Hamnet

A beautiful story about family, loss, grief and love. At times the story felt long and boring. Not much happened. I did like how we got a past and present time line in the beginning that gave a good overview of all sides in the story. 

Hamnet é um livro que surpreende. Inicialmente, achei difícil conectar-me com a narrativa, mas tudo mudou a partir do capítulo que descreve a propagação da peste, a mesma que infetará uma das crianças. A partir daí, o livro deixou de ser algo desinteressante, embora muito bem escrito, e tornou-se profundamente perturbador, marcante e fascinante. É daqueles livros que exige persistência para que se aprenda a apreciá-lo. O último capítulo, antes do segundo ato, é devastador. Termina de forma sublime com Agnes a testemunhar a dor de um pai que ela julgava insensível, mas que, na verdade, sofria tanto que desejava trocar de lugar com o filho. Quem não o faria?

I wanted to read this before I see the trailer of the film, then I saw the trailer and thought I better read it, then it shows up on tiktok with all those silly crying people only watching it, probably never read it, kinda skimming it a bit but at least introducing me to the soundtrack by Max Richter. So anyway I hurrird up and read it before tiktok ruined it and the film all the more.I enjoyed the book, enjoyed O'Farrell's style of writing. It is very cinematic and I can't wait to see if the film matches how I imagined it. I tried not to let the clips I had seen influence me too much.Her style didn't really lend you to becoming too close, or too involved in the story or characters. I don't think it matched the emotional depression depicted by all those crying people coming out of the cinema with their "after Hamnet" faces - streaming mascara, panda eyes. I did listen to the soundtrack and honestly that probably helped me cry a little more. I thought that it could have been more - the exploration of grief felt a little too shallow to me but I do not know how spoilt I was by watching the clips on tiktok. Still a beautiful book. Do think I ought to have read more of Hamlet though too begin with to pathways better understand the end.