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    The Radleys: A Novel
    The Radleys: A Novel
    The Radleys: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Radleys: A Novel

    Written by Matt Haig

    Narrated by Toby Leonard Moore

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    From the bestselling author of The Midnight Library, an “irresistible...full of clever turns, darkly hilarious spins...Even if you're suffering from vampire fatigue...The Radleys is a fun, fresh contribution to the genre” (Associated Press).

    Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have—for seventeen years—been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could live normal lives.

    One night, Clara finds herself driven to commit a shocking—and disturbingly satisfying—act of violence, and her parents are forced to explain their history of shadows and lies. A police investigation is launched that uncovers a richness of vampire history heretofore unknown to the general public. And when the malevolent and alluring Uncle Will, a practicing vampire, arrives to throw the police off Clara’s trail, he winds up throwing the whole house into temptation and turmoil and unleashing a host of dark secrets that threaten the Radleys’ marriage.

    The Radleys is a moving, thrilling, and radiant domestic novel that explores with daring the lengths a parent will go to protect a child, what it costs you to deny your identity, the undeniable appeal of sin, and the everlasting, iridescent bonds of family love. Read it and ask what we grow into when we grow up, and what we gain—and lose—when we deny our appetites.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateDec 28, 2010
    ISBN9781442338142
    Author

    Matt Haig

    Matt Haig is the bestselling author of several books including the Alex Award–winning The Radleys, Humans, and The Midnight Library. An alumnus of Hull University and Leeds, his work has been translated into twenty-nine languages. He lives in York with his wife, UK novelist Andrea Semple, and their two children.

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    Reviews for The Radleys

    4/5

    123 ratings51 reviews

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    • 3/5
      A British vampire novel about vampires trying to raise their kids without letting on that they're vampires? Yes please

      This was a fresh new take on the genre, I thought.

      I was initially drawn to the book by the title, thinking it might be some sort of weird 'To Kill a Mockingbird' spin-off concerning Boo Radley and his family - who knows, maybe the title is an allusion to the weirdness of the Radley's in that novel.

