Compared to what I’ve been reading lately, this book was a nice change of pace…because it was good. The Dead Father’s Club is a new take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Set in modern time England, and through the eyes on an eleven year old boy named Phillip.
Phillip’s (AKA Hamlet's) father was killed in a car accident, and no more than a few weeks later, his father’s brother, Alan (Claudius), moves into their home set on marrying Phillip’s mother (Gertrude). Who doesn’t hesitate to sleep with him (ewww). Throughout the story, his father’s ghost appears to Phillip. He says he was murdered by Alan, and the only way for him to die in peace is for Phillip to get his father’s revenge and kill the murderer; his own Uncle Alan.
Revenge and murder turn out to be a bit more difficult than Phillip planned. Especially with so many distractions. Mainly caused by his own self doubt on what to do next.
Oh, and we know any version of Hamlet retold cannot be done without an Ophelia. In The Dead Father's Club, she goes by the name of Leah. She somehow becomes Phillip's girlfriend just for the heck of it (ahhh, young love). But of course, these being young children, they have their differences from the original Hamlet and Ophelia.
I felt sorry for Phillip in this book >_<. I mainly had anger towards his father, though. I mean, Phillip is ELEVEN YEARS OLD! And he is put through his mother getting re-married to his uncle in less than two months after his fathers death, and then dads ghost comes along and says he has to kill him?! I MEAN COME ON. WHAT THE HECK. In the beginning Phillip goes along with everything his father’s ghost tells him. He doesn’t realize until later (after his father’s wrong accusations have gotten him into more problems), that maybe he shouldn't be listening to a ghost, and it may be better to just trust the living. So pretty much throughout this whole book, little Phillip is making decisions that even adults wouldn’t be able to handle gracefully.
At book club (being the reason why I read this book), we discussed what we would each do if we were Phillip. Beforehand, we had each said Phillip wasn’t making the best decisions by floating around in la la land doing whatever daddy told him. But then thinking about it as if it were us, we started to re-think what we said about Phillip =/ So if my dad died and his ghost came back and said in order for him to rest in peace, I had to kill…sayyyy…my uncle Efren, who was meanwhile making moves on my mom…what would I do? Even if my dad was getting me into more problems, he’s still my dad, so you feel kinda obligated to listen. Even then, I don’t think I would go through with any killing, no matter how much I wanted to listen to daddy-o. I don’t have enough guts to murder anyone. So, final verdict...very good book, if you can get past it's "original" way if storytelling. Once you're into it, you won't be putting it down (:
