paperback, 352 pages

Published Feb. 22, 2021 by Libros del Asteroide.

ISBN:
978-84-17977-58-0
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4 stars (35 reviews)

11 editions

Shakespeare, Hamnet i els anhels d'eternitat

5 stars

Maggie O'Farrell ens regala una magnífica biografia novelada de William Shakespeare, plena de fantasia i de moments onírics. La mort del seu fill Hamnet als 11 anys és l'eix central del llibre, però l'autèntica protagonista és la seva dona Agnes, que fa de pal de paller de tota la història i també del matrimoni amb Shakespeare. Una dona amb poders quasi sensorials, amb coneixements ancestrals en medicina natural, en herbes i altres remeis, i capaç de sentir presències fantasmals i de percebre els sentiments dels altres només agafar-los les mans. Al final, viuen els anhels d'eternitat que tots posem en els nostres fills i filles.

reviewed Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Beautifully written

4 stars

I generally don't like historical fiction. My last taste of it was Wolf Hall, which I despised. I'm not a romantic either. I should've hated this book, but I didn't. I loved it.

The characters of Agnes and Hamnet are brilliantly imagined, the rest maybe not so much but this story isn't about the others. The prose is beautiful without being overly pretentious.

Trigger warnings: plague; death of a child.

Review of 'Hamnet' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was a recommendation from a friend, and I have a couple of thoughts, mostly mixed.

Lyrical prose, sure. At times beautiful, at times too purple and overbearing, made worse by the present tense.

Emotional, sure. But child loss is always emotional?

Hamnet is really about Agnes, Hamnet's mother and Shakespeare's wife. Through her, we get a glimpse of the bard's life, but mostly we watch her grow up, lose a mother, fall in love, create a family, protect that family, grieve a son.

A solid read that neither wowed me nor let me down. The fourth star is because it not only kept me reading but also evoked an emotional reaction.

Review of 'Hamnet' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Una novela histórica sobre la familia de un inglés famoso de finales del XVI, pero centrada sobre todo en el drama de una mujer que pierde a un hijo: en ese aspecto, irreprochable. Transmite magníficamente el carácter y las reacciones del personaje.
El aspecto histórico también está bien resuelto, las diferencias entre una familia de artesanos (“burguesa” se podría decir) y una de labradores acomodados. El estilo no me ha gustado tanto, demasiado florido y recargado con adjetivos que no aportan gran cosa.

Review of 'Hamnet' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

La trama del libro queda perfectamente resumida en el breve párrafo que lo abre: "En la década de 1580, una pareja [...] tuvo tres hijos: Susanna y Hamnet y Judith, que eran gemelos. Hamnet, el niño, murió en 1590 a los once años. Cuatro años más tarde su padre escribió una obra de teatro titulada Hamlet".

Alrededor de esa trama, O'Farrel construye una narración minuciosa, penetrante y con la dosis justa de preciosismo centrada esos personajes. Sobre todo en Agnes, la madre, a la que convierte en un personaje complejo y carismático. No es ni mucho menos una novela histórica al uso, sí un relato cautivador sobre una familia y dos tragedias (una real, otra escrita).

Nota: si al principio te parece más morosa de la cuenta, dale tiempo. Merece la pena.

Review of 'Hamnet' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Bravo! Author Maggie O'Farrell has taken a few known facts from history and woven them into a lovely novel. I was absolutely captivated, all the way through. This story is populated with intriguing characters and the pacing is excellent. It is a memorable story, and I am so glad that I picked it up.

In other words, I recommend it.

Review of 'Hamnet' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

 Education is wasted on the young, and in my case a good example of that was the waste of a year-long course in Shakespeare my junior year of college. I went to a good school with a strong English department and the teacher was a good one. I found that I could read just the parts of the plays he'd have us write essays on and write about them well enough to do all right. A week before the final exam, though, he told us it would be a four-hundred question trivia test that did nothing but assess whether or not we'd read the plays. In which play did they sing a song with these lyrics; that sort of thing. I and a friend went to the library got books with synopses of the plays but we both did horribly in the final and got Ds for the course.
 All …

Review of 'Hamnet' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I probably would have enjoyed this more if I had never seen the wonderful British TV comedy "Upstart Crow". I only managed to get the families voices and faces out of my imagination half way through, but Shakespeare remained to the end with the grinning face of David Mitchell.

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