Reviews

The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig

debs4jc's review against another edition

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

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

blankcrayon's review against another edition

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

3.0

howiliv's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

2andrea's review against another edition

4.0

Wtf, I’m so confused, did he die? Did the dad do it??? Ahhh, does he just have schizophrenia? Ahhh

hannah2896's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

After loving the midnight library and devouring the audio version of how to stop time, this was a huge disappointment. I found Philip a very unlikeable character and the whole story was very slow paced and almost boring. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Bullying, Car accident, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Death of parent

runningjules's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

emilycranick's review against another edition

4.0

3.75/5 stars
The short chapters were a blessing. I actually enjoyed the first 30% of this book and then it just plummeted and then around 60-70% it started getting much better. He didn’t use any quotations in this book. It actually made me reading this a lot easier and i could actually digest what i was reading and enjoy it without having to skip around and skim. I enjoyed this book a lot and would recommend it to someone, but it isn’t my favorite Matt Haig book, but it’s better than The Midnight Library. I was a bit confused at the ending but i still enjoyed it!

katherinehenson's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

priestessofhestia's review against another edition

Did not enjoy the writing style. Written from the perspective of a young boy, and written in the way a person would think, very little punctuation, it's unfortunate as the story itself seemed like it would have been very entertaining, I just couldn't get past the writing