Reviews

The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig

dclaw's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

Follows a frieving youth outcast tortures by ghost of his father encouraging him yo seek revenge

fernweh85's review

emotional 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

3.5

bookishbrighton's review against another edition

3.0

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I got about 25% in I couldn’t put it down and read the rest in one sitting.

Once I was invested in Philip and The Dead Fathers Club, I was absolutely desperate to find out what happened; how the story played out.

Where I struggled with this book was the fact it was written from the POV of an 11 year old boy. I get why this was done, and I do think it was necessary to give us this perspective - to remind us of Philip’s naivety and innocence - but I personally found the ‘little boy’ thoughts and language frustrating. The story itself made the it worth preserving though.

I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions too, but I think maybe that’s the point? In grief there is hardly ever full closure. 

I am confident that the issues I had with the book are definitely me problems because I had similar with The Midnight Library, which I thought was brilliant. I love Matt Haig’s concepts, but the way he executes them just aren’t my style.

lottie1803's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

3.25

anwesha_s's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

kalona's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.0

catherine_mack's review against another edition

2.0

Well I give up, I’m about two thirds of the way through this book and have some serious concerns not the least of which is the use of the c- word (more than once) in a teen novel where the main character, Philip is meant to be eleven years old.
And while the choice of language is over mature, the author has erred on the other side when it comes to Philip’s thinking. A lot of it comes off as someone who might be eight or nine. So who is the actual audience this is meant to be aimed at?
So disappointing as the first part of the book hooked me in with the notion of a retelling of Hamlet.

jalynrose's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

2.0

laurap's review against another edition

funny mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

daisyna999's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.5