Reviews

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

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ana_deskin's review against another edition

3.0

Was so much better than I expected it to be. The writing style - multiple perspectives, multiple time periods - really helped to get us know and feel for the characters. Personally, doubt that I would read it again, but it was a great summer read!

mjoa's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

chloreads28's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

willjacks's review against another edition

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2.0

The story is too simple for the book to be as long as it is. As interesting as the first third is, nothing particularly happens at all unfortunately. The book's melodrama was the most interesting part, so when it just ends abruptly it becomes boring. Even the crescendo of an ending was stone dead boring compared with the first third which is such a shame. Some of the descriptive language and writing style was incredible some areas and boring in others. Never had this issue before, but I read the first two thirds and skimmed the rest. Whether you could call the plot twist an actual plot twist is also up for debate, as you know the fate of a certain character as the foreword tells you at the start of the book. That narrative arc is visited and revisited on numerous occasions until you realise that you're 200 pages in, and literally all that's happened is a child starts to become ill as they wait for a parent or grandparent to come home. That's it. It deserves its awards for the prose, but in my opinion its all style over substance.