Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

106 reviews

niaaaaa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

karinaeliza's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Miscarriage

bootsmom3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Death, Child death, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Infidelity, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

lillythebluepaladin'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

What is given may be taken away, at any time. Cruelty and devastation wait for you around corners, inside coffers, behind doors: they can leap out at you at any time, like a thief or brigand. The trick is never to let down your guard.

WOW!!! This will in fact go down as a classic! That was a beautiful, emotional, and sometimes kinda hard read, and I seriously enjoyed it!

SUCH AN EASY 5🌟 BOOK REVIEW FOR THIS ONE! The writing? Stunning! The characters? So realistic! The story itself? Perfect. Finally booktok actually recommends something good, this and Achilles!

It is about a certain VERY well known play writer’s wife and family, but the most beautiful part about this book is that his name is never said. We really get to see the man who wrote the plays, and we really got to see into his badass wife’s mind, and heartbreakingly enough, we also really got to know every corner of their children’s personalities, and then something not-so-nice happens in the middle :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Sexism, and Child abuse

Minor: Religious bigotry

elisabeth_with_an_ess's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

Not to be a massive Shakespeare fan-girl on main, but oh my goodness. Oh my gracious. Oh my goodness gracious me. This is a beautiful book. It has been messing with my sleep schedule for the past week, and I have no regrets. 

Most of the reviews I've seen focus on the fact that Shakespeare's name is never used in this book, so as someone who has had a massive crush on the man for the past decade (I know I'm pathetic), I was worried that this book would be some sort of anti-Shax manifesto about how he was a horrible family man. But if you've had the same fear, rest assured... O'Farrell's characterization of him is by far the best I've ever seen. It truly felt like she knows the same man I do, and that was a beautiful thing. 

But enough about him. Every single character is written with such sensitivity and real "humanity" that I feel as if I have lived in Stratford with them my whole life. I love every single one of them. Well. Okay, there are two that I hate, but even those two are written with understanding and grace. Beyond the characters, the words themselves are lyrical and stunning.

Read. This. Book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, Death, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism

angelbabe_cj's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Terminal illness

Moderate: Child abuse

chloe_cldn's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A beautiful book I really enjoyed reading, definitely would recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

mapscitiesandsongs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed my reading experience overall, but I have one major problem with it: It's not really about Hamnet. I went into this book thinking the majority of the book would be either in Hamnet's POV or would, at least, be about Hamnet. Instead I got a book that's basically about his mother Agnes, which isn't a bad thing per se. It was really interesting seeing her get to know Shakespeare and her inner thoughts were quite intriguing, but I imagined something different from a book titled Hamnet. I also don't think the origin of the play is that prominent in the story even though it's clearly stated in the description that this book is about Hamnet and how the play gets developed because of his death. Another strange thing is the incoporation of magical realism of some sort. Additionally, all of the characters, besides Agnes, were flat and one-dimensional. So when Hamnet dies, I just didn't care. There is no connection, because we only get to see him for a few short chapters before he dies and the rest is basically about his mother. The ending was also quite rushed and underwhelming in my opinion. We find out that Shakespeare wrote said play about his son (which we have know for the entirety of the book!) and then it just ends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage, Infertility, Infidelity, and Sexual content

have_a_doris_day's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Infidelity and Misogyny

holliesatchell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Child death, Death, Medical content, and Terminal illness