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beauvisseau's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical content, Gore, Emotional abuse, Child death, Terminal illness, Grief, Death, and Abandonment
Moderate: Sexism, Animal death, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Infidelity
bandysbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This story follows Agnes (Anne) as she marries and then settles down with William Shakespeare. They have three children together, one of which dies due to the plague, and eventually becomes the inspiration for Hamlet. While William is in London writing plays, Agnes is grieving and trying to survive. The main focus of the story is really her grief and what she goes through after Hamnet's death.
The writing in this was very lovely. I was surprised at how flowery it was considering the darkness of the content. It was an interesting contrast, but one that I think worked fairly well.
The things that kept this from being a higher rating are as follows:
- The description was overdone at points. Others have mentioned this in great detail, but descriptions always come in sets of three. It wasn't simply good. It was magnificent, beautiful, and lovely. This can work when used sparingly, but it's repeated too much throughout the book.
- Agnes is made into an almost-fae. She's sort of a wilderwoman who is at one with nature, makes herbal remedies, and intuits things before they happen. I suppose it was an attempt to make her standout, but it felt unnecessary. It gave me a bit of Mary Sue vibes initially because she's portrayed as innately better than the other women without much proof.
-Shakespeare is never given a name. I found this to be an odd choice since I'm pretty sure 95% of the people reading this book understand it's about William Shakespeare's wife and children. I don't think it added to the narration by leaving his name out.
All in all, if you like historical fiction and have a particular interest in Shakespeare, you may enjoy this book. Just beware that it isn't written in straightforward narration.
Graphic: Infidelity, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Grief, Medical content, and Pregnancy
niaaaaa's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Child death, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, Animal death, Infidelity, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy
Minor: Classism and Violence
lenni_sc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sehr emotionale Geschichte über Ängste, Verlust und die Leben, die weitergehen. Mir persönlich haben die Kapitel der Vorgeschichte besser gefallen und ich hätte gerne mehr über die Mutter von Agnes aus ihrer eigenen Perspektive erfahren. Gegen Ende hat mich die Langatmigkeit des Buches deswegen, wenn auch ein sehr geschickt eingesetztes Stilmittel, etwas gelangweilt.
Overall ein sehr bewegendes Buch und eine Leseempfehlung an alle, die gerne Tränen vergießen.
Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Child death, Death, Abandonment, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death and Physical abuse
jules_c's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Animal death, Grief, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Child death
balfies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Blood
annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
that out of the way, it was slow at times—part I alternates between past and present, and i felt that the past dragged on while being merely drip-fed the more interesting present—but it's a beautiful character study, heartbreaking and endearing.
Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Sexism, and Infidelity
Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Sexual content
excritos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Terminal illness
Moderate: Death and Abandonment
Minor: Alcoholism and Violence
bunnyreads2's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Child death, Grief, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Violence, Domestic abuse, and Sexism
Minor: Abandonment
lisabee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
At the story level, I am unhappy and confused. Too many strands begun and taken nowhere. It looks like she took an official biography and fleshed out descriptions and little acts without actually creating a cohesive story of the "this is what happened and why it happened and how people changed as a result" variety. In this vein, the end is abrupt, and actually not really the end of the story we read. It seems to me the end of a different story, one about Shakespeare and why he wrote "Hamlet", which is only a side-plot in what is really a description of Agnes' life as a string of events without a great deal of meaning.
And why, oh, why was the supernatural element necessary? It just made it all ridiculous.
Moderate: Child death and Abandonment