The Dead Fathers Club

Product Information

A ghost story with a twist—a suspenseful and poignantly funny update of the Hamlet story. Eleven-year-old Philip Noble has a big problem: His dad, who was killed in a car accident, appears as a bloodstained ghost at his own funeral and introduces Philip to the Dead Fathers Club. The club, whose members were all murdered, gathers outside the Castle and Falcon, the local pub that Philip’s family owns and lives above. Philip’s father tells him that Uncle Alan killed him and he must avenge his death. When Philip realizes that Uncle Alan has designs on his mom and the family pub, Philip decides that something must be done. But it’s a much bigger job than he anticipated, especially when he is caught up by the usual distractions of childhood—a pretty girl, wayward friends, school bullies, and his own self-doubt. The Dead Fathers Club is a riveting, imaginative, and quirky update of Shakespeare’s great tragedy that will establish Matt Haig as a young writer of great talent and imagination. The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig – eBook Details

Hamlet, is that you? | Books | The Guardian Hamlet, is that you? | Books | The Guardian

Mum called Alan! Philip! Teas ready! I didnt want Uncle Alan to stay for tea but I couldnt stop it because Uncle Alan was staying for tea most days now. Mum had made a chilli sin carne. Mum says chilli sin carne is a chilli without meat and Mums Weight Watchers cookbook says SIN means without in Spanish which is what they speak in Mexico where chilli comes from. And CON means with and carne means meat and she made it with Tofu instead of meat because it has less fat and Uncle Alan was talking non stop just words words words. You arent SAFE here on your own. What if it happens again. Brian would want you to be SAFE. I could sleep in the spare room. Dont mind my place I could rent it out. Get more money. See theres method in my madness. In Haig’s magnificent updating of Hamlet, Philip, an English schoolboy, must decide whether to listen to the ghost of his father and to murder the uncle who is making the moves on his mother. . . . Haig’s prose is light and humorous and sprinkled with allusions to the Bard, even as his topic turns dark and menacing. Arsen Kashkashian of The Boulder Book Store, Colorado store (Book Sense) in the Seattle PostYou are meant to be frightened when you see a ghost but I was not frightened because it felt completely normal which is weird because I had never seen a ghost before. He was just standing there behind the smoke of Big Vics cigar and he was looking at me and not scared of my eyes like everyone else was. Carla was next to him serving drinks but she didnt notice him and I looked round and no one noticed him apart from me. After she had served the drinks Carla walked through Dads Ghost to go and see herself in the mirror which says Castle and Falcon because that is the name of our Pub. Dads Ghost was wearing the same clothes Dad was wearing the last time I saw him which was at breakfast on the day he died when I made him cross because I wanted the PlayStation. He was wearing his T shirt which said King of the Castle with the word CASTLE written in red capital letters like on the sign outside the Pub. But now all the colours were more faded because Dad was pale and see through like the ghosts at the Leah Fairview– The former girlfriend of Phillip is sister to Dane Fairview. Her mother died when Leah was young and her father is accidentally murdered by Phillip. At the end of the novel, Phillip saves her from committing suicide The Shakespearean roots of Haig’s book don’t force the plot into preordained directions. No characters are wasted; Leah, the Ophelia to Phillip’s Hamlet, emerges as a mysterious but moving force. One of the joys (for those familiar with Hamlet) is figuring out at what points Haig’s work diverges. Phillip is an unreliable narrator, but it isn’t until close to the ending that you begin to wonder just how unreliable. Maybe Uncle Alan isn’t such a bad guy … Haig does a great job of assuming the voice of an 11-year-old. The advantage of writing through a child’s eyes is that the events play themselves out in a less self-conscious way than, say, an account of adult grief. Through Phillip, and the struggles Phillip has with his father’s ghost, we see the cruelty of death, the desire to make sense out of an nonsensical event. “The Dead Fathers Club” is full of funny moments, but the ending reveals the dark heart of Hamlet’s story. Reyhan Harmanci, San Francisco Chronicle What the child's perspective does, however, is bring the family power struggles to the fore. Uncle Alan attempts to worm his way into Philip's affections and his mother's bed; suspected of boiling Philip's tropical fish, he is alluring and frightening by turns, a figure of threat overspilling with treats and bribes. The pub itself, with its staff and regulars (Ross and Gary are a pair of particularly sinister Rosencrantz and Guildenstern doppelgangers), becomes a palace of whispering intrigue and conspiracy, as dangerous as any Elsinore. The child's perspective also brings out the absurd comedy of Shakespeare's tragedy; most of all it allows Haig to indulge his innocently acute eye for detail and his delightfully weird imagination. One's heart goes out to a boy torn between a selfish ghost ("If you ever loved me . . .") and a foolish mother, and one naturally fears for him, knowing the fate of the first Hamlet. But Haig borrows from Shakespeare in the same spirit that Shakespeare borrowed from his own sources. One is never sure where the story is going next, and that's what makes this book such sad fun. Cleverly constructed narrative convinces the reader that this is a young child relating, explaining and describing both major and trivial incidents in his life. If you enjoyed The Sixth Sense you’ll find this book compulsive reading. It offers some pertinent observations about the human condition . . . be prepared for a highly dramatic conclusion.

The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig | Waterstones

ing red and gold in the night and a face sad cross like Mr Rosen and a beard and maybe it was Emperor Hadrian and my heart was going like mad beatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeat beatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeat beatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeatDad is a weird word if you say it over and over DadaDada DadaDadaDadaDadada it sounds like guns. Mum is weird too. MumuMumuMumuMumu. It looks like moomoomoo like a cow in a baby book. Father is weird Fat her and Mother MOT her and Daddy or Daddie or Dad die Dad dy Dad dy Dad dy

The Dead Fathers Club: FAQ - Matt Haig The Dead Fathers Club: FAQ - Matt Haig

My intention was to write a story that connects with people emotionally and hopefully that connection works the same with or without an in-depth knowledge of Hamlet. After all, Shakespeare himself was the king of re-writes, and Hamlet itself echoes earlier vengeance stories. Turns out a British narrator and friend who had just judged a BBC-sponsored competition to find “the Young Voice of Bath” recommended the winner, Andrew Dennis, who just happened to be 12. Mrs. Fell– The teacher and counselor of Phillip, Mrs. Fell is a lovely woman who offers comfort to Phillip. Ray Goodwin, is in the Dead Father’s Club; it is unclear whether or not Mrs. Fell knows this.Matt’s writing style is unusually down-to-earth and he prides himself on penning novels that appeal to different generations. Grant Woodward, Yorkshire Evening Post Starred Review. Haig does an enviable job of leavening a sad premise through the words and actions of a charming, resilient young man.