Reviews

Having read some of Matt Haig's other novels (How to Stop Time, The Radley's and The Humans) I expected big things of this book and it both failed to deliver and measured up to standard in equal measure for me.

I enjoyed the storyline - a young boy who is apparently haunted by his fathers Ghost. This ghost seems to want him to kill his uncle who he blames for his death. I enjoyed the take on this from the perspective of someone who obviously has some kind of autistic spectrum disorder. I found it hard to believe that Haig's booked that I've read previously, as well as this one, could possibly be by the same author as they are all so diverse and I like the way he has the ability to turn his hand to most subjects with ease.

However, there were a few things that let this novel down for me.
1) I found the stream of consciousness narrative very tough to get into. In fairness, once I had mastered the lack of punctuation etc, I did manage to get past this but I can see how it could be a blocker to some people trying to read this novel.
2) I felt like this kind of thing has been done before, in 'The Curious Incident...'
3) The final, and perhaps largest, issue for me was that the was literally no conclusion and the reader was left with more questions than answers. Was Philip's Dad right? Was the ghost real or was this a figment of Philip's delusion? What happened to Uncle Alan? I personally find it very difficult to enjoy a book where there are many unanswered questions.

Overall, this book deserves a solid 3 stars and, perhaps on second reading (which if I'm honest, I doubt it'll get) it might be a grower and get more.

keinbock's review

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3.75

If holden Caulfield wrote hamlet

karandipity's review

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dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

aggie2010's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

debs4jc's review

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4.0

Philip is understandably distraught after his father dies. He is even more so when his father's ghost starts talking to him and telling him things about his uncle. According to the ghost, his uncle killed his father and now Philip has to kill the uncle to get his father's revenge and keep him from descending into the "terrors". Philip is unsure about this, but he doesn't like his uncle moving in on his mum and so he may just go through with it. If this sounds familiar, it is as this is an adaptation of Shakespear's Hamlet. [return]Philip narrates the story in the very authentic voice of a confused 11 year old. It really felt like you were in his head experiencing it with him and hoping it wouldn't end as badly as the real Hamlet does. Haig does a masterful job of recreating this old story in a new way. I highly reccomend this book, though some of the heavy stuff dealt with can make it a bit of a downer in places so keep that in mind.

jwvaughn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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