Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

178 reviews

ksilvio'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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

the_neeerd's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity

aidamaria_reads's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

An extraordinary interpretation of the life Shakespeare’s family might have led, based on the few things we now know about the playwright’s life.

Maggie O’Farrell knows her grief and how to spin it into print. The descriptions of pain and agony are almost poetic and yet so clear, so moving, that you have no trouble imagining just how the characters feel. I almost cried at times, wanted to slap certain characters straight into tomorrow had they not all been dead yet, and enjoyed the beauty of this work of historical fiction tremendously.

I can’t put my finger on why it’s not entirely a five-star read for me, but I see how the author received the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020 for this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ecosy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Hamnet leefde al enkele jaren op mijn Kobo en op één of andere manier vond ik nooit het juiste moment erin te beginnen. Nu besef ik dat dat lag aan het feit dat ik totaal foute verwachtingen had van wat voor soort roman het zou zijn. Ipv een gefictionaliseerde biografie is het een verhaal waarin emoties (en niet feiten) de rode draad vormen: liefde (voor de natuur, voor je romantische partner, voor je kinderen, je siblings), verdriet, eenzaamheid, angst, vervreemding. Het is daarenboven ook in zo'n mooie en rijke taal geschreven. Enerzijds voelde ik daardoor soms bijna fysiek mee met de personages maar anderzijds is haar schrijfstijl ook heel visueel: er zit, op het einde een beschrijving in van een uil die 's nachts over Stratford vliegt en O' Farrel beschrijft het zo zintuiglijk en accuraat dat ik het zonder veel moeite als een film voor mijn ogen zag afspelen, iets wat mij als rabiate lezer nochtans niet zo vaak overkomt. Gekoesterd, genoten maar ook wel bij gehuild. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Pregnancy

sophiestasyna'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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Terminal illness

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

nreyno's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

hjb_128's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Infidelity and Classism

Minor: Sexual content

pikkumarja's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

Miten kaunis ja koskettava kirja lapsena pois nukkuneesta Hamnetista, äitiydestä ja menettämisestä. Myös sisarusten suhteet Hamnetiin, vanhempiinsa ja suruun olivat koskettavasti kuvatut. Oli ihanaa, ettei kirja keskittynyt isään vaan nimenomaan äitiin.

Rakastin monitasoista ja -näkökulmaista kerrontaa. Etenkin Agnesin nuoruus oli kuvattu kiinnostavasti. Inho Johnia ja Joania kohtaan oli suurta kirjan alusta asti, mutta Marysta tuli kirjan edetessä lähes rakas hahmo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Vomit, and Pregnancy

jennipea382's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

gingervandorsten's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This is one of the best books (i.e. books I enjoyed most) I have read this year. Devoured it. It felt like being taken by the hand and shown around the houses and the people living in them, and the depth of the relationships, especially between siblings and between parents and children is so impressive. There's such lovely detail and vibrancy to O'Farrell's writing. The book's structure was also really impressive to me, the way that the melancholy and the sense of tragedy are always there, but you don't really realise how far they've been building up until the tragedy actually happens. 

I've seen some people comment on the fact that very little actually happens in the story, and the narrative style and language of it cover this up. I get this, but personally this was actually one of my favourite parts about the book - the way that O'Farrell was able to pick out such exquisite detail in everything that you don't realise until you take a step back that not very much has actually happened. 

This book was so lush and it's going to take me. a while. to recover. Really recommend this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Domestic abuse