Review: Hamnet (by Maggie O'Farrell)

My Rating: 5 stars

From its publication date in 2020, I’ve had a copy of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet both on my TBR and on my bookshelf, but for reasons I won’t get into, I never got around to picking it up. It wasn’t until recent months, with the awards buzz around the critically acclaimed film adaptation making the rounds, that I was reminded I still had the book on my shelf waiting to be read, so I figured, perhaps now would be a good time to read it.

Going into this one, my expectations were high, as many of my bookish friends love O’Farrell’s works and praise this book as being her most masterful and exquisite, so of course, I had to experience it for myself.  Now after having finished reading this, I have to say that, yes, my friends were absolutely correct – though in addition to masterful and exquisite, I would also characterize O’Farrell’s writing here as both sublime and beautiful.  From the novel’s first line, I immediately felt transported back to the England of the 1500s, drawn in by the story of these two ordinary families – one living in an apartment on Henley Street and the other on a farm called Hewlands – and the extraordinary couple that emerges from their midst.  O’Farrell’s rendering of their backstory is both haunting and atmospheric, with its nonlinear jumps between past and present as well as the emotionally nuanced undertones that breathtakingly brought all the characters to vivid life. 

For the record, I am not much of a Shakespeare fan and have only read a handful of his plays (with Romeo and Juliet, unsurprisingly, being my favorite) – and it’s important to note that I have not read the famous play directly associated with this novel (though of course, as an English Literature major, I’ve had to read and analyze excerpts from Hamlet so I do have some familiarity with it).  For those who might be in the same boat as me and are concerned about whether the lack of Shakespearean literary bona fides will impact the reading experience here, I would say don’t worry about that because the focus of this story is actually not on Shakespeare.  In fact, the bard’s name is never even mentioned in the story – instead, he is either referred to based on his relationship with others in the story (i.e.: John and Mary’s son, Agnes’s husband, Hamnet’s father, etc.) or if he is mentioned individually, he is called, simply, the Latin tutor.

Rather than Shakespeare, this story is actually about his wife Anne Hathaway, who is referred to as “Agnes” in the story (in her Author’s Note, O’Farrell explains that most people know Shakespeare’s wife as Anne, but her father Richard Hathaway named her “Agnes” in his will, so O’Farrell decided to follow that example).  Labeled by many as eccentric and unconventional – a “forest witch” who seems to have the power to heal through her natural tonics and potions as well as the ability to see into people’s souls – Agnes is nonetheless a loving and fiercely protective mother who finds her world torn apart when her beloved son Hamnet dies from the plague.  O’Farrell portrays the intensity of Agnes’s grief over the loss of her son in ways both palpable and heartbreaking, to the point that I could actually feel her pain.  The last scene of the story was especially poignant and moving, with the last line continuing to haunt me even days after I finished reading this book.

This beautifully rendered reimagining of a little known aspect in the life of a literary giant is definitely a highly recommended read!  I’m not sure if I will end up watching the adaptation but I’m glad that it triggered the opportunity for me to finally read O’Farrell’s masterpiece.

 

Review: Heart the Lover (by Lily King)

My Rating: 5 stars

When I first found out that Lily King would have a new book out this year, I was super excited, as I had read Writers and Lovers a few years back and absolutely loved it.  As I tried to find out everything I could about King’s new novel Heart the Lover (an interesting title that I realize now is perfect given the context of the story), I discovered that the story is actually connected to King’s previous novel, which of course made me want to read this one even more.  With that said, since it had been a couple of years, I felt like I needed to refresh my memory of Writers and Lovers, so I decided to do a re-read of that book before starting this new one (for the record, I’ve never been much of a re-reader, mostly because I have a never-ending TBR list and very limited free time, so I would rather spend that time making a dent in that list).  Now, after finishing both books back-to-back, I’m so glad I decided to go this route because it absolutely elevated the reading experience for me!

