Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

28 reviews

foggyoblio'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
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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amystainton's review against another edition

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dark emotional lighthearted relaxing 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? No

5.0

Wow! Made me cry and feel nostalgic for a time I didn’t exist. Reading this in london was something else. Loved it!

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lauraportalupi's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.75


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ada_henry's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Apparently, it's ✨ Sad Book September ✨, because ✨ Sad Book Summer ✨ wasn't enough for me. 

Reading Hamnet right after A Little Life was... a choice. I had heard great things about Hamnet, and several semi-reliable sources said that it made them cry. That being said, A Little Life kind of ruined everything for me. (Not in the sense that it ruined my life, just in the sense that I don't think I'll ever read any character study that is that good.) Hamnet was good, but it didn't nail the slow pace, intertwining story lines, or long character descriptions in the way that other books I've read recently have. 

My main complaints were as follows:

1. We hear WAY TOO MUCH about Agnes's life pre-Hamnet. Yes, it's great. Yes, it's kind of interesting. But there's so much of it. Her entire childhood story, how she met her husband, and everything about her family could have been condensed into one chapter, but Maggie O'Farrell really tried to drag it out FOREVER. 

2. There were some overall great moments and the plot was good, but it really dragged. Again, a lot of the little details felt unnecessary and they just really weighed the whole novel down. 

3. The two connecting stories didn't play out as well as they did in Young Mungo, which was a little disappointing. While they connected nicely at the end, they felt too far apart in the beginning, and I found myself wanting to skim Agnes's early chapters in favor of Hamnet's story.

4. Four million things were happening in this book: Agnes's story, Hamnet's story, so many different POVs... I just kept getting lost. Unless Hamnet was being directly referenced, it was easy to forget that this book was even about him. 

5. Agnes's chapters were not needed. After
Hamnet's death
, the novel slowed down even more, and while I loved the last ten or so pages, the fifty that led up to them were so boring and unnecessary.

What I did like included: 

1. It was sad. And I love sad books. I didn't cry, but I nearly teared up a few times here and there. It felt so, so real. Agnes's grief was tangible, and it stayed with her for so, so long. The different reactions to loss (anger, crying, depression, etc.) were explored in such a delicate yet unflinching way. 

2. It really was rather interesting. I never knew that Shakespeare had children. In fact, when I was reading Romeo and Juliet a few years ago in eighth grade, I was convinced that Shakespeare was made up. I spent weeks researching conspiracy theories about other poets who could have been the 'real' Shakespeare, only to determine that I was wrong. But Hamnet was such a good insight into both life in general in very old Europe and specifically Shakespeare's life. It also correlates nicely with some of our recent units in AP World, so that's fun!

3. Not to be dramatic, but I would die for Judith. She was so sweet and cute and lovely, and I felt so bad for her. We all need a Judith in our lives. Go be a Judith. 

Overall, 4/5 stars. It was good, but not my favorite. It was also super slow paced, and despite not being very long, it took me several weeks to read. I'm unsure what my next book of ✨ Sad Book September ✨ will be, so maybe I'll take a break and read something more upbeat. 

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felijhn's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? No

4.25


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mmefish's review against another edition

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sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

I expected way, way more from this book. It is well written, atmospheric... But it's lacking so much.
The characters, for one, are underdeveloped; even Agnes, who we spend most of the time with. Hamnet himself barely shows up on the page. (Why is it even called "Hamnet", when it's really not about him? Though I'm not sure what this book is really about.)
It's tropey: a weird witchy young woman, an evil stepmother, twins switching places.
So many hints and secondary plots but nothing was done with them in the end.
The ending is a big letdown. We spend dozens of pages reading about depression and grief, and then it all ends abruptly.
It's... okay.

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rosenau's review against another edition

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

4.0


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pollyhall's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I preferred the story of Agnes and Bartholomew rather than Hamnet.

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bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

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

2.25


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haley313's review against another edition

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

3.75

I didn’t know anything about the personal life of Shakespeare or his family prior to reading this book, though as others have noted this is essentially a story about Agnes. I think the writing was lovely, and I enjoyed many of the characters. The description of the travel of the plague was fascinating. There were several scenes that made me weep. I loved the tender depictions of womanhood, sisterhood, motherhood. However, I feel like the magic waned for me in the last quarter of the book. I didn’t love the ending. 

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