Pam Wiegand

Although an interesting treatise on slavery, family relationships, mother love, and history, it would have been more impactful for me as a work of historical fiction. Her writing style is very descriptive but repetitive; it is basically a polemical textbook. I found myself skimming a good part of it.

Although I was intrigued by the subject of this book, I was very disappointed in its accomplishment. It could have been a fascinating extension of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but instead it was a reinvention of the original intent of that story. I don’t think that Mark Twain would have been impressed. In the original version, the ending had Jim a free man because of the terms of his deceased “owner’s” will. Here, this never happens which totally shifts the trajectory of the story. Jim’s fascination with Voltaire and his erudite thought and diction were just not believable for me. He could have been portrayed as a smart, literate, moral, and kind man without going over the top. I also found Huck’s parentage story contrived. If Everett had to have that as a big reveal, then I needed to have more background and explanation. There was a lot of trauma and a vivid scene of sexual violation that just wasn’t necessary to flesh out James’ character and his humanity. In short, this book was poorly executed and simply promoted because of it’s present day political relevance.

Hamnet is a book written about William Shakespeare’s son’s death at the end of the 16th century. Although classified as historical fiction, it is more fiction than history. Ms O’Farrell’s lush prose is so prolific as to become overwrought and excessive. The story is heartfelt as well as heart wrenching as it develops the thoughts and actions of Agnes, Hamnet’s mother, throughout her experiences of marriage and the untimely death of her 11 year old son. The character of Shakespeare is never actually named nor developed in the narrative. For me, personally, I would have enjoyed the book more had it just been presented as a tragic tale of life and death from the bubonic plague in Elizabethan England. There was too much fantasy to pretend that it was somehow based on Shakespeare’s life or experiences. Those caveats noted, I would recommend the read.