The Hypocrite, Jo Hamya
I am endlessly fascinated by complicated familial relationships in novels, which is why I was instantly drawn to The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya. The novel alternates between a holiday in 2010 that Sophia takes with her father in The Aeolian Islands and London in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, where her father is watching the play that Sophia has written about the time they spent together there.
The Hypocrite is an utterly absorbing novel and, as we see the holiday playing out on stage, readers become curious about what really happened on the islands, and whether Sophia’s brutal recollection has been tainted by her strained relationship with her father. It seemed that Sophia was trying to find a way to connect with her father – to have him captive in a theatre in order to witness the time they spent together from her perspective, and to elicit a reaction from him.
The reason this novel resonated deeply with me was the way in which Jo Hamya understood and articulated the complexities and intricacies of family life. Sophia’s relationships with both her parents are not picture perfect, and her mother and father seem removed from what is going on in Sophia’s life as they still interact and irritate each other.
This is also a novel that deals effortlessly with themes of memory, recollection, love, and parenting. For me, The Hypocrite poses the question as to whether we can ultimately see our parents as fallible and vulnerable human beings and accept them for it – and Jo Hamya answers it perfectly.
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