By Matt Haig The Dead Fathers Club (Reprint)

Both the author and the plot were completely new to me as I must be one of the 1% of the population who hasn't read or seen Hamlet. This isn't a drawback though, it was just a fresh new story for me, which I thoroughly enjoyed picking up. Eleven year old Philip Noble has recently been bereaved. His dad Brian has died in a car accident...but when he appears to Philip he tells him he was murdered and needs Philips help to avenge his death before it's too late and he's doomed to experience 'the terrors' forever. "If the Living don't take Revenge in the No Time the ghosts stay ghosts forever". I really enjoyed the 'normality' of the situation; Philip's tropical fish, and that he finds parallels between the Roman History he's learning at school and his own life. Even in death, the ghosts of dads in Newark meet near the pub 'The Castle and Falcon', where Brian was landlord (and Philip lives) because it's the oldest pub in town and most of them went there in life. As we read further, the story takes a more sombre turn and questions the fragility of the mind when bereaved. Intelligently written it is both humourous and poignant and the author illustrates the story brilliantly with cleverly chosen words.

This was a great read from Matt Haig. Loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, the story follows 11 year old Phillip Noble who's lost his father in an automobile accident. Soon after, his father appears to him as a ghost, revealing that he was murdered by his brother and tells Phillip to avenge his death. The story proves to be much more complicated than that as Phillip must discover the difference between what is the truth and what is a lie, all while dealing with his crush on a teacher, the two bullies who harass him, a girl who likes him, and his uncle who slowly becomes part of he and his mother's life, all while trying to live up to the demands his father's ghost is making of him. Haig's mythology of the Dead Father's Club is superb and the novel unfolds quickly, as most of the chapters are very short. The narrative style took some getting used to, as it's written entirely from the viewpoint of Phillip. The lack of some punctuation and quotation marks around the dialog was a little disconcerting at first, but the deeper I got into the book, the less I noticed it. Haig's descriptions are all very excellent and realistic from his narrator's point of view. Haig took the story in directions I hadn't expected, which made the novel all the more compelling to me. The book plays with the notion of what is true and what is false, what is real and what is imagined in a very clever and interesting way. It's also about how life continues unabated in the aftermath of a tragedy. I thought Haig handled this particularly well. The ending took me completely by surprise, which is rare. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

Loved it! Once started, it was one of those books I really looked forward to the time I could spend enjoying it. Haig's way of letting Philip tell his tale is bold and refreshing. I found the writing style intuitive rather than bothersome (and I'm an editor); it was an easy, quick read. Haig has an incredible knack for resurging in us the bittersweet feelings and perspective of being a preteen--life's general confusion, uncertainty, anxiety, innocence and wonder--even if you didn't have to deal with deaths at that age! While there were funny parts throughout, the chapter toward the end with the grandmother Nan and Philip was brilliantly hilarious. I would like to read that chapter again and again just for the kicks it gives on its own. Anyone who's had an elder family member in their midst can relate. Big thanks and kudos to Matt Haig for writing this one--and doing it just the way he did.

I listened to this book on CD, and sometimes I had to stop the car to replay a section because certain passages were so beautifully written. The young boy protagonist is telling the story of what happens immediately after his father's death, when he either becomes delusional or starts to see ghosts. Haig focuses a lot of the writing on sounds, but much better that the old standard "drip, drip, drip went the rain". It seems as though Haig must be very immature to remember so well what pre-teen boys are like. I wish I could do something even half as good; I'm afraid I'm too grown up and suffer the loss of creativity that hits some of us. (Or more likely I never had any talent at all.) I've just ordered his previous book, and hope it arrives very soon.

I'm sure this book would be awesome if you read it in the printed version. But this reader -- unbelievable that he so young in real life -- does such an outstanding job of bringing a good book to a great listening experience... it is brilliant. So glad I decided to listen to this book.