      Overall a fun read - it's nothing that's going to change your life, but it's worth the time if you're into this sort of thing. (I am.)
    • 4/5
      Finally, a modern day vampire tale I can endorse. The Radleys are a family of abstainers. They are vampires, but they try to maintain a normal life by abstaining from human blood. That is until circumstances force them into the light, and they must deal with their supernatural thirst and desire. A page-turner, that also satisfies as a smart tale of family togetherness.
    • 3/5
      "I can control myself. Look, for God's sake. Look at everyone. Everyone represses everything. Do you think any of these "normal" human beings really do exactly what they want to do all the time? 'Course not. It's just the same. We're middle-class and we're British. Repression is in our veins." I... don't actually remember a lot about this book. Which probably says it all, to be honest, because normally I'm pretty good as far as bookish memory goes. I started reading it on holiday, finished it back home, and was decidedly disappointed by the whole shebang. Haig seems to be excellent at coming up with quirky book ideas, but sadly this one just doesn't live up to expectations. It's about a family - the titular Radleys - living in Bishopthorpe, the very picture of middle-class suburban life. Father Peter is a doctor, mother Helen hosts dinner parties for the neighbours, siblings Rowan and Clara muddle along at school... life is very, very normal. Except it's not. Because what Rowan and Clara DON'T know is that they're vampires. Abstainers, in fact. They've never thought anything of their taste for meat, getting headaches all the time and having to slather on Factor 50 suncream every day. Then one night, at a party, Clara goes into a kind of blood frenzy and kills a boy. It's time for Helen and Peter to tell them the truth - and, horror of horrors - call in Peter's bloodthirsty non-abstaining brother Will to help with the fallout... Sounds great, doesn't it? And for a while, it was. Probably up until the moment Will helped throw the police off the scent regarding the dead boy. From that point onwards, I wanted the focus to be on the teenagers coping with their new identity and learning about vampire lore. I wanted Peter and Helen to readjust to their children's new-found knowledge, and for the tension between them and Will regarding their blood drinking habits (or lack of) to feed into the way they settled back into family life. Instead, what happened was that the kids seemed to just accept their vampdom and be very enthusiastic about the whole thing, Will's extracurricular activities became a focus, then the whole novel went to hell in a handbasket with a confusing love triangle, a sudden complete 180-degree turnaround for one of the characters, a bit of rather cliched romance, some rather confused mid-air fighting (no, really) and a truly horrible climax. There WERE some really clever elements to Haig's vampiric world. The Sheridan Society, for example, are a group of elite vampires... points for the literary in-joke, right there. Famous vampires have included everyone from Jimi Hendrix (naturally) to Byron (who faked his death and is now DJing in Ibiza with Thomas De Quincey as 'Don Juan and DJ Opium'). The text is littered with quotes from The Abstainer's Handbook, and there is a handy Abstainer's Glossary at the back of the book. The strangeness of life as a vampire is beautifully evoked at times, like this revelation about the way nature falls silent around them, which I found strangely moving: "Rowan nods, knowing he could never tell her he has only ever heard birdsong online, or that he and Clara once spent a good hour watching video footage of chirping sedge warblers and chaffinches, nearly in tears."But... I'm sorry, but the jumble that is the rest of the novel really ruined the whole experience for me. I wanted so much to love it, but it turned out to be what the delightful descriptive word 'meh' was made for. I kept reading, don't get me wrong - the chapters are short and easy to plough through - but I was hugely disappointed. I think the problem is that Haig just doesn't seem to know what he wants the book to BE. Is it a comedic novel, as the hype implies? Is it a horror story? Is it a family drama? Or a romance? Some novels could fit all of these things in and it would work fine, but in this case it just distorts the plot and characters, so that every time I thought I'd got a handle on it, it would pull away in another direction. Bottom line? I just didn't gel with this one. It was confusing and forgettable and generally not what the ringing endorsements on the cover suggested it would be, and I had hoped for so much more. I have humungously high hopes for The Humans, however, so... fingers crossed the next review'll be a rave.
    • 5/5
      This book is excellent on different levels. I liked the morals and dilemmas faced, the great characterisation, and the fact that did you didn?t know quite where the story was going. By that, I mean, you knew where it should go, but not quite how it would get there without the sharp turns and twists seen in modern thrillers. A very different read, and refreshingly well written without being contrived.
    • 5/5
      The Radleys is not your typical vampire story, like the Cullen family in twilight they are what you call a ?vegan? vampire. They don?t eat or drink human blood. They try to live as normal as possible because the parentsHelen and Peter Radley vowed to never go back to their old lifestyle which includes hunting humans and drinking their blood to make them feel ecstatic and alive. And also because they don?t want their kids to know thatthey are vampires.They live in the suburbs, drives an SUV and they have a normal lifestyle like everybody else in their village. Until one tragic night their daughter was out at a party and some guy tried to take advantage of her, then theunexpected happened. She turned into a vampire uncontrolably and she had her first human kill, she was so frightened and clueless as to what was happening to her and after that one tragic night everything she thinks sheknew was all a lie. Her identity, and life as she knows it was one big lie. And that?s where the story began..This book is all about family bonds, and how parents would go through such extremes for their children. Relationships will be tested in the face of lies and deceit, even if the truth is a bitter pill to swallow nothing canreally test the love parents have for their little ones. This is a good book to share with family, or on a lazy afternoon. The story line and characters supports each other which makes it a very terrific book. Lots of morallessons and it is a fun book. This book definitely made me think of vampires in a new perspective, they can be fun and that not all vampire stories are dark and scary.
    • 4/5
