This was a really interesting story, it had a great premise and I enjoyed the way the characters worked with the storyline. The concept had me from the first page and was glad I was able to read this. It had that element that I was hoping for and enjoyed the way Jo Hamya wrote this.

The Hypocrite is a literary work revolving around Sophia and her wish to confront her father via a play that she has written. Her father is quite famous but his works are now somewhat questionable. Her play is popular, but her father is unaware of the topic until he arrives in the theater. When the lights dim, he realizes that he is the subject. What will he think?
It was a hard read. A very interesting topic!
A#knopf #Pantheon #vintage #anchor #knopfpantheonvintageanchor #thehypocrite #johamya

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion. This is a HIGHLY literate novel that is not an easy read. That being said, I enjoyed every second of it. The content played with a lot of my "daddy issues" but overall was a very interesting and satisfying read.

This was such a captivating novel! I really enjoyed how Jo Hamya portrayed a complex and complicated father/daughter relationship. The memories weaved throughout was interesting to read, and overall I did enjoy reading this book. The end did feel rushed and a bit out of place for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this title!

"The Hypocrite" by Jo Hamya is a quick read that I found really engaging. It tackles important themes like the #metoo movement and the impact of traumatic father-daughter relationships. The narrative weaves in the complexities of these issues alongside the backdrop of the pandemic, adding a timely layer to the story. While some parts were a bit challenging to grasp, the overall experience was both enlightening and enjoyable. Highly recommended for those looking for a novel that delves into relevant social issues with depth and nuance.

In The Hypocrite, a young playwright adapts her memories of a European beach vacation with her novelist father into a comedy of manners. This play may upset her father. That fact the play exists is upsetting the playwright's mother. Her father is seeing it for the first time. It's also Covid. People are tense!

I thought the setup had strong potential, but the differences in perspective and memories and 'sexual mores' was more ambiently thematic than consequential. The characters seemed more like representatives of generations than people.

I thought there was going to be something—an interpersonal moment, a reveal in the play, a flashback to their vacation—that was truly explosive. The disagreements and misunderstandings seemed suburban and bourgeois, mild fare for a therapy session, much less for a whole novel.

I DID love the ending, where a secondary character summarily dismisses and disposes of the main characters. I agreed with her! If the author does, too, why did we just spend so much time with these guys in the first place?

There are some lightly experimental formal choices, with lines broken poetically with m-dashes, and a few lines from the "play" within the novel that are quoted epigraphically at the beginning of some chapters. I liked it, but wished it was more continued or central.

Also, The Hypocrite was also replete with sentences that were difficult to understand: "The woman to his right is still grasping her phone and the glove of flour sloping bones that make up her knuckles look ready to come out of their skin," and "They have started to grow tired of the ordinary screams chair legs around them give when pushed out for old guests to exit."

Brilliant, taut, and astonishing. A kaleidoscopic feat of shifting point-of-views and memories. I couldn't stop reading.