Normally, when I rate a book 5 stars, I wouldn’t have any problem gushing about all the things I loved about the read, but in this case, I have to hold back a little because I don’t want to spoil the story for those who haven’t had the chance to pick this one up yet (if you’re one of those people, my advice would be to “hurry up and do so,” lol).  What I will say is that, even though this book can definitely be read as a standalone, I feel that having the background context from Writers and Lovers makes this a much more emotionally resonant read.  One of the (many) reviews I read for this book refers to it as both a “prequel and sequel” to Writers and Lovers, which is such a brilliantly apt description that summarizes the connection between the two books without giving too much away. With this prequel+sequel, I definitely enjoyed getting to revisit characters I loved from the first book while also meeting new characters that I grew to love just as much.  Speaking of which, in each of the books of hers that I’ve read, Lily King seems to have a special talent for writing endearing characters whom you can’t help falling in love with, despite disagreeing with (and sometimes getting annoyed by) their actions and/or behaviors.  But what I love most about King’s writing here is the way she is able to capture the endearing qualities of children -- the wide-eyed curiosity, the naivete, and overall innocence of childhood – so perfectly.  Many of my favorite scenes in both books were the ones that featured children interacting with the adults – the warmth and humor that emanated from these scenes never failed to put a smile on my face (especially poignant at our current moment in time when the world around us feels so chaotic and miserable). 

Anyway, I’m going to keep things short and sweet for this one and end with a solid recommendation to definitely pick this one up so you can experience it for yourself.  Aand if you are able to read it back-to-back with Writers and Lovers, all the better!

Review: Gone Before Goodbye (by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Before I go into my thoughts on this book, one thing I feel compelled to start with is that I’m a bit of a cynic when it comes to books written by celebrities and/or other famous public figures who are very much “not” authors.  Part of this could be because I’m a writer myself and understand how much work (blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice) goes into writing something worth reading – in a sense, writing is an activity bordering on “sacred” for me, so I can’t help feeling disappointed when I see celebrities attach their names onto books that they didn’t actually write themselves, but they are given all the credit for it (yes, I’m looking at you, ghostwritten celebrity memoirs).  Now before I get attacked by any fans, I need to make it clear that I am not saying that’s what happened here, since, to Reese’s credit, she has been very forthcoming from the getgo about the fact that she did not write this book herself, rather it is a “collaboration” with established author Harlan Coben. Further, Reese has said in interviews (as well as in the Acknowledgements pages at the back of the book) that she provided the “seed of an idea” for the story and Coben was the one who turned it into “a fully fleshed-out, page-turning thriller” – so yes, I acknowledge that this situation is not on the same level as those ghostwritten books where the “real” author is given little to no recognition.

With that said however, I will be honest in saying that, after finishing this book, I can’t help but wonder about Reese’s involvement in its writing – specifically, did she write some of it or none at all?  The reason I say this is because the entire novel felt very “Coben-esque” in the sense that it read very much like a plotty action thriller with too many macho male characters, too few underdeveloped female characters, and tons of action scenes involving gun fights, helicopters, car and motorcycle chases, death-defying stunts, etc.  In other words, the book seems to be geared more toward Coben’s fans than Reese’s.  I also can’t help but be reminded of a question that had come up back when the Reese Witherspoon/Harlan Coben collaboration was first announced:  given that Reese’s Hello Sunshine media brand “puts women at the center of every story across all platforms” (this is from the blurb on the book’s back cover) and the books she chooses for her Book Club are all written by female authors, why would she choose a male author to collaborate with for her debut novel?  Doesn’t this contradict what Reese tries to do with her brand?  Indeed, judging from her book club picks (for the record, I’m not a Reese fan, but I do follow her book club because majority of the books she chooses to feature happen to fit my reading tastes), I was expecting Reese’s debut novel to be a collaboration with a female author (perhaps one she has featured in her book club) and more in the vein of a high concept literary suspense / thriller with a strong female protagonist at its center.  Turns out I had the wrong expectations.

Don’t get me wrong – this book had an interesting premise and I would say that I did “enjoy” it overall, but it didn’t blow me away.  There were the expected twists and turns (Coben is a seasoned suspense / thriller writer after all), though as usual, I was able to figure most of the plot points out early on, so the suspense portion was a little lacking.  Also, the ending kind of left me scratching my head -- it felt anti-climactic to me given how “action-packed” the rest of the story was (though it could be that I just didn’t “get” the ending).

In any case, this was an overall entertaining read that I’m sure fans of action thrillers will love, but if, like me, you’re not keen on action thrillers, then you might want to temper your expectations if you decide to pick this one up.  Also, one last thing to note is that, given the premise, there are a lot of details related to the medical and technology fields throughout the book – personally, I felt it was a bit much and at times, the technical jargon kind of bogged down parts of the plot, but again, this could just be me not being into the “science-y” stuff…my guess is that this won’t be  a problem for most folks who decide to read this one.