Reviews tagging Sexual content

Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell

48 reviews

lydia_harrisx's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: 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

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, Child death, and Death

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

There are mentions of depression and cheating on spouses

theseasoul's review

DNF’d due to a sex scene in chapter 4 that I was uncomfortable with. Too bad, I was loving the gorgeous writing up to that point! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

niaaaaa's review

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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Classism and Violence

bootsmom3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Death, Child death, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Injury/injury detail, Animal death, Infidelity, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

yooniereads's review against another edition

challenging 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content, Miscarriage , and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

lissybeth91's review

hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Not to be a massive Shakespeare fan-girl on main, but oh my goodness. Oh my gracious. Oh my goodness gracious me. This is a beautiful book. It has been messing with my sleep schedule for the past week, and I have no regrets. 

Most of the reviews I've seen focus on the fact that Shakespeare's name is never used in this book, so as someone who has had a massive crush on the man for the past decade (I know I'm pathetic), I was worried that this book would be some sort of anti-Shax manifesto about how he was a horrible family man. But if you've had the same fear, rest assured... O'Farrell's characterization of him is by far the best I've ever seen. It truly felt like she knows the same man I do, and that was a beautiful thing. 

But enough about him. Every single character is written with such sensitivity and real "humanity" that I feel as if I have lived in Stratford with them my whole life. I love every single one of them. Well. Okay, there are two that I hate, but even those two are written with understanding and grace. Beyond the characters, the words themselves are lyrical and stunning.

Read. This. Book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, Death, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism

sib_reads's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Medical content, Child abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual content

sophie_e_s's review

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

Hamnet is one of those books that won't leave you alone even after you finish it. I haven't come across a book as good as this one in a long time; it completely captured me and won't let me go. I finished reading it a few hours ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Everything about this book is devastatingly beautiful: the prose, the characters, the plot, everything. I was especially struck by the brutally honest and authentic way in which grief and mourning are presented in this book. This is one of few novels that I know I will read time and time again in the future, and I have a feeling that it will get better with every reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Murder