Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Hamnet was bought by Gail as a consequence of browsing in Waterstones, and chosen as a book club book without a full read through.
The book provoked a good evening’s discussion, vindicating Gail’s instincts.
Hamnet is also the name given by Shakespeare to his son who died early in life, and of whom little is known.
This story fictionalises the life of Shakespeare’s family in Stratford, the stresses of living with the plague, the stresses of an absent father.
The story postulates that Hamnet might have been the inspiration of the fictional character Hamlet.
The opening scenario of a panic stricken small boy searching for adult help set the quality of narrative at the start of the book and that quality of the descriptive prose shone throughout,
producing a consistently good response amongst club members.
Wonderful descriptions; evocative and emotional, magnificent, imaginative and poetic, stimulating and informative were all adjectives used during the review.
Structurally the author used the “date and time switch” technique to keep interest in a story where the eventual outcome was known .
The known outcome also eliminated the story-line tension which made the book less of a “page turner”.
Hence it was more an exposition of emotions such as love, grief and anger than a story.
Elizabethan family life underpins much of the writing, with the ever present plague, the market, the knowledge of herbs and plants as healing agents revealed the depth of research used in preparation for writing the book.
However, the book did attract some criticisms. Some members disliked the switching backwards and forwards, and the story line lacked tension.
For one club member, the book would have been a good story if it had not used the Shakespeare family as the setting.
And there were queries about the route to London (via Chilterns?) and about the propagation of the plague.
Was it really true that the plague could be selective within a house?
And there was a huge open question about the little boy Hamnet being the inspiration for the character, Hamlet.
Overall this was a vivid, enjoyable read.
AABC rating: 4.25 out of 5.
PC. 11th December 2021.
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