Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
This book. It's going to be a long post, I warn you. I have seen this book around a lot. And although it is not the type of read I would usually go for I was really intrigued. I am so glad I gave in and got it.
The author basically created a big hypothesis on William Shakespeare's family, starting by the fact that his son Hamnet is known to have died young for unknown reasons. Also of course he gave his name to the play Hamlet. Starting from this Maggie O'Farrell painted a picture of this family, where Shakespeare himself plays a very small role and is never mentioned by name. He is only the father, the husband, the son, and so on. This is the base of the novel, which is already interesting itself, but the execution is impeccable. Firstly the writing is absolutely stunning, I had been told so, and I can confirm, it's magnificent. It creates the perfect atmosphere, and it's just really beautifully done. Then the characters are portrayed in such a good way, each one with their own characteristics, each one fascinating and interesting in their own way. I have completly fallen in love with Agnes (Shakespeare's wife), who I may dare to say appears to be the main protagonist. There are so many themes, the historical feeling is perfectly given, and I particularly appreciated the depiction of the plague. It is a scary but fascinating concept, and it was used really well in the novel. Grief is of course one of the main themes, and it is unspeakable how well it was portrayed. I am not an emotional person, I very rarely cry, but there were a few passages which had me in tears. I fully lost my dignity with this book. It explored the subject of loss and pain so well in my opinion. I feel like in general this novel does a great job with feeling, it feels very true, they feel authentic whether is sadness or love, it all feels genuine. I particularly loved the portrayal of brotherly love between sibilings of different genders. Both Agnes and her bother, and Hamnet and her twin Judith, they were described so well. Their union as sibilings was strong and deep, and it is not something that you always get when the characters aren't of the same gender. As someone with such a strong relationship with my older brother finding something remotely similar on paper hit me super hard. Unfortunately many books and movies have these siblings who often feel very unreal, but with very simple scenes this book did an amazing job. I have connected with it very strongly, and I am so happy I finally found a simple yet well done portrayal of it. One last thing I have loved about the writing, then I'll stop cause I am ranting, I know, was the description of simple acts and feelings that everyone has had. All throughout the book there were these passages I read and it blew my mind cause they were really simple things that no matter what everyone has felt and they worked perfectly. I will explain myself better with an example. At the very beginning there is description of falling as a kid and hurting your knees, and then feeling that pain pulsing with the rithim of your heartbeat. Very simple concept, perfectly put into words, and it felt so real it got me into the story without any struggle.
At this point I am just rambling so I'll stop, I clearly loved the book, and I recommend it so much. It was an amazing journey and I cannot wait to read it all over again. One of the best things I have read lately.
