I read this to see what all the fuss was about, and I now see what the fuss is about. As far as historical/speculative fiction goes, O'Farrell builds a stunning amount of depth into the family she writes about. The emotions she describes the characters experiencing are intense, believable, and moving. I was genuinely touched by this story and nearly teared up a few times. I think it's clever to center a story associated with Shakespeare around his family instead of him, and O'Farrell develops her characters so deftly that I had no desire to spend more time with Shakespeare, even though he is the historical figure that inspired the story.

That said, the writing style isn't really for me, and it was a slog to get through the first few chapters. I had to browbeat myself into continuing to read this. I'm certainly glad I did. All of that emotion I described above hit in the second half, after the characters had been developed and I was invested in their pain. It's just quite an investment to start reading something this descriptive and slow without fully knowing whether the emotional payoff will play out for you as a reader.