Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

7 reviews

georginathelibrarian's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? No

5.0

I first added Hamnet to my collection on hearing Maggie O’Farrell talk about the story during the digitised Hay festival in 2020 during the covid pandemic. 
To hear her talk about a child that I hadn’t even known existed, despite studying Agnes’s husband at university, a child who may have died of a deadly epidemic, during that time of my own life secluded from our own deadly sickness captured my attention. 
I immediately ordered a signed copy, and then it sat on the shelf as they often do, biding their time until the moment is right.

Finally the time had come to read it, prompted by my book club, and I am so glad I have. It was chosen for April as that is the month of Agnes’ husband’s birth and death, but the story is not just about that famous playwright, it is more about his family, and their grief at the loss of one of their own.

This story captured my attention anew, transporting me to Elizabethan Stratford, and had me riveted from start to finish, a feat that many books have failed to deliver of late.

I warn you, you will need tissues, this is not a happy story, but it is one that leaves a feeling of wholeness at the end, that all is as it should be. 
In the words of Agnes’s husband “give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o’er wrought heart and bids it break”.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Death, and Miscarriage

Minor: Sexual content, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Pandemic/Epidemic

enchantedelfie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, and Child death

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Abandonment, Death, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse

bookycnidaria's review

challenging dark emotional funny 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: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

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.

wrackcity's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Confinement and Medical content

honeycrispp's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

A deeply emotional, enthralling and immersive work of historical fiction set during the Black Death. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Child death, Grief, Confinement, Death, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Blood, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal death and Gaslighting

welkinvault'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

5.0

This is a  reimagining of the life of Shakespeare’s marriage and children, especially his twins. But the main character, the beating heart of the book, is the twins’ mother Agnes. The most famous character in the novel is never named, instead he is called the Latin tutor or her husband or the father.   

This novel has so much detail as though the author had lived the every day domestic life of this family. In a small parochial town, Agnes is unconventional, and has a mystical spirituality.  

It is an absolutely lyrical albeit tragic novel, and as an exploration of grief during plague it is wrenching but also timely in these pandemic times. 

One thing, apparently in the UK this was called Hamnet.  Judith IMO is an insubstantial will-o'-the-wisp character, compared to her sister, it should not have been renamed for the North American readership. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Confinement