Take a photo of a barcode or cover
nadiabacha 's review for:
Hamnet
by Maggie O'Farrell
Hamnet is nothing short of a work of art. A book about Shakespeare’s family, and yet not once is he named throughout. Instead the focus is on Agnes and her children, giving a voice to those in history who are so often forgotten and erased in light of the greatest playwright of all time; O’Farrell’s ability to reconstruct what is largely unknown as to the events of Agnes’ life and the circumstances of Hamnet’s death was breathtaking and extraordinary. The descriptions of Agnes’s interactions with nature, how deeply she cared for her children, even the portrayal of the softness of the beginnings of her relationship with her husband, turning into something complex later in their lives: the care that O’Farrell put into developing each aspect of the character’s lives was evident in every single sentence, entrenched so deep in richness and emotion, I found it impossible to walk away from this book not constantly thinking of this story.
Despite the tenderness of the beginnings of the story, the latter half of the book where we experience the grief of Agnes losing her child is at times too much to bear in its intensity and tragedy. The poetic language does so well at setting up the beauty of the relationships between the characters, but perhaps the writing was what made the events that transpired even more heartbreaking to experience. Not once do you stop to think about whether the anguish these characters feel is genuine; I’ve never read a book where the characters are so fleshed out as they are here.
This is the perfect book. I don’t think I’ll ever find anything as atmospheric and captivating as what is written into these pages. To read about O’Farrell’s journey in writing this book in the final few pages is perhaps what has cemented this as one of my all-time favourites (swipe to see a snippet of this); it’s difficult for me to put together the right words to describe how much I admire her ability to bring to life the people who have been forgotten for so long.
Despite the tenderness of the beginnings of the story, the latter half of the book where we experience the grief of Agnes losing her child is at times too much to bear in its intensity and tragedy. The poetic language does so well at setting up the beauty of the relationships between the characters, but perhaps the writing was what made the events that transpired even more heartbreaking to experience. Not once do you stop to think about whether the anguish these characters feel is genuine; I’ve never read a book where the characters are so fleshed out as they are here.
This is the perfect book. I don’t think I’ll ever find anything as atmospheric and captivating as what is written into these pages. To read about O’Farrell’s journey in writing this book in the final few pages is perhaps what has cemented this as one of my all-time favourites (swipe to see a snippet of this); it’s difficult for me to put together the right words to describe how much I admire her ability to bring to life the people who have been forgotten for so long.