Literary Award Winners Fiction Book Club discussion

Please comment here on 'Hamnet' by Maggie O'Farrell, winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award as well as the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction.

I read this some time ago and it was just so so for me. It felt as if 21st century attitudes were placed on the historical characters. But I could not point to anything specific right now. The book just did not stick with me.

I too had some reservations on my first read of this book. However on rereading the novel I enjoyed it more, maybe as I came to view the book more as a story about Agnes, rather than Hamnet.

So this time round I found that novel to be an interesting, moving historical fiction story mainly about William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, (known as Anne but “named by her father, Richard Hathaway, in his will, as Agnes”, page 369), and their son, Hamnet. (The names Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable at that time). The novel is set in Stratford, England from 1580s to around 1600. We learn from the start of the book that William and Agnes had three children, Susanna, then Hamnet and Judith, who were twins and that Hamnet dies aged 11, in 1596. Around four years later the father wrote a play called Hamlet.

This imaginative story about William Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway and the tragedy of the death of their eleven year old son Hamnet is compassionately told. The story is mainly narrated from Agnes’ perspective. It provides a good description of life at those times.

I have read some of O'Farrell's other books and have enjoyed her storytelling writing style. 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox' is a particularly satisfying read with a memorable ending! Her memoir 'I am, I am, I am: Seventeen Brushes with Death' is a great, eventful, read, particularly if you are interested in the author.

Too many books, too little time. I am not planning on the re-read at this time, although I agree that a second look often gives a different perspective to a novel. I have read several of her books and I have never been as taken as most people I know. Not sure why. Maybe all the hipe gives me unrealistic expectations.

Will probably skip this one, although the premise sounds interesting.

My in-person book group read “I Am, I Am, I Am” last year and we rated it 2.5 out of 5*.