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szuum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity
nicolebobby's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Be forewarned that this review is essentially a love letter to Maggie O’Farrell. How incredible must your writing be to hook a reader when we already know the ending? The boys dies, you know this going in, and yet, you are an enraptured visitor, passing through history, through lives and deaths and everything in between.
The distinct characters, as real as flesh and bone, and ease of which we switch point of view, sometimes from chapter to chapter other times from paragraph to paragraph, are literary feats that few authors really master. However, it’s the beautifully raw descriptions of grief, varying from person to person, that is the real celebration of this novel. It broke my heart but I would gladly have it broken again by Maggie O’Farrell.
Graphic: Child death
gabefiction's review against another edition
4.75
The last couple chapters absolutely wrecked me, I had to pause and put down the book before pressing on, mainly because tears were making it difficult to read. Dealing with death and its aftermath in all its raw vividness was tough. My only gripe is that there were more of Hamnet’s perspective to saturate the narrative, it would’ve added even more emotional depth to an already great story.
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Pandemic/Epidemic
cigarete_smoke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Alcohol
itsredandread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child death and Death
sarahallez's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Minor: Child abuse
shellydennison's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death
rikkegstokke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death and Terminal illness
georginathelibrarian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
To hear her talk about a child that I hadn’t even known existed, despite studying Agnes’s husband at university, a child who may have died of a deadly epidemic, during that time of my own life secluded from our own deadly sickness captured my attention.
I immediately ordered a signed copy, and then it sat on the shelf as they often do, biding their time until the moment is right.
Finally the time had come to read it, prompted by my book club, and I am so glad I have. It was chosen for April as that is the month of Agnes’ husband’s birth and death, but the story is not just about that famous playwright, it is more about his family, and their grief at the loss of one of their own.
This story captured my attention anew, transporting me to Elizabethan Stratford, and had me riveted from start to finish, a feat that many books have failed to deliver of late.
I warn you, you will need tissues, this is not a happy story, but it is one that leaves a feeling of wholeness at the end, that all is as it should be.
In the words of Agnes’s husband “give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o’er wrought heart and bids it break”.
Graphic: Grief and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Death of parent
Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic
molly_kate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic