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szuum's review
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Misogyny, and Child death
Moderate: Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Infidelity
nicolebobby's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
formerboyband's review against another edition
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.
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!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Pandemic/Epidemic
cigarete_smoke's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
redandread_'s review
emotional
reflective
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Child death
sarahallez's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Child death
Minor: Child abuse
shellydennison's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
Beautifully written, poignant and moving.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
rikkegstokke's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Terminal illness
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”.
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”.
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
molly_kate's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Grief