Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

81 reviews

lauraportalupi's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Child abuse, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Animal death

clea's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Child death, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Medical content, and Infidelity

eam006's review

emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Grief

Minor: Infidelity

amyjmcd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and Terminal illness

madzie's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.5

O'Farrell offers an enticing idea about the life of Shakespeare's family and the death of his only son but falls short of the execution of her idea. Certainly, it cannot be argued that O'Farrell has a command of prose with vivid descriptions and creative language. However, her writing style cannot save the lack of a through point in the novel that leaves it mind-numbingly dull. Novels with little to no plot succeed with their interesting and relatable characters. Therefore, due to O'Farrell's characters being undeveloped and uninteresting, with a lack of exploratory and meaningful relationships with each other, the entire novel becomes a bore. In fact, the climax of Hamnet's death (not a spoiler) is hardly impactful because I have little care for any of the characters or their relationships with one another. 

Unfortunately, Hamnet's death even becomes laughable due to the use of an absolutely unrealistic trope which shows O'Farrell's lack of care or research in her novel. The rest of the novel holds up similarly with the overuse of tropes that do not fit the genre and instead make the novel campy. I really was looking for this book to paint Shakespeare's family as people, rather than spectacles, who face a nonsensical tragedy. Instead, O'Farrell's reliance on tropes and leaving Shakespeare nameless do the opposite, making one of the most famous writers even more mysterious and even more magical rather than human. O'Farrell is excellent at depicting grief at the moment but neglects to write about how deeply it continues to affect people over time and how it can rip apart families and relationships, instead relying on surface-level points and exposition. Further, her use of multiple timelines seems senseless as there is no purpose or reveal, and instead makes the novel even more boring and approaching annoying.

The novel's ending demonstrates the potential it failed to reach. Big ideas and feeling attempt to break through, but after nearly 300 pages of not exploring those themes in depth, setting them up, or creating a relationship between the characters and reader, the end makes it seem like the idea would have fit a short story better than a full-length novel. Additionally, the conclusion only draws further attention to how the themes O'Farrell introduces are unfocused. Topics, such as family relations and women in society, seem to be abandoned, with no real exploration into what O'Farrell really wants her audience to reconsider. In the end, O'Farrell's famous novel, while driven by its excellent writing style, fails to deliver on its promises, lacks any purposeful direction, and leaves me longing for any deep feeling.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Infidelity

abisnail564's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, and Violence

dnvrdnvr's review

sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse and Animal death

celey's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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

Incredible. The writing positively shimmers. The emotional journeys are raw and real. A slight element of supernatural forces kept me guessing. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Confinement, Medical content, Gore, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Body horror

Minor: Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

Many challenging topics and ideas are explored in this book. It is all done very thoughtfully.

daniellekat's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

The writing was too much…too descriptive, too elaborate, too boring. I wished I enjoyed this more but it was a tough one to get through. The author is a talented writer but the power and emotion of the prose was lost for me because every sentence held so much detail. Overall the story was compelling and the author told it through an interesting lens but this was not for me. I can understand the draw and attention this has gotten but if lyrically written character books are not your thing, skip this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Bullying and Sexism

Minor: Infidelity, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Birth/labour Plague

jillyrose's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Grief, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, and Infidelity