A review by theshiftyshadow
Devotion by Hannah Kent

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

In that moment, about to learn if we would be parted, the sight of her pared me down to nothing more than heartbeat, and hope.

This review is spoiler free but I will probably talk around a thing, and it may be obvious what that thing is, so if you really really don't want to know, skip the review, but do read the book. 

I went back and forth on rating this because I did absolutely hate the thing that happened half way through, and for a while I thought what was feeling like a 5 star book was going to end up much lower. After finishing it, and sitting on it for a while, I accepted that my feelings were more about the character than about the author for having written it. Ultimately that's a sign of good writing, I think, caring about characters so much that I feel things for them like they were real people I know.  So ultimately I have no reason not to give it 5 stars.

I listened to this on Audiobook, and it blew me away. It's read by Emily Wheaton, whose voice is so easy to listen to, and I found over and over again that I was just lost in the story. At one point I wanted to know what would happen quicker than the audiobook was revealing it, but it felt like a crime to speed it up, or switch to a physical book. Likewise I couldn't just stick this on while I was doing something else, it felt like a story that needed to be given my full attention at all times. 

I will be getting a physical copy to keep and read again myself. It feels like a book that will reveal more things on a second reading. It's also full of stunningly beautiful writing. Hanne's connection to the natural world, and her love for Thea, along with her realising that love, are all so beautifully written. The supporting characters are all so well drawn too, I couldn't help love all of them, well, nearly all of them. 

Something that's never occurred to me before is the idea that before a certain point in time there would have been queer people who wouldn't have had the language to understand themselves. I know we still live in a pretty heteronormative world, but there are words, and labels, and acronyms, and endless amounts of information and vocabulary for people to know who they are. These characters exist in a very religious community so probably if it had been public knowledge things wouldn't have gone well, but the way their love story plays out it's lovely that it's never really questioned as being wrong, or a sin. Even when Hanne hasn't quite realised what it is she feels for Thea, or when Hans eventually understands Thea's feelings, it's all just understood as love. I think that's a brilliant way to place a story like this in a historic setting without having to add in the judgment of others, or introduce the negative language associated with that, even if it would be historically accurate. 

I've seen this book referred to as historical fiction, and magic realism, which I guess aren't inaccurate labels, but I think it rises above genre classification, and is a beautifully written story about love enduring.