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The Radleys

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The Radleys

By: Matt Haig
Narrated by: Mark Meadows
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NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING DAMIAN LEWIS AND KELLY MACDONALD

FAMILIES. SOMETIMES THEY'RE A BLOODY NIGHTMARE . . .


Life with the Radleys: Radio 4, dinner parties with the Bishopthorpe neighbours and self-denial. Loads of self-denial. But all hell is about to break loose. When teenage daughter Clara gets attacked on the way home from a party, she and her brother Rowan finally discover why they can't sleep, can't eat a Thai salad without fear of asphyxiation and can't go outside unless they're smothered in Factor 50.

With a visit from their lethally louche Uncle Will and an increasingly suspicious police force, life in Bishopthorpe is about to change. Drastically. Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction
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Typical Haig… dark humour, witty, moving, fun! Once I took the time to actually get into I thoroughly enjoyed the family drama with a vampire twist.

Can’t believe how much I loved this

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Loved this book! More so than The Midnight Library which became a little repetitive.
The Radleys and The Humans have to be Haigs best books 👍

Loved it

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I didn’t realise the subject matter at first or I probably wouldn’t have read it, however I actually enjoyed this book.

A good listen

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I've read lots of Matt Haig's later books and I'm not really a 'vampire stories' reader, but I really enjoyed this! Quirky, interesting and clever story line

A real surprise!

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Okay. Clearly aimed at the teenage market, this is an easy read and a bit of undemanding, lighthearted fun but nothing really original.
There are some amusing ideas relating to garlic, vampirism in popular culture and some nicely detailed descriptions that help you to visualise scenes but it isn’t among Matt Haig’s best work. As a writer however, he has made himself difficult to live up to with some of his previous books, such as The Midnight Library, which was just fabulous so this ‘pales’ in comparison, excuse the pun.

The narration was enjoyable and appropriately camp (vamp) with clearly defined vocal performances for each individual character.

There were a couple of plot holes or lingering questions that I found irritating… mainly regarding Helen’s history and her ‘secret’, which surely wasn’t a secret at all?! I may have missed something fundamental but I couldn’t understand how Peter could not have known about his wife. The revelations were far too obvious. I was also confused about their lifespans. Everyone knows that vampires are immortal (or live very long lives) and yet these characters seem to have very average aging / reproductive patterns etc. It felt like a missed opportunity to not have exaggerated their timelines a little more, for example have the children in a perpetual state of youth while their classmates go through puberty. It didn’t make sense that the family would be able to settle down and stay in one place when the only way to remain incognito would be to keep moving.

I was entertained, not enchanted but I do think I would have loved this story when I was about 11, so the Audible platform might not be the best representation of target audience.

Family friendly and a lot more conventional than the Radleys themselves

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