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A review by breeisreading_
The Last Family in England by Matt Haig
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What an odd little gem of a book.
My mum got me this for Christmas, and although I know of Matt Haig mainly for The Midnight Library, I’d never heard of this novel, which is one of his early ones.
This was not what I expected - the title and front cover of my edition fooled me into thinking this would be an easy, happy read about a dog - don’t be fooled!! This broke my heart; deals with lots of serious events and trigger warnings, and a lot of adult and mature themes.
The perspective being told through the dog’s (Prince the Labrador) point of view was genius and I loved the childlike perspective that gave us as we didn’t have all the information, and found things out as the book progressed in real time with Prince. He was truly a captivating character and this book really was beautiful with the way it handled grief, love, family, relationships and the love between a dog and their Family.
The end has completely ended me though and I will likely never recover.
My mum got me this for Christmas, and although I know of Matt Haig mainly for The Midnight Library, I’d never heard of this novel, which is one of his early ones.
This was not what I expected - the title and front cover of my edition fooled me into thinking this would be an easy, happy read about a dog - don’t be fooled!! This broke my heart; deals with lots of serious events and trigger warnings, and a lot of adult and mature themes.
The perspective being told through the dog’s (Prince the Labrador) point of view was genius and I loved the childlike perspective that gave us as we didn’t have all the information, and found things out as the book progressed in real time with Prince. He was truly a captivating character and this book really was beautiful with the way it handled grief, love, family, relationships and the love between a dog and their Family.
The end has completely ended me though and I will likely never recover.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Grief
Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit