Hamnet

Review

I love Hamlet. At one point, I knew a lot of it, though now down to only really knowing a few of the more famous bits and pieces. One of my more beloved memories is reciting a part of it with someone, sort of stumbling through it with them. This book also came highly recommended.

I’m sorry to say, it didn’t connect too deeply for me. Much of it is quite sad, as you might expect given the subtitle. There were parts that I really liked, mostly contained in sentences or two here and there. One such:

Every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicentre, from which everything flows out, to which everything returns.

I also very much enjoyed the character of Agnes, and of Judith. I often enjoyed scenes, and occasionally felt moved by them. There are a few in the second part that are quite moving. I think my struggle is that the writing is very flowery, and sometimes it felt as though the events were being stretched and stretched, and I found my eyes drifting across blocks of text looking for when things of consequence began again.

I have heard differing opinions on the author’s decision to leave Shakespeare unnamed. I think it was a wise decision. Shakespeare is such an overbearing figure in the literary mind that naming him would have shifted the centre of gravity in the extreme. Of course, we all know who the Latin tutor, the playwright, is. But I think the choice not to name him lowers him somewhat in a thoughtful and smart way.

Notes