marinalikeaboatyard 's review for:

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

3.75

dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

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I enjoyed this, but at times felt it a chore to finish. I wish there was more action/forward movement, to balance out how much takes place in Agnes’s mind. I also found the writing a bit too self-indulgent at times: so many similes and metaphors, as if the author was really trying to capital-W Write A Novel. The ending is absolutely beautiful, though.  I wanted to read this before Chloe Zhao’s adaptation comes out, and despite being mixed on the book I’m very excited for the film and have a sneaky suspicion it might actually work better on screen.