George Orwell — King of Pessimism
Oh, George, who hurt you?
I have really been reading different genres recently and having a blast — right now I’m on a horror kick — courtesy of Haunting of Hill House — objectively the best TV show ever made.
‘Hamnet’ by Maggie O’Farrell: 4/5
“He will carry an open wound, down his side, for the rest of his life, where she had been ripped from him. How can he live without her? He cannot. It is like asking the heart to live without the lungs, like tearing the moon out of the sky and asking the stars to do its work, like expecting the barley to grow without the rain.”
I love a depressing book as much as the next guy but this one was special.
Named after the Shakespeare play “Hamlet”, Hamnet follows Shakespeare’s son who tragically died very young. The book is fiction but the characters are based on real people and events. Even though the reason for the book is because of Shakespeare, it’s not about him and he’s not even mentioned by name.
The main storyline follows Agnes, his wife, and their 3 children that become 2. The book doesn’t hide the fact that Hamnet is going to die — it’s in the blurb — it’s not about that; it’s about exploring grief and the impact it has on different people. I can’t give the writing enough praise — it’s very detailed but not in a laborious way — which I think is really hard to pull off; it connects you to the characters that allows the sad parts to hit so much sadder.
‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell 4.75/5
“Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever.”
I’m not sure what else I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said. I’m surprised at how short it was and I haven't read it yet — it should be mandatory reading for everyone.
Orwell really loves a dystopian world hidden under a relatively joyful premise. The animals on a farm revolt against a tyrannical farmer in order to run the farm in a more fair, democratic way. What starts as hopeful and full of promise returns to the farm they once revolted against — just with a different leader. The snake is the same — it just grew a new head.
‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley 3.75/5
“Just because the rest of us don’t wear our hearts on our sleeves, just because we have found a way of managing our feelings — it doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
A thrilling page-turner — albeit a bit cheesy.
A group of people come together for a high-profile wedding, they are all stuck on an island in the middle of the ocean, forced to confront their secrets.
What makes this book engaging is the peeling back of the layers and uncovering the secrets but what also adds the cheesiness is uncovering the secrets. It’s a mix between Agatha Christie mystery and the early 2000s rom-coms (Valentine's Day, Crazy Stupid Love) where the plot twist reveals they are all connected. I would have given it a solid 4 but the ending wrapped everything up in a little bow that was a bit too convenient.
It took me a while to finish Hamnet so I wasn't reading for a while but finishing really made me in awe of books again and how I love that author's can make you connect to a story that is in no way related to you but you just feel the shared human experience — it’s beyond magic.
