Review – Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
I won Burial Rites from Michael at Literary Exploration a while back during his Armchair BEA giveaway. I was excited when I read that this book was by an Australian author, the blurb and the endless good reviews also peaked my interest.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Published by Picador Australia
I felt sucked in by this book. The curiosity about the world Agnes lived in and her life. The story is well written as are the characters. The story is told from more than one perspective but this did not bother me in the least. I felt the harshness of winter, of Iceland, of life back then was well presented and I can’t begin to imagine the cold they must have felt. To burn dung to keep a fire and warmth, the smell and harshness of life.
I’m quite fond of literary fiction. If done well that drama of life can capture ones attention and hold you till the last page. For me this was Burial Rites. The fictional story of Ages the last woman sentenced to death in Iceland. The author has clearly done her research and does an excellent job of writing in a way that makes the reader pay attention, in fact you’ll be hard pressed to put the book down to do other things till its done and you know Agnes story. Told by her to the assistant reverend and the family she is to wait her final days with, Burial Rites is a book I highly recommend getting lost in. With many excellent reviews out there and it was an Amazon Book of the Month in September 2013 its one not to be missed.
A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829.
Set against Iceland’s stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.
Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes’s death looms, the farmer’s wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they’ve heard.
Riveting and rich with lyricism, BURIAL RITES evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?
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