Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Hamnet

This book was on its way to a lower rating to be honest. It's not that it isn't beautifully written, so much as that it feels like the description/writing style is more the point than the story at times. I liked the flashback/forward style of the chapters but also found it frustrating... I don't know, maybe at first this book was at the wrong time/mood for me?

However. I don't think it's a real spoiler to say that this book contains

a death

. It's literally in the blurb.

The second part of the book where Agnes and her family were dealing with the death hit me a lot harder, possibly because I've had some of that of my own to deal with recently. I'd have liked to read more of the conversation between Agnes and her husband (also a bit funny how much the book skirted round the fact that he's literally SHAKESPEARE) after she saw the play. Her thoughts were explained, and her perspective if his thoughts and she is the main narrator I guess, but that's got to have been an interesting conversation, and it felt like a shame to miss it!

Content Warnings

natgeographic's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

4.0

The writing is beautiful, the story is interesting, creative and sad.

Content Warnings

mikarala's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This was a beautiful and fascinating portrait of the impact grief can have on a marriage and a family, with some poignant insights and stunning prose. At times I was utterly captivated, however there are elements that prevented me from giving this 5 stars. This novel, being a character-based drama, can only go so far as the characters will take it, and unfortunately there were times when I felt like the narrative kept me at arm's length from them. The author frequently opted to describe speech rather than turn it into dialogue, and personally I found that unengaging. The choice to never use Shakespeare's name, while a fascinating one whose purpose in centering his wife and children I completely understand, is something that came across as somewhat ham-fisted at times to me as it seemed like the prose went out of its way to do so. I also found the start, perhaps the first 75 pages or so, to be fairly slow.

However, while these elements keep the book from being perfect, overall I did find this to be a fantastic novel. Shakespeare holds such a preeminent place in the history of English language, literature, and culture, and exploring how he might have drawn from his own personal life experience to write absolutely timeless works of art is something I find very fascinating. There were quite a few scenes that were incredibly stunning and affecting due to the word choice and brutal honesty expressed within, but this novel really saves the best for last with the final scene. Knowing that Shakespeare's (possibly) most famous creation shares a name with his deceased son, you'd think there would be more explorations of how Shakespeare wrote the play in honour of him. In any case, I really loved reading Maggie O'Farrell's interpretation of that and I think this novel is enjoyable even if you aren't interested in Shakespeare.

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