Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

15 reviews

jillyrose's review

emotional sad medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Grief, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, and Infidelity

alexijai98's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

I can tolerate only so much Renaissance Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Pregnancy, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, and Medical content

magibeth's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Child death

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

Minor: Gaslighting, Blood, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Animal death

amelianotthepilot's review

emotional medium-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

A beautiful story woven of a cast of Shakespeare's family telling of the story around Shakespeare's son, Hamnet's, death and the resulting play named after him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Grief, Death, Blood, and Sexual content

laurendenton's review

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

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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

solybugs's review

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

To be honest, for a book that is supposed to ignore Shakespeare and only focus on his family... He gets wayyyy too many pages either from his point of view or from the point of view of someone else talking to him. The only reason why I chose this book, since it's not usually my preferred genre, was to hear the story of his family and to focus on the people that history often glosses over. But then to hear so much about him gets pretty tiring. But, Hamnet made up for it with very descriptive and flowery writing that perfectly fit the style and time period of the book along with accurate descriptions of loss, emotional pain, and depression (or rather the point of view from an outsider, who is close to someone who has depression. Being that myself, I really loved the way Maggie O'Farell accurately described the feeling of not being able to help someone while they're going through that. Extremely relatable). 3.75/5, meh. Mostly meh, has some good parts tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness and Infidelity

Minor: Blood, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

There is also a description of childbirth (with complications) and the mental illness mentioned is most likely depression although it is never really named in the book.

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

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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

ntvenessa's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

A moving fictionalisation of Hamnet Shakespeare's life and death, and the grief that haunts his family, particularly, his mother. It is atmospheric and O'Farrell is incredibly skilled to breathe life into the scant historical details that survive today.

"I am dead:
Thou livest;
... draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story"
Hamlet, Act V, Scene II

Stunning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Medical content, Miscarriage, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Infertility, Classism, and Infidelity

lena_and_her_books's review

emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Pregnancy, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood

honeycrispp's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

A deeply emotional, enthralling and immersive work of historical fiction set during the Black Death. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Child death, Grief, Confinement, Death, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Blood, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal death and Gaslighting