that I’m not a fan of not giving characters’ names, which I just didn’t think added anything to the story except the occasional confusion.

Three stars because I found this one a bit of a slog, but I am intrigued to see what Maya Binyam will write next. HANGMAN is an innovative book that makes some witty observations along the way. I don’t think its blurb quite fits the bill, but if you’re after something different, and like the sound of what I’ve described, I think it’s worth giving this one a go.