Scan barcode
haileycolette's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
super_cooper's review against another edition
3.0
Really lovely imagery, but the story was too slow. Fascinating insight to life in the 1500s though.
ash_b_books's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
shimmery's review against another edition
3.0
I understand why people love this book but it really wasn’t for me. I like to be pulled back to a book to find out what happens next in the story, whereas the whole plot for this book is that the child dies from plague which the reader knows before opening the book.
Sometimes I liked O’Farrell’s writing style; sometimes I found it drawn out and tedious. In an afterward, the author writes ‘There is a passage in the middle of Hammet which traces the path of the plague, via a single flea, all the way from a monkey in Alexandria to a seamstress’s house in Warwickshire…I was rapt and absorbed by the task, by the maps of ports I had stuck to my walls, by the intriguing lists of Elizabethan goods, by horrible flow charts of flea reproduction. It was, however, the part of the book about which I was most worried. Did it work? I doubtfully asked my editor, when I submitted the manuscript. Would anyone beside me care about any of this? Should I cut it?’ If I had been that editor, my answers would have been maybe, no, absolutely.
I found the book best when it wasn’t just making poetry of research and was instead more grounded in character — I enjoyed the writing about Agnes, particularly towards the start.
Sometimes I liked O’Farrell’s writing style; sometimes I found it drawn out and tedious. In an afterward, the author writes ‘There is a passage in the middle of Hammet which traces the path of the plague, via a single flea, all the way from a monkey in Alexandria to a seamstress’s house in Warwickshire…I was rapt and absorbed by the task, by the maps of ports I had stuck to my walls, by the intriguing lists of Elizabethan goods, by horrible flow charts of flea reproduction. It was, however, the part of the book about which I was most worried. Did it work? I doubtfully asked my editor, when I submitted the manuscript. Would anyone beside me care about any of this? Should I cut it?’ If I had been that editor, my answers would have been maybe, no, absolutely.
I found the book best when it wasn’t just making poetry of research and was instead more grounded in character — I enjoyed the writing about Agnes, particularly towards the start.
marycorrigan's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ekleinert's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
chemeducator's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Grief
peppervanpepper's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
nike_1212's review against another edition
3.0
3,5 stars from me. I had a hard time getting started. The writing is overall very descriptive and a little difficult to get used to for me since I generally am more one for very human centred books and character studies. I was annoyed with some long sentences that seemed to go nowhere and descriptions that to me felt superfluous and would have better been left out. Nevertheless, after the first 1/3 it picked up, the description actually added to the feel of the scene and it started to centre more around the characters; we get a past and present narrative until they somewhat meet and we are moving through the grief of the characters into the future. For all that’s been said about the book it is certainly very unique in its writing and perspective and I always appreciate books that put to the task of writing women back into history where they so often lack any reference (besides their birth, death perhaps a will and marriage entry in the parish records). I also appreciated how she narrated the book from different characters perspectives. I was not blown away but it’s a solid book and one I already had a soft spot for given it’s placement in Elizabethan England.