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A review by brynhammond
Seven Who Were Hanged by Leonid Andreyev
5.0
Perfect craft in this story on the cruelty of execution. I don't know a better story in the world.
Follows on from Dostoyevsky's passages on capital punishment in [b:The Idiot|12505|The Idiot|Fyodor Dostoyevsky|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327865902s/12505.jpg|6552198] and the short work important to him in his turn, Victor Hugo's [b:The Last Day of a Condemned Man|63040|The Last Day of a Condemned Man|Victor Hugo|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328728909s/63040.jpg|1632537]. I think, though, they'd each be proud to have written this. It not only has the seven perspectives -- terrorists and common murderers -- but the effects on guards; and begins in theme with the political victim who gets away, but not before he discovers the psychic torture of a scheduled death.
It's gutting: go in with care. But profoundly humane.
Follows on from Dostoyevsky's passages on capital punishment in [b:The Idiot|12505|The Idiot|Fyodor Dostoyevsky|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327865902s/12505.jpg|6552198] and the short work important to him in his turn, Victor Hugo's [b:The Last Day of a Condemned Man|63040|The Last Day of a Condemned Man|Victor Hugo|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328728909s/63040.jpg|1632537]. I think, though, they'd each be proud to have written this. It not only has the seven perspectives -- terrorists and common murderers -- but the effects on guards; and begins in theme with the political victim who gets away, but not before he discovers the psychic torture of a scheduled death.
It's gutting: go in with care. But profoundly humane.