Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

29 reviews

haley313's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I didn’t know anything about the personal life of Shakespeare or his family prior to reading this book, though as others have noted this is essentially a story about Agnes. I think the writing was lovely, and I enjoyed many of the characters. The description of the travel of the plague was fascinating. There were several scenes that made me weep. I loved the tender depictions of womanhood, sisterhood, motherhood. However, I feel like the magic waned for me in the last quarter of the book. I didn’t love the ending. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty and Child abuse

bethybooevans's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Pregnancy

thechronicreader's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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? Yes

5.0

I love Shakespeare so I was intrigued by Hamnet as soon as I heard about it, as it’s a fictionalized imagining of what his family’s life may have been like. The star here was Maggie O’Farrell’s descriptive writing. This was one of the most vividly visually descriptive books I’ve ever read. I feel more like I’ve watched a movie than read a book because her writing painted such clear pictures in my mind. Swipe for some short quotes from the book as examples. Highly recommend for lovers of Shakespeare, historical fiction, and beautiful writing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty

laurendenton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Child death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity, Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, Vomit, Excrement, and Animal cruelty

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 :(

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Child death, and Death

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

Minor: Religious bigotry

helena_sp_07's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Violence, and Blood

liviaes's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty

sunflowersandsage's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• 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? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

crowpeaches'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. It is a deep dive into grief, which is something I didn't know I needed. I also loved the descriptions of Agnes' cures and the plants she used to create them.
I also read this following the hype its received, and I would say said hype is absolutely deserved.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, Child death, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

miriam_mal's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Well written and interesting premise but also felt like a long way round for a depressing story.
Also really visceral descriptions at times of birth, killing animals, and death, so proceed with caution

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death