The Last Family In England - Book Group discussion thread

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westmoors Jan 2019 7:16am, 28 Jan 2019 3,036 posts	0 westmoors Having read back, I agree the characters were dull. Hadn't really noticed the Shakespeare connection and I studied Henry IV Part 1 for O level English! Agree with McGoo about taking a dog on an abseiling trip. I did wonder who was going to climb back up to collect him!
McGoohan Jan 2019 8:16am, 28 Jan 2019 38,070 posts	0 McGoohan I was thinking about this. I know Malham Cove quite well. There's a large 'staircase' to the left made by the council/National Park which winds round. Even so it's very steep and it takes a while to get to the top. Logically, they would have left the dog tethered at the bottom - if they'd taken him at all - then walked up and set up the abseiling gear, abseiled down and collected the dog. Of course someone would have had to go back up anyway for the equipment. Even so, the top of Malham Cove is limestone pavement: even a tethered dog here would be at danger of slipping and breaking a leg. You just wouldn't do it. The dog is only there so it can bite through the ropes. It makes no sense at all.
Serendippily Jan 2019 8:50am, 28 Jan 2019 11,237 posts	0 Serendippily The whale eating a boiled egg at the end of night birds in Nantucket did marvels for my ability to suspend disbelief it’s become the yardstick by which the feasibility of all other plots are judged
McGoohan Jan 2019 8:53am, 28 Jan 2019 38,071 posts	0 McGoohan Spoilers!
LindsD Jan 2019 8:53am, 28 Jan 2019 26,142 posts	0 LindsD Yeah. WE were OK with talking dogs but not with abseiling irregularities...
McGoohan Jan 2019 9:06am, 28 Jan 2019 38,073 posts	0 McGoohan But of course... It's reminded me of the story Mark Kermode tells - he went to see the ultra-weird David Lynch film Eraserhead when it came out with a friend. At one point, his friend leaned over and said, 'Well, that would never happen' as if any of the rest of it would!
postieboy Jan 2019 4:59pm, 31 Jan 2019 5,676 posts	0 postieboy Right, last day of the month so time to explain my choice and own personal thoughts on The Last Family In England. I chose this book, not because it's a favourite of mine but to see what your reactions would be, especially the ending. Matt Haig must have been going through a bad patch in life to write such a melancholy story with a nasty twist at the end to really leave a bad taste. The first thing I did after finishing was to find a palette cleanser to cheer myself up! Checking Out by Nick Spalding if you're interested, he writes some very funny stories. Part of me regrets not choosing The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro as it is a book on a different level to this one but like I said a month ago, I wanted to choose a fast read which wouldn't eat into everyone's reading time.
LindsD Jan 2019 6:13pm, 31 Jan 2019 26,184 posts	0 LindsD That's interesting, pb. Thanks for sharing that. You are right about the nasty taste.
Diogenes Jan 2019 7:11pm, 31 Jan 2019 34,121 posts	0 Diogenes Pb, your reasons for choosing this book are almost identical to mine for choosing The Humans, the first ever book group book, also by Matt Haig. I’d read it and really wanted to hear other opinions on it as I really wasn’t sure what mine were.
Night-owl Jan 2019 7:24pm, 31 Jan 2019 32,303 posts	0 Night-owl It was OK even though you knew how it was going to end but not necessarily why. I liked it to an extent. I don't know if anyone follows him on twitter but he talks a lot about mental health and is a supporter in helping others thus so, Yes postie I reckon it could have been written when he was going through a tough time, this was also the first book he had published