My Review and Thoughts:
Burial Rites is a complex character study of one women’s inner thoughts and the surroundings around her as she goes through her last days. You become sour in the realization of this tormented soul of a character. Her past is bleak and clouded with pain, suffering and the world seems to have beat her down. Hannah Kent has away with capturing the ordeal in a harsh, destructive emotional reality that makes the reader truly feel sorry for this person.
The descriptive narrative by the main character of Agnes is by far the highlight of this book. Her personal thoughts, her storytelling in first person narrative at times truly bleeds off the page into the emotional heart strings of the reader. As you go about reading this brilliantly written novel you become like the fly in the room and you hear, see, watch and become apart of the ordeal in truly emotional and humble ways as Agnes truly becomes apart of your inner soul, mind, thoughts and most of your heart.
The story is about the character of Agnes. She has been accused alongside two others in a brutal double murder. She has been sentenced to be beheaded. Her execution lingers throughout the story. She has been placed in the care of a farm until her coming death. There a Minister in training has been hired to see that Agnes comes about freeing her soul and comes to ask God for forgiveness for her brutal crimes. As the Minister Toti comes to know her, he realizes the story is more complex as it slowly unravels in vivid storytelling detail.
Agnes is a brilliant character. A personal character. A complex character of mystery. Well weaved in written form. Agnes truly grows on you. You can’t help but want to save her, to listen to her, to comfort her even in her hard bitterness. She has such a past that the writer displays that you the reader can’t help but want to know everything about her and what happens to her. You want to listen to her past, her present her inner darkness.
I think what truly stands out is this is based on a True Story and Hannah Kent displays that true story in vivid detail and truly an emotional ordeal that the reader follows along with until the very end. You can’t help but turn the page to see what unfolds in this graphic tale of a woman’s life in so many bitter filled ways.
Hannah Kent is a is a flawless writer of detail. She captures the sadness. The torment. The dread. The love. The idea of suffering. Hannah takes the reader on a journal that never gives up in detail and emotional reality. What I love about Hannah’s writing is it’s so vivid. She displays the rough living reality of farm life in the 1800’s. The dirt and grime. The hard labor. The emotional happenings. The close minded people. The gossip and hatred. The ideas of women being lesser than man and treated horribly during the time periods displayed. Hannah captures it all vivid detail and that makes the book more complex, graphic and truly memorable page after page.
I found myself very emotional toward the last pages of this book. I will not lie, I cried. The writing was so well down the emotional reality of this story gets to you and you can't help but shed a tear.
Would I Return to: I think I would? This is going to become a movie I gather and so it will be interesting to see how they capture the darkness, dread and torment of this novel in movie form.
Would I Recommend: In a heartbeat. I think this is a book that should be read, experienced and honored in all it’s wonderful written detail. As I have stated it’s a complex story with tight weaved and emotional realities in characters described in great detail on each page.
Final Four Words: Complex. Emotional. Descriptive beauty.
My Rating: 5 out of 5
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Popular Highlights in this book
‘To know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different things.’Highlighted by 385 Kindle readers- She knows only the tree of life. She has not seen its twisted roots pawing stones and coffins.Highlighted by 175 Kindle readers
- I so often feel that I am barely here, that to feel weight is to be reminded of my own existence.Highlighted by 154 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
A quietly and subtly compelling read... brilliant!
“To know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different things.”Every now and then you come across a book which quietly draws you in, as it seduces you with its delicious prose, captivating imagery and moody atmosphere, and then punches you in the guts, breaking you, with a fist full of emotion right at the end.This is one of those books.And it was stunning.You know the story is not going to end well - this is not a spoiler. Burial Rites is the fictionalised account of the final year of Agnes Magnúsdóttir's life. Agnes, in the early nineteenth century, was the last person to be publicly beheaded in Iceland.We follow Agnes through this time, as she is awaiting her execution living with a family on a remote farm in the northern part of the country. We come to know and understand Agnes as she tries to move forwards, despite knowing what fate awaits her. We learn about her past as she reflects through her inner monologues, and as she shares her stories with the young Assistant Reverend Tóti, who has been charged with her spiritual guidance and comfort.In the meantime Margrét, the farmer's wife, is desperately working to protect her two young daughters from the murderess, who she has been forced to house.These three main characters are three-dimensional, complex and flawed. They come to life beautifully, and it is a pleasure to witness their development through the story as they each come to terms with Agnes's condemnation.Kent has a writing style that is almost lyrical; it flows beautifully and her description of the windswept, barren landscape, as we pass through the seasons, is poetic. It is wonderfully atmospheric - the land is cold and bleak, but the prose and the characters make the narrative warm and cosy.The themes of human spirit, resilience, togetherness and becoming one in the face of adversity all shine strongly, and these are the feelings that are still with me since finishing this book.This is a wonderful debut from a young Australian female author. Kent has recently released her second novel, 'The Good People'.If you like your books to be fast-paced and action-packed, then Burial Rites may not be for you. Despite this, I would urge everyone to read this book! There certainly is action, murder, mystery and intrigue within these pages; however it is more quietly and subtly compelling. If you are one who appreciates character studies, beautiful prose and an emotional read, then I would highly recommend you pick this one up.
Top reviews from other countries
Debra
Gritty, sad, realistic and sometimes tender
Reviewed in Australia on February 21, 2024Crazygoangirl
An intriguing tale. A brilliant debut!
Reviewed in India on September 2, 2017