Reviews tagging 'Death'

Henry Henry by Allen Bratton

3 reviews

mariavdl's review

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

0.5

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breeisreading_'s review

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

 Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for providing me with an ARC. 

Henry Henry is a queer reimagining of Shakespeare's Henriad, set over the course of a year from 2014, where Henry V is 22-year-old Hal – Catholic, gay, usually high or drunk – and heir to the House of Lancaster. Hal flouts through life aimlessly, occasionally going to confession, and being guilted into visiting his father (Henry) – widowed, passive-aggressive, and intent on moulding Hal into someone he isn’t. 

Hal and Henry’s relationship is the main focus of the novel, imbued with obsession and possession, and a certain kind of trauma. There is a large focus on Catholicism, and Henry and Hal’s relationship to this, as well as the class system and politics. This book also explores themes of addiction, eating disorders, sexual abuse, grief, and AIDs. 

The novel is also a romance in some elements, between Hal and Henry Percy, family friend and fellow posh Oxford graduate, and previously Hal’s rival. I really liked the romance between Hal and Percy, and the well it offsets Hal’s relationship with his father. 

As someone who knows next to nothing about the Henriad plays, or that period of history in general, this was an interesting retelling, and it worked well for me. The time period centring around UK politics in 2015, the gay romance, and mixing that with a story of abuse and addiction makes for a truly unputdownable read, but one that is very full of trigger warnings. 
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mmccombs's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

While the writing and developed themes were incredibly compelling, I mostly found reading this to be a chore. I had a difficult time getting into this, I was not really into Hal as a character so I never quite felt motivated to pick the book up.

However, once we got to the incident with Harry Percy, I suddenly felt invested. I loved the charm between these characters, the way their differences and similarities bounced off one another.

But then the energy and momentum of the story kind of fizzled out for me, a lot of the action felt repetitive and I was waiting for a bit more development from these characters.

I did love the connection between Catholicism (and a lot of guilt), Hal’s relationship with his father (complicated, to say the least), the long line of history that tethered this family together, and the Shakespearian-ness of it all. The sentence-level craft of it was well done, so even though the story didn’t totally work for me, the structure of it did.

I have a feeling that this will be a polarizing book people will have opinions about, but if you are a reader that prefers (messy) character-driven novels, enjoyed the Henriad (or maybe even Succession), and are down for some privileged white boy drama, I think this will be a book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Unnamed Press for the eARC!
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