Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Hamnet & Judith by Maggie O'Farrell

6 reviews

butlerebecca's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow

Who knew grief could be written so fucking beautifully? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship

fanchera's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Child death, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Infidelity

amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

A beautiful story woven of a cast of Shakespeare's family telling of the story around Shakespeare's son, Hamnet's, death and the resulting play named after him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Grief, Death, Blood, and Sexual content

beauvisseau's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

The prose is absolutely gorgeous, the characters are intricate and the plot is heartbreaking. One of the best audiobooks I have listened to. How the author managed to put the women in Shakespeare's life at the forefront, not even naming him, was amazing. The magical realism that the writer implemented was charming and fun. The jumps in time made me want to keep on reading, just like the great variation in chapter lengths did. A great representation of 'normal' lives with thematically intricate stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical content, Gore, Emotional abuse, Child death, Terminal illness, Grief, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexism, Animal death, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Infidelity

solybugs's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

To be honest, for a book that is supposed to ignore Shakespeare and only focus on his family... He gets wayyyy too many pages either from his point of view or from the point of view of someone else talking to him. The only reason why I chose this book, since it's not usually my preferred genre, was to hear the story of his family and to focus on the people that history often glosses over. But then to hear so much about him gets pretty tiring. But, Hamnet made up for it with very descriptive and flowery writing that perfectly fit the style and time period of the book along with accurate descriptions of loss, emotional pain, and depression (or rather the point of view from an outsider, who is close to someone who has depression. Being that myself, I really loved the way Maggie O'Farell accurately described the feeling of not being able to help someone while they're going through that. Extremely relatable). 3.75/5, meh. Mostly meh, has some good parts tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness and Infidelity

Minor: Blood, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

There is also a description of childbirth (with complications) and the mental illness mentioned is most likely depression although it is never really named in the book.

cnohero's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Infidelity, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content