Through The Sad Wood Our Corpses Will Hang

Beautifully and painfully expressed, Sheyda, the main character, reflects on her life from a prison where she awaits her fate, having been accused of killing her mother. It is clear that she does not have a solid grasp on reality, so her interpretations of the world are suspect both in past events and her current plight. At the core we find a girl who struggled in her childhood with the restrictions placed on girls in her society while she also struggles with her own grasp of reality past and present.

This is hands down the best book I've read in the last few months. First, the title alone is near poetic and I was immediately drawn in by the macabre cover image. It's a unpredictable, unexpected, beautiful story that follows a 20-year old girl named Sheyda imprisoned in Iran. Through her eyes, I got to see Iranian society as she saw it. I especially loved how human she was and because it's told in first-person, her side of reality was rather unreliable, but it was so easy to connect with her, to be flooded with empathy for her.

THROUGH THE SAD WOOD OUR CORPSES WILL HANG is a buffet of beautifully adored details and rich exploration into the darkness of society and the twisted nature of truth. It will make you uncomfortable, it will make you question everything, it will make you wonder why.

And despite this, I couldn't put it down.

Engaging and well written, fans of 'Alias Grace' will absolutely love this book. The title alone is an eye-catcher, and the tale is at times poignant. A look inside the mind of a girl who begins to lose touch with reality, and told as she sees everything - from childhood to her current imprisonment, awaiting her faith. Brilliant writing.