The Dead Father's Club - Softcover

Haig, Matt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0224076132 ISBN 13: 9780224076135

Publisher: Viking, 2006

Synopsis

THE DEAD FATHER'S CLUB is loosely based on Shakespeare's HAMLET. Eleven-year-old Philip Noble loses his father in a car accident. Shortly thereafter, Brian Noble begins appearing to his son as a ghost, telling him his brother Alan had tampered with the brakes. Brian wants Philip to kill his brother. The Shakespeare allusion continues when Alan begins to pursue Philip's mother. There's even a TV movie that's a lot like the play in Hamlet. Alan also begins to interfere in Brian's former business, a pub called the Castle and Falcon. The similarity between the Shakespearean play and Haig's book ends with the narrator. We're not sure if Philip really sees his father's ghost or if he's having a nervous breakdown. The ghost also isn't that reliable. He keeps getting Philip in trouble. Philip has a number of tormenters besides his father's ghost, mainly two bullies, Dominic Weekly and Jordan Harper, who refer to him as "schizo." They are relentless. They pursue Philip all over the school and out into the neighborhood. About the only time the ghost actually helps Philip is during a Rugby match.

About this title

Review

The story of Hamlet is not usually thought of as one meant for laughter. But Matt Haig's able retelling of the tale in The Dead Fathers Club will make you laugh, though it might also evoke a tear. Eleven-year-old Philip Noble is at his father's funeral when who should appear but his father's ghost, who wastes no time in telling Philip that his Uncle Alan, an auto mechanic, tampered with his car, causing the accident that killed him. He warns Philip that Uncle Alan will shortly be tampering with his mother too, because Unctuous Uncle Alan wants the pub that Philip's father owned.

The solution to this problem, according to Philip's dad, is that he must kill Uncle Alan. If he doesn't do it before Dad's next birthday, 11 weeks away, Dad will be consigned to the Terrors for all eternity. Philip agrees, in principle, but killing someone, especially without getting caught, isn't easy. But a promise is a promise, so Philip gives it a whirl, in fact, several whirls. Real life interferes in the persons of two school bullies, truly nasty and perverse thugs, who seem ready to kill Philip because they think it's funny that his father died. Philip also falls in love, and his Ophelia (named Leah) thinks that shoplifting is tons of fun. Poor Philip is in over his head in every way possible. There are many encounters with other Dead Fathers in a great sendup of ghostly dealings, Hamlet-like, on the moors, and several sly references to the play. There is even a character named Dane. The ending is not pure Shakespeare, but it is pure Haig and that is very good indeed. --Valerie Ryan

About the Author

MATT HAIG is the author of the novel The Dead Fathers Club. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, the London Sunday Times, The Independent, and the Sydney Morning Herald. He lives in Leeds, England.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0224076132
• ISBN 13: 9780224076135
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320