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fallonedits's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
The future of reading is voice.
You have a unique voice. Your cadence, syntax, and collection of favored words are all yours. Everyone hears it when you talk, even if you don't.
And your characters have unique voices too. They must, coming from different values, backgrounds, principles, traumas, dreams, and experiences.
But something interesting happens when you put those unique vocal flavors onto paper as you write your story:
They get distilled, drowned in grammar and language rules as outdated as the stodgy old teachers whence they came.
It's messed up, really, the pedant-trauma that tells writers they're not good enough because of bullshit rules. Rules that are made to be broken.
In his novel, The Dead Fathers Club, Matt Haig skillfully evokes the voice of eleven-year-old Philip, the narrator. And he does so in one magnificently interesting, rule-breaking, pedant-shaking way:
Haig omits most punctuation.
Except for the marks at the ends of sentences, there is no punctuation in the novel.
No commas.
No parentheses.
No apostrophes.
No quotation marks.
No ellipses or em dashes.
No colons or semi-colons.
Yet . . .
There is also no confusion.
The reader always knows who's talking and follows the logical flow of information because of the careful way Haig handled the narrative voice.
In the digital age where readers are being inundated by AI books and AI tools, there is nothing more sacred than a true, sincere, human voice telling a well-crafted story.
Here are two quotes I highlighted in my reading delight:
- [S]ometimes being nice is as bad as being horrible.
- [W]hen you get older time gets shorter and walks get longer.
I will recommend The Dead Fathers Club to voice-driven readers for years to come as a masterful display of what can be accomplished by skillfully breaking some rules in favor of authenticity of character and experience.
You have a unique voice. Your cadence, syntax, and collection of favored words are all yours. Everyone hears it when you talk, even if you don't.
And your characters have unique voices too. They must, coming from different values, backgrounds, principles, traumas, dreams, and experiences.
But something interesting happens when you put those unique vocal flavors onto paper as you write your story:
They get distilled, drowned in grammar and language rules as outdated as the stodgy old teachers whence they came.
It's messed up, really, the pedant-trauma that tells writers they're not good enough because of bullshit rules. Rules that are made to be broken.
In his novel, The Dead Fathers Club, Matt Haig skillfully evokes the voice of eleven-year-old Philip, the narrator. And he does so in one magnificently interesting, rule-breaking, pedant-shaking way:
Haig omits most punctuation.
Except for the marks at the ends of sentences, there is no punctuation in the novel.
No commas.
No parentheses.
No apostrophes.
No quotation marks.
No ellipses or em dashes.
No colons or semi-colons.
Yet . . .
There is also no confusion.
The reader always knows who's talking and follows the logical flow of information because of the careful way Haig handled the narrative voice.
In the digital age where readers are being inundated by AI books and AI tools, there is nothing more sacred than a true, sincere, human voice telling a well-crafted story.
Here are two quotes I highlighted in my reading delight:
- [S]ometimes being nice is as bad as being horrible.
- [W]hen you get older time gets shorter and walks get longer.
I will recommend The Dead Fathers Club to voice-driven readers for years to come as a masterful display of what can be accomplished by skillfully breaking some rules in favor of authenticity of character and experience.
greeneerie's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
look at my son!!!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Bullying, and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content and Murder
Minor: Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content
kingkade95's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
jennrocca's review against another edition
1.0
Awful. Just awful. The first and biggest turn off is the stylistic choice to use minimal punctuation. All dialog, and everything really, just ran together. Just as I was finishing the first quarter of the book I decided I couldn't take it. I skipped through the rest of the chapters to see how the story progressed. The answer was terribly. I am relieved I didn't spend any more time on it. I regret buying it for my library. I find it unlikely I'll recommend it to anyone. Yuck.
thomasr417's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
sassyyabby's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
sassypants1313's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-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
2.0
katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
Hamlet reimagined for young adults
Told in a very convincing child's voice, Philip Noble is caught up in a family drama when his father dies in a car accident and he begins to see the ghost, who tells him that it was no accident, that his uncle was responsible and that Philip must get his revenge...
The style of writing, lacking some punctuation (apostrophes, speech marks) was a little awkward at first, though it became much more natural, and kept reminding me all the way through of the age and naivety of the narrator. It did work, though I know for some it will be an off-putting style.
As a fan of Hamlet, a play I knew well when at school, I enjoyed the structural similarities, working out the character connections and seeing lines and scenes crop up edited for the modern world. It was very well planned-out and brought into its new context.
Without knowledge of the Shakespeare it still works very well indeed as a ghost/revenge/grief story. The themes of Hamlet are even more relevant to the story of a boy procrastinating over killing his uncle.
This would work well used alongside the original text for English students, but the themes of parental death, step-families, grief and adolescence will hit home with many readers aged 12-15.
Told in a very convincing child's voice, Philip Noble is caught up in a family drama when his father dies in a car accident and he begins to see the ghost, who tells him that it was no accident, that his uncle was responsible and that Philip must get his revenge...
The style of writing, lacking some punctuation (apostrophes, speech marks) was a little awkward at first, though it became much more natural, and kept reminding me all the way through of the age and naivety of the narrator. It did work, though I know for some it will be an off-putting style.
As a fan of Hamlet, a play I knew well when at school, I enjoyed the structural similarities, working out the character connections and seeing lines and scenes crop up edited for the modern world. It was very well planned-out and brought into its new context.
Without knowledge of the Shakespeare it still works very well indeed as a ghost/revenge/grief story. The themes of Hamlet are even more relevant to the story of a boy procrastinating over killing his uncle.
This would work well used alongside the original text for English students, but the themes of parental death, step-families, grief and adolescence will hit home with many readers aged 12-15.
goodem9199's review against another edition
3.0
I would recommend listening to this book. It is read by a young British boy, and he is amazing. I loved this book, although was a bit disappointed by the ending, hence the 3 stars.
carolyn0613's review against another edition
4.0
Philip Noble is eleven and his father has just died in a car crash. He is grieving deeply when his dead dad appears as a ghost and tells him that Philip's uncle killed him and is after Philip's mum and the pub she now owns and runs. Dad tells Philip that he must get revenge on his uncle by killing him, otherwise Dad is doomed to be a ghost forever. The story sounds horrific when describing it, but there is quite a lot of black humour in there and some amusing side characters. The story is written in the first person from Philip's point of view and in a child-like style, which I'm not sure worked that well. It was a little too overdone. Aside from that, the book is easy to read and very intriguing. Funny and sad.
I read afterwards that it is a rewrite of Hamlet, but I'm not very familiar with the play and didn't pick up on that.
I read afterwards that it is a rewrite of Hamlet, but I'm not very familiar with the play and didn't pick up on that.