Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell

Drawing on Maggie O'Farrell's long-term fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare's most enigmatic play, HAMNET is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child.

Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

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I originally decided to download Hamnet because I'd heard so many great things about the story, and I had to admit it did sound intriguing. I've always appreciated Shakespeare's works, and have long been hoping to broaden my knowledge of his plays. I was hoping this would be an interesting read.

When I initially started reading, I found it a real struggle. The narrative is sporadic, confused, and honestly quite difficult. I had to take some time away and tackle it again when I had enough energy to throw into it. When I did, I found I did enjoy the story, because the raw emotion gave it beauty. Once you get past the complicated structure and prose, it has power through its portrayal of emotion, and I found it to be very touching in places. It's definitely not one for everyone, but it's well worth a read.

Rating: ✫✫✫✫

The Story

The story primarily follows Agnes, a young woman who is viewed as an outcast by many simply for being different. When she meets a young tutor, they fall in love and hatch a plot to marry. The book does follow quite a long timeline, and so there is a lot of content to pack in. We witness Agnes from her youth right through to her adulthood; we see her highs and we witness her lows. Interestingly, we do not read the famous playwright's name once in the story. He is there, yes, but this book is not about him. It is about Hamnet. It is about Agnes.

The problem was, I spent a lot of the time I was reading trying to work out what part of the story I was reading about. The narrative switches between the present and the past; a tool that I usually love, but that does make it a little more difficult for the reader to follow. The style of Hamnet did not lend itself very easily to this format, as names are not utilised very readily. It could have been a lot clearer for far more of the novel where the current page was in the timeline, and I think I would have been less frustrated with it that way. There is also a sense of detachment that I had from the story. I found it very difficult to connect with the story or, indeed, any of the characters. The description of the scenery was so vivid, and the characters were fairly well fleshed out. And yet it all felt very impersonal. 

Nonetheless, there is definitely a beauty in the story that can be perceived through the emotion that is conveyed. The detachment makes it even more heartbreaking, as it is almost as if we are watching the events unfold as if through a camera lens. We see it all, and yet it is all so far away. When the inevitable happens, it is impossible not to truly feel for the characters. The writing is raw, emotional, and messy; exactly how we may expect it to be when writing about such tragedy. This is a story of powerful emotion, and this it does spectacularly well.

The Verdict

It took me a couple of attempts to get into this book, and I can't necessarily say I enjoyed it. I found it very difficult, very messy, and a lot of the time I just wanted to get out my pen and edit. 

However, when I finished the book, I sat back and reflected on it, and my mind changed a little. The novel should not be judged solely on the easiness of reading, or on how bold the plot was. This was a story about family, about love, about life and loss. The beauty of the story is in the honesty of the emotion. The raw delivery of the language. 

I don't think this story would be enjoyed or appreciated by everyone. But for those who it does speak to? I think they will take an awful lot away from it.