The Hangman's Replacement

Sprout of Disruption

by Taona Dumisani Chiveneko

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Pub Date Jun 10 2013 | Archive Date Jan 31 2014

Taona Dumisani Chiveneko

General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

Description

Zimbabwe’s last hangman retired in 2004. As the nation drifted towards abolition, no determined effort was launched to find a replacement. However, the discovery of carnivorous flame lilies at the Great Zimbabwe monument triggered a spirited search for a new executioner. Those who know why this discovery energized the recruitment effort refused to talk.

The frantic attempts to find a new hangman were impeded by the lack of suitable candidates. Well-placed sources confirmed that the fear of ngozi was a deterrent. According to this traditional belief, the spirit of a murdered person torments the killer and his family for generations. However, this is only half the story. Several promising applicants did come forward. None met the minimum requirements for the job. The selection criteria were designed to exclude the mentally ill, the vindictive, and the sadistic. However, they did not rule out the desperate.

The Sprout of Disruption (Book 1) introduces the universe of characters whose lives have been set alight by the plant which sparked the recruitment effort. It tells the story of the aspiring hangman who was obsessed with securing the job, the sympathizers who fought to protect him from his prize, and the anxious men who believed that emptying death row would end their horror before the meat-eating plants constricted around their necks.

Advance Praise

KIRKUS REVIEW EXTRACT

"At nearly 500 pages, this intricately woven novel is a disconcerting parable exploded to epic proportions. The author renders its many characters, from the mad genius responsible for the impending botanical apocalypse, to the prostitute/undercover operative who falls in love with Abel, to the seemingly simple Abel himself, with frightening subtlety and detail.... A thought-provoking, singularly strange and absorbing novel."

INDIEREADER REVIEW EXTRACTS

“This is a work of completely bizarre genius. The author has an almost Wodehousian gift with words, decorating his pages with phrases that can make the reader laugh out loud, question long-held assumptions about reality, or send a chill up the spine with just a few deft descriptive touches. Some of the characters, and the situations they find themselves in, can be completely off-the-wall, but the author’s writing ability carefully makes them almost plausible, even natural."

“This is a delightful book for those who enjoy having their perspectives stretched, who take delight in the weird and idiosyncratic, and who love watching a master author do breathtaking juggling acts with the English language."

SELF-PUBLISHING REVIEW EXTRACTS

“Yet more than once as I laughed my way through this novel, I was reminded of a quotation by Nikolai Gogol that I came across recently: “The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes.” The humor in The Hangman’s Replacement makes us laugh perhaps to keep us from crying. Again like Saramago, Chiveneko uses bizarre situations and sometimes subtle humor to deliver very deep and often disturbing social and political commentary. I think I would have appreciated the book more if I knew more about Zimbabwe’s history, but even lacking specific knowledge that might have turned story into allegory, I couldn’t help but feel the occasional chill as tragically universal themes emerged.”

“Chiveneko is a talented writer. Beautiful metaphors and delightful descriptions, while sometimes a little overdone, are some of the best parts of the book.”

“The Hangman’s Replacement is a long, complex, and challenging novel. But it rewards the reader’s efforts with delightful characters and plenty of laughter, even in the midst of some very disturbing themes.”

KIRKUS REVIEW EXTRACT

"At nearly 500 pages, this intricately woven novel is a disconcerting parable exploded to epic proportions. The author renders its many characters, from the mad genius...