The Dead Fathers Club: Matt Haig

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In the prose style of your novel, as well as in its concern for the inner reflections of a troubled youth, some readers may catch echoes of Burgess and Sillitoe. Apart, obviously, from Shakespeare, whom do you look upon as the major literary influences on this book?

A. I wouldn’t say I was consciously trying to write a certain way, but yes, I do feel that a lot of writers underestimate teenage readers. Teenagers are among the best kind of readers, because they have the intelligence to understand big ideas, combined with that open-mindedness you tend to shed with age. In his quixotic quest to avenge his father’s death, Phillip learns many life lessons: truth is relative, revenge is a big job and not painless, and love is worth fighting for. Haig’s novel is an unusual and often hilarious update of Hamlet … Julie, Book faves for Feb, Blue Willow Books, West Houston Then at the end, there is a sudden rebuking of this, or is there? This is the thing. I don't know what to make of the ending of this book. I certainly expected more, or least a definite out come. There are many ways to interpret this and finish it off in your head, something Haig leaves completely up to you. In some ways I find it disappointing, in other ways clever. Mostly I just want to know what happened, really. At first I was completely weirded out by the almost non-existent grammar and punctuation in the book, but as the book was meant to have been written by an eleven-year-old boy I understood why the author chose to write it that way. Even so, it took some getting used to! Especially for someone like me, the Superintendent of the Grammar Police. Matt Haig’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Sydney Morning Herald. The Dead Fathers Club is his American debut. He lives in Leeds, England.One of the greatest challenges a writer faces is sustaining a narrative voice that differs from his or her own natural mode of expression. How were you able to think your way so successfully into the mind and diction of an eleven-year-old boy? 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. But then you find yourself questioning the reliability of everyone involved in the book. Can Philip be trusted? Can his father’s ghost be trusted? And I love that shit. I eat that shit up every time. Give me all of the unreliability and let me figure it out for myself. In your opinion, how important is it to your readers’ enjoyment that they have read or reread Hamlet recently? Philip is a breathless storyteller who seldom stops for punctuation but whose honesty and innocence, which shine from every sentence, are utterly captivating and heartbreakingly poignant. The result is an absolutely irresistible read. Booklist (starred review)

Ma non è solo una questione di stile, anche la struttura narrativa non regge: i riferimenti a Shakespeare sono continui e insistiti (Matt, abbiamo capito a pagina 2... basta così), le strizzate d'occhio al lettore ininterrotte (si, Matt, lo sappiamo che adesso questo che sembra Polonio muore), i personaggi si muovono per l'inerzia della trama Shakespeareana ma qui non hanno carattere, motivazioni, le cose avvengono senza un perché, i personaggi non seguono logiche e pensieri, agiscono e basta... During the course of his narrative, Philip Noble, commits a series of crimes, which grow increasingly serious. Despite his criminal behavior, does he continue to move the sympathies of the reader? By what means does he do so?

The Dead Father's Club' is full of dark humour, Philip's thoughts on life are innocent and humorous, and his confusion about his Dad is heartbreaking, he is trying to cope with the loss of his Dad and his Dad's ghost at the same time. On the paradox of war and murder: “Its like how in War soldiers are told to kill other men and then they are Heroes but if they killed the same men when they were not in War they are Murderers. But they are still killing the same men who have the same dreams and who chew the same food and hum the same songs when they are happy but if it is called War it is all right because that is the rules of War.” A. Anxiety is my main influence. I think, really, anxiety is the key mood at the beginning of the twenty-first century, so being a naturally anxious person helps capture that kind of feeling. Shakespeare is my most obvious literary influence, I suppose. Lovers of Hamlet will savor The Dead Fathers Club. . .The Dead Fathers Club, at heart, is the wrenching story of a boy who can’t cope with his father’s death. He is 11 years old and powerless, not a prince with infinite charisma, and still the ghost keeps demanding that he show vindictive bravery. That Haig lets the problem overwhelm the boy so relentlessly gives the book its haunting power. . . The Hamlet-sized story doesn’t crush the innocent telling. In fact, in places, youth refreshes the older vision. . .in a climax in which Philip seems to overhear himself, he muses: “Dads are just men who have babies but I know he loved me because I felt it go out of me when he crashed. It was like air or blood or bones or something that made me me and it wasnt there any more and I had only half of it now and I didnt know if that was enough.” That last beautiful clause —“I didn’t know if that was enough”— achieves understanding while still preserving ambivalence. Its eloquence is hemmed tightly with doubt and fear. He is right: We never know if we have what it takes to make it through, and circumstances have forced him to learn this too young. It is irresistible to wonder if Haig chooses the protagonist’s age not only for its inherent vulnerability but also because another Hamlet–Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet — died at the age of 11. If so, “The Dead Fathers Club,” a tale of grief, holds a posthumous mirror up to the Bard, and offers him empathy. Todd Shy, News & Observer, Raleigh

It’s shortly after this that the ghost of Philip’s father comes to him and says that his brother, Alan, murdered him by severing the brakes on his car. Along with this news, a few other things: Leah later goes missing and Phillip seeks the assistance of other ghosts to find her. Leah is discovered as she is preparing to jump off a bridge, the words "dead and gone" written on her arms in blood. Despite Phillip’s pleas, she jumps and Phillip jumps in after her in an attempt to rescue her. The pair are swept along the water, but are pulled out by Alan and one of his coworkers.Despite this, I could gather from Philip's perspective, just how heartbreaking and confusing seeing the ghost of his dad was, after losing him tragically. I think seeing his ghost was a way of him dealing with the grief he had. Ot was also refreshing to see a child's viewpoint of adult situations, and what they must think or how it impacts them. Gender isn’t too much of a problem. But youth is, especially for a male. A woman can imitate a young voice fairly easily, but few men can regress to a time before their voices changed. The story is interesting, but at a certain point I'm like "Come on. He can't expect an 11 year old to kill his uncle! I mean not REALLY!" Once I twice I doubt the realness of the ghost but then there is such heavy evidence to the fact that the ghost is real, it doesn't even bother me that Phillip doesnt' really try and tell anyone. Again with most of my rereads I enjoyed the book more second time around. The story is based loosely on `Hamlet' by William Shakespeare with the main character Philip Noble faced with his Dad's ghost telling him that was not killed in a car accident but he was murdered by his brother and Philip's Uncle, Alan who according to his Dad's ghost tampered with the brakes of the car causing the accident. As with a lot of Matt Haig's writing, he manages to lay bare human emotion, and put it into relateable sentences.