Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Dead Father's Club

I picked up The Dead Father’s Club as an effort to spend December reading more from authors I appreciated this year. How To Stop Time was one of my favorite reads, and this was the only other Matt Haig book available on Libby.

This book is incredibly difficult to describe and was more of an experience than a book. I was 100% invested and can’t feel that this book deserves less than four stars, despite its flaws. There was a great plot, some intense moments, and we are left with food for thought at the end. In many ways, the author managed to capture several aspects of how it FEELS to be a child in distress. About 3/4 of the way through, it got heavy, like I felt physically heavy and had to put the book down. And at the end, there was a lot left unanswered, which to be fair, is not something I always like in a book (but I didn’t mind it too much here because I did feel that I had the general answers to what had actually happened.)

The prose felt experimental: I HATED the format- an eleven year old boy’s journal. It was intentionally overflowing with run-on sentences and bad punctuation and random CAPS LOCK and incorrect punctuation and spelling. But it still didn’t feel anything like what a real 11-year-old would write, especially as the boy sometimes seemed older than his age and at other times much younger. I originally found this voice to be annoying and quite exhausting to read, but as the book went on, I began to see it as a sort of poetry. I’m not sure if there was actually a poetic rhythm to the prose, but it flowed so well that I found myself reading as though I was riding the waves of Haig’s writing. Eventually, the writing style faded into the background, and I realized that it was more of a creative and poetic choice than an honest effort at an adult sounding like a child.

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Loved this retelling of Hamlet with the narrator being 11-year-old Philip Noble who has recently lost his father. Unfortunately for young Philip, his father begins appearing to him and demanding his death be avenged by his son. Already a child often victimized by schoolyard bullies, Philip’s reputation as an oddball becomes even worse with his dead father popping up at any old time and badgering Philip who feels compelled to reply… but since only Philip can see his father, his new problematic behavior in life makes him the center of attention at home and school.

The adolescent voice created by author Matt Haig is so on point. Philip is a very bright and interesting kid who is wonderful at observing others and describing his world. He doesn’t want to believe what his dead father says to him or do what’s being asked of him, but feelings of loyalty to someone you love are hard to refuse. The sometimes zany situations in which Philip finds himself experiencing because of interactions with his dead father are beyond what you’d expect of a child, but not too far out there that they’re unbelievable. Philip’s explanation of what happens is done with the rationale you’d expect of a clever eleven-year-old boy.

This story makes so much sense when looked at through the lens of the main character being a child dealing with deep and profound grief that he may not yet be ready to move on from. The mind works in mysterious ways. There’s also a really good mystery or two running through the storyline, and almost a comedy of confusion that persists because no one is talking to Philip. But it is clear that the boy is loved by family and other adults in his life. I very much appreciated that being loud and clear in the book.

This is a very good story with excellent writing and character development. I highly recommend regardless of the reader’s familiarity with Hamlet.

I listened to the audiobook and found the narrator, pre-teen Andrew Dennis, was stellar. Mr. Dennis’s nuanced performance brought the source material to life and there could not have been a better choice for this book.

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