Debbie's Reviews > Hamnet

Squirmed like a worm

Wait, don’t get excited—it wasn’t the story that made me squirm like a worm. It was me trying to rate this book that sent me into squirm-land. I yelled at myself, “Stop wiggling and just whisper 4 already!...Really, what is the big effing deal? It’s Maggie O’Farrell, that’s what the big effing deal is. Although 3 stars kept screaming in my head, I finally went with what I know is right in this world: I gave it a 3.5 but rounded up to 4. Truly, O’Farrell doesn’t write anything that’s just middle of the road. I can’t give it a 3, I just can’t.

This is a totally made up story about how Shakespeare came up with the idea to write Hamlet. Let me just say that it had something to do with a personal tragedy. The book is told from his wife’s point of view. I’m not going to say more, in case you want to go into this one blind.

Don’t ask me why, but I usually don’t like to read anything set in the dark ages (in this case, the 16th century). So I was wary. But lo and behold, I did just fine with the time period. I ended up being happy that I got the chance to imagine what life was like back then. Life was so tough, and death was always right around the corner.

Joy Jar

-O’Farrell’s language always slays me—it fits the contours of my soul. Many of her sentences are long flow-y lists, sort of, with words that jump and make her images come alive. Her prose is so sweet, so rhythmic, so mesmerizing. This is the number 1 reason I just can’t give this book 3 stars.

-A standout flea scene: We watch a flea travel from Egypt to England on a monkey. That doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat while you watch that little bugger go places. It’s hard for me to shut up, but I’ll say no more because I don’t want to give you even a hint of what goes on. This teensy story within the story is pure gold.

-Good bones, good characters—and all that jazz.

Complaint Board

-Once Upon a Time I got a little bored. This whole story seems like it should have started with “Once Upon a Time...” It had that feel to it. The narration is third person, and that’s all fine and good. I’m just not a big fan of narrated stories; often they’re too long (for my ADD attention span), and clumps of descriptive text aren’t punctuated with enough dialogue and drama. In fact, I’d say there’s a little detail-itis going on. A narrated story for me usually lacks the intimacy that I so crave; it’s dense and distant. A big problem is that reading long paragraphs of descriptive text slows me down; it takes a while for my brain to form the images. I sometimes feel like my brain is stuttering.

-A little woo-woo makes me boo-hoo. There isn’t a lot of woo-woo, but there’s enough to bug me. The main character is sort of a medicine woman. I get tired of the prescient woman running around with a handful of herbs and a woo-woo way of sensing things. At the end, Shakespeare (who has only a small role) even senses someone’s presence. It bugs me in any book I read, and it seems like a gimmick. I don’t understand why a writer throws it in. Ditch the woo-woo, please.

-Good grief! For me, the second half of the book is weak. It’s mostly about grief, with nothing really happening. For me that got old; the story lost its momentum. It was an excellent study in grief, but I wanted some drama, even a little. Please?

-Do something! Say something! I wanted a little more action and dialogue, what can I say?

-This book won’t cheer you up, I’ll tell you that. The major gist is a kid dying. How sad is that? I don’t require Hallmark or happy dances, but the tone is somber for the whole book, with no letup.

O’Farrell doesn’t ever dress her words in polyester; she goes with 500-thread cotton. They’re always beautiful and classy, but here there’s not enough color.

I liked O’Farrell’s other books more. As I obnoxiously keep repeating, I wanted dialogue. There were chances to have conversations and they were missed. I was chomping at the bit for spoken words.

I know I whine and whine, but I adore O’Farrell and I’m not in the least sorry that I read this one. I’m in awe of her creativity; I marvel at how she imagined Shakespeare’s family life and wove this fascinating tale together. Her language is to die for, and man does she know how to put sentences together. And the sentences lead to brilliant paragraphs and then to a whole feast of a story that is incredibly rich. I’m not squirming like a worm anymore; writing this review made me know that giving it 4 stars was the only way to go.

Thanks to Edelweiss for the advance copy.