Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

26 reviews

hilarylouise's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

bessmonet's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

heyitsashleigh's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

marijako's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Child abuse and Violence

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

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

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: Child death, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity and Mental illness

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

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.

amandahjy's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

moonybombadil's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse and Violence

williamgideon's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is so so incredibly sad, but the way it's written is very beautiful and encapsulating. It captures the emotions of the characters very well.
It was interesting seeing not only how the loss impacted them, but also how the other family members deal with each others grief. I liked getting to see how each of the characters had their own struggle, perspective, and eventually their own way of coming to terms.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Mental illness

sehwa's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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

4.75

I haven't read a book quite like this before. Not all that much happens in the plot, it's just a lovely storytelling of the past and present. Maggie's writing is absolutely wonderful, it took me a few pages to get used to it but it was a joy to read and I was never bored. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Pregnancy