Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

128 reviews

kiwi2745's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse

Minor: Child abuse

hannahsheil's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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“What is the word, Judith asks her mother, for someone who was a twin but is no longer a twin?”

A beautifully heartbreaking take on a relatively unknown death of the son of one of the world’s most famous writers. 

I was pleasantly surprised for this book to have a witchy twist/vibe with Agnes (Anne Hathaway), even if it’s not historically accurate. It’s hard for any of it to be historically accurate though since so little is written of or about her.

Unrelated to the review: my book was 305 pages but both Goodreads and StoryGraph have it as 375 pages, Amazon has it as 320 pages, and Wikipedia says 384 🤨 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic

jesster's review against another edition

4.5

emotional 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: Complicated

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I really enjoyed reading this beautiful book, which was ultimately a story about one woman’s grief. I wanted to hear more of the story when it ended, but  thought it was appropriately scoped and wouldn’t have wanted it longer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse

kaanda's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Violence

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Abandonment

ahonazaman's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse

jolineliest's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional inspiring 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

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Am Anfang habe ich die ganze Zeit darauf gewartet, dass das Kind endlich stirbt, damit die Geschichte losgehen kann. Irgendwann habe ich mich dann aber in der tollen Sprache und immersiven Geschichte verloren und war einfach glücklich dabei zu sein. Maggie O'Farrell beherrscht die Mythenmetzsche Abschweifung in Perfektion. Aber dadurch zieht sie die Lesenden auch mit, immer tiefer in die Geschichte hinein. Alles ist so lebhaft beschrieben und so gut mitzufühlen, dass es schwerfällt, das Buch aus der Hand zu legen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Abandonment

Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail

softanimal's review against another edition

5.0

emotional sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity

tashaa_t's review against another edition

3.25

dark 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: Complicated

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As much as I found the writing style extremely beautiful, I didn't find the plot particularly interesting. I enjoyed the characters and their relationships with one another, and how they grow and change through the tragedy but it did feel like not a lot really happened. I would have liked to know more about Hamnet, I feel his death did not really hit as hard as it could have as we hardly know him before this happens. The book is definitely more about his mother Agnes.

I would be interested in reading more by Maggie O'Farrell after this, as I did really enjoy the way she writes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content

nehaanna's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Pregnancy

syncstarlight's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse