Reviews with content warning for Child death - Hamnet

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

688 reviews

harrimyers's review against another edition

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emotional 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

5.0

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lifeinsherds's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I really liked "Hamnet", the only thing that I didn't love was the constant changing time jumps. While some of them were emotionally heavy, I sometimes had to remind myself what had happened last time we switched times. I had a difficult time keeping track of some names in the middle. I think the beginning of the book, until a POV switch and the last hundred or so pages are the best.

I would definitely recommend it to someone who was interested or familiar with Shakespeare.

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wolfsong12's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Outstanding 😍

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szuum's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.75

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nicolebobby's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

“Do you know that this is the foremost reason I love you… That you see the world as no one else does.”

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.

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formerboyband's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Despite the titular name, the true main character shines through Agnes, the remarkably irrepressible wife of Shakespeare and mother to Hamnet. The interchanging timelines, oscillating between past and present, created an emotional and striking depiction of love, grief, family, and ambition.

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.

This was profoundly sad, beautiful, and an easy 4.5 stars for me!

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