The Dead Fathers Club (2006)

A fresh, original take on Hamlet. Excellent performance on the audiobook, by a young man the age of the narrator. ( )

Written partially in a stream-of-consciousness style, partly just like a young teen might think-write (and without apostrophes or quotation marks), this is a modern-day version of Hamlet. It is not identical to Shakespeare's play, but certainly based on the play and contains many obvious and subtle references (former: protagonist's father has died and the ghost visits his son; latter: names like the fish, Gertie after Gertrude in the play). The style of writing is not unlike The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime but less on the spectrum. It is quirky but it works really well. Clearly it was carefully crafted, and the stress, horror, conflict of the characters shines through with showing, not telling. Very emotional and clever. It has its own ending and leaves much of the interpreting to the reader. Brilliant. ( )

The Dead Fathers Club are ghosts of Dads in Newark who meet near the Pub because most of them went there because it is the oldest Pub in town.
They dont meet inside because ghosts flicker out more easily inside than outside and it makes no difference when you are a ghost because you dont feel the cold and your legs dont get tired from standing up.

Philip is 11 when his publican father dies in a car crash and the story kicks off when his father's ghost appears to him at his own wake and tells him that he needs to avenge his death. This retelling of Hamlet is set in Newark in Nottinghamshire and told in Philip's own words as he struggles with grief, hatred for his uncle and problems at school while he tries to decide whether he should avenge his father to save him from the Terrors that afflict unavenged ghosts.

The Registry Office looks like nothing.
It is just a building with red bricks that you dont notice. This is on purpose so God doesnt put lightning out of his fingers and kill the people who get married again who lied to him in church. ( )

A Hamlet takeoff, yet enough differences to make the story seem fresh. Even though the protagonist is a bit younger than YA, it seems to fit that genre.

not humorous at all