Reviews with content warning for Death - Judith und Hamnet

5 stars, yet it took me a whole month to finish this book — I wanted to savour it slowly, and I didn't have those special occasions frequently enough when I felt ready to immerse myself in the story. Maggie O'Farrell has such a way with words. I'll never forget this experience.

Content Warnings

maevebm's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Overall, I found the prose beautiful. The plot was lacking though. While the story had somewhat of a natural progression, I found it unbelievable at times and the characters’ motivations weren’t compelling enough.

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bellaa's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

it didn't give me that five star feeling
once again reinforcing that I have no specific taste, highly recommend this if you are ok with child death and absolutely no plot
I wish I could upload pictures so y'all could see the way I absolutely sobbed at

the description of his father coming upon the scene of his death, seeing Judith alive and being so happy, then realizing who was missing

. as my mom said, "you need some happy"
my happy is not having to read the words "william shakespeare" throughout this entire book

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rainynook's review against another edition

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dark inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Loved this book to bits. Lyrical, imaginative writing. It says it's a book about the plague, but it's not, not exactly. Some of the characters get the plague, but it's more a book about how characters deal with grief. I did not find it overwhelmingly sad.

Content Warnings

notanniewarren's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

My partner suggested we listen to this because he teaches and directs Shakespeare. I had never been that interested because generally I'm not bothered about historical novels, especially not ones based on real people - but I have to say, I was absolutely blown away. What a writer! I loved loved loved this book. Maggie O'Farrell is an ARTIST. I'm very sorry for what I'm about to say but I'm driven to it by the quality of the book - she truly paints with words. The characters are so vivid, and I like that Shakespeare's name is omitted; he's too much of a CONCEPT now to be thought of as a person. The only thing I would say is that it's very slow, wasn't a problem for me because the writing, characters and world-building is so all-encompassing that you just want it to last forever.

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artmuseam's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

a heartbreaking piece of fiction that tackles with grief during the plague. i did not expect to cry so many times throughout this book, and yet the writing seemed to know exactly how to get the waterworks going :,) as someone who isn’t really a fan of shakespeare (not that i have anything against him—just not interested enough) i thought this book did great in pulling someone like me into a fictional twist of shakespeare’s life before his rise to fame and the pov from his wife. i genuinely loved agnes as a character and following her story truly put me through some highs and lows. i may need to cleanse my broken soul after finishing this story—the sadness is too much for me to bear. 4/5 stars

Content Warnings

lucylibrarymouse's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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