The Hypocrite
Falls into the category of #MeToo novels, a label that presumes a perspective that Hamya plays with adroitly ... A brilliant litmus test of a novel, which doesn’t mean it’s indecisive or wavering ... Hamya successfully makes a muddle with The Hypocrite, and I mean that as high praise. Contemporary fiction too often seeks the relief of some imagined perfect morality, perhaps because so many readers now conflate the beliefs of characters and their creator. It’s a pleasure to read a 27-year-old writer who embraces the novel’s power to fog up certainties about 'bad men'—and prods readers to join in.
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Impressive ... Glides among time frames and points of view ... Formal complexity is what elevates The Hypocrite from a straightforward novel of prosecution and rebuttal ... Is instead invested in the phenomenon of subjectivity, portraying a world of mutual self-involvement in which people are not only driven but tragically blinded by their individual truths. As such, The Hypocrite elevates style above argument, and its pleasures are in the swift, agile way that Ms. Hamya flits between the characters’ thoughts and the past and present.
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Sharp and agile ... Thankfully, nobody in this appropriately claustrophobic story emerges the clear hero ... In less capable hands, the novel might have become a tiresome examination of how sexual mores evolve between generations, or a flimsy inversion of Oedipal myth ... Overall, Hamya’s staging is savvy; each scene is packed with implication and, often, wit.
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