      A [fill in the genre] with vampires (or zombies or fallen angels or werewolves or all of the above) has become a norm in current literature. I keep trying to decide what that says about the times, but the best I can come up with is that we're just as obsessed with death and sex as the Victorians (and just as twisted about them, too). The Radleys is a suburban domestic drama with vampires. Think David Lynch's Blue Velvet meets John Updike with a little excursion through Shirley Jackson.Like all angst-ridden novels of suburbia the Radleys are bored with their choices, hiding themselves and their impulses, cheating their children of their real lives. Their marriage is stale, their lives are stale, their neighbors are stale - it's all just a little too bloodless.It is to Matt Haig's great credit that he has a wonderful sense of humor. He understands his setting and its cliches, but by populating it with vampires he both satirizes and cannibalizes it for everything its worth. Terse, thoughtful, witty, and dark - all told a fun read.
    • 5/5
      Goodreads Description:Meet the Radleys Peter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in an English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secret From one of Britain?s finest young novelists comes a razor-sharp unpicking of adulthood and family life. In this moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of one unusual family, The Radleys asks what we grow into when we grow up, and explores what we gain ? and lose ? when we deny our appetites.I'm never really sure what I'm going to find when I open a Matt Haig book, but one thing is for sure, I've never been disappointed. I truly enjoyed this book. It is so not your typical vampire book. The Radleys are a modern soap opera typical, slightly dysfunctional family, with one unique quality - they're vampires. Haig has created a witty, engaging story that keeps the reader engrossed from the first page. In a time when everyone is writing vampire stories, Haig has managed to join the game but with a unique twist. The familiar family dynamics between Helen and Peter Radley, and between the parents and the children, Clare and Rowan keep it from too vampy. It's a very good read and I, for one, would love to read more about the Radleys.One of the reviews I read on Amazon suggested that there are two versions of this book: one written for adults and one for teens. I couldn't find any word elsewhere of there being two different versions, but I did find talk about a movie based on the book. Hmm! I'm always skeptical of movies based on books, but I'm sure I'd add this one to my must see list.
    • 5/5
      Ok when I heard this book was going to be reviewd on Channel 4 'tv book club' I was like alot of people in thinking "oh no not another vampire book just what I don't need to read". But after watching the reviews and discussions on the program I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunatly I was unable to take it as my holiday read as apparently everyone else had the same idea as me and the book had sold out in all the airport book shops! But I must say that when I finally got hold of a copy I was not dissapointed. it had me hooked from the word go. It was funny, the excepts form 'The Abstainers Handbook' and the information about famous vampires through the ages were a brilliant idea. The way the book divided into very short chapters meant that it raced along and if family life hadn't got in the way I am sure I could have read it in a couple of days. It also had me caring about the characters and I really wanted to see how they would cope with the situations that they faced. Another plus was they didn't 'sparkle', and weren't written about in glowing terms as being 'beautiful' unlike some other vampire books that I do not wish to mention. All in all a very fun read.
    • 3/5
      "If blood is the answer, you are asking the wrong question."The Radleys are just another family in Bishopthorpe: Clara, the vegetarian teenager who doesn't understand why animals flee from her; Rowan, besotted with the girl a few streets over, whose dad really doesn't like the Radleys; and Ma and Pa Radley - stuck in standard stereotypical middle-class marital strife. Only problem: they're vampiric abstainers, trying to live a human life and avoiding blood consumption.I really wanted to enjoy The Radleys, Matt Haig's gentle satire of the vampire craze that has swept the literary world. Maybe my lack of prior offences with vampire books was the reason for my lukewarm reaction; often a parody is only funny if you are familiar with the object of the humour (is this why I didn't like Northanger Abbey?).Also - there was a whole lot of blood. This might be standard for vampire novels, and I'm no stranger to gory crime scenes from my steady thriller diet, but somehow this was far too graphic.Haig has a really clever idea here and I'm sure that those more familiar with the vampiric genre would derive great enjoyment from the subtle and unsubtle snarks that Haig drops all over the place, but it just wasn't for me.
    • 5/5
      Don?t let the next sentences turn you off this book, for I thought it was brilliantly original and I loved it. It is being given the full crossover novel treatment with a young adult edition, however I firmly believe that it is an adult book (pictured) that teens will enjoy rather than the other way around. It also features vampires?Matt Haig is an expert at subverting normal family life in his novels. His tragicomedy The Last Family in England, (published as ?The Labrador pact? in the US), told the story of a family in freefall from the PoV of the family dog ? who sees everything and understands more (and less) than you?d expect, and is in turns very funny and terribly sad.In The Radleys he takes another very different look at family life. Peter, a rather world-weary doctor, and his frustrated artist wife Helen, live in a Yorkshire town with their teenaged children, Clara and Rowan. To all outward purposes they are a totally normal dysfunctional family, but Peter and Helen have a big secret ? they?re vampires, and what?s more, their children don?t know! However the Radleys are ?abstainers? ? non-practising vampires; since their children were born, they?ve been models of restraint, relying on a diet full of red meat, but now they?re up against teenagers with hormones, and Clara is trying to become a Vegan??I?m worried about Clara,? Helen says, handing Peter his lunchbox. ?She?s only been vegan a week and she?s clearly getting ill. What if it triggers something??He has hardly heard her. He is just staring downwards, contemplating the dark chaos inside his briefcase. ?There?s so much flaming crap in here.??Peter, I?m worried about Clara.?Peter puts two pens in the bin. ?I?m worried about her. I?m very worried about her. But it?s not like I?m allowed to offer a solution, is it??Helen shakes her head. ?Not this, Peter. Not now. This is serious. I just wish we could try and be adult about this. I want to know what you think we should do.?He sighs. ?I think we should tell her the truth.??What??He takes a deep breath of the stifling kitchen air. ?I think it is the right time to tell the children.?However before they get round to it, something happens that will rock this family to the bottom of its foundations and everything changes.While there is plenty of dark comedy in this novel, there is also blood ? gallons of it. At the heart of the story however is the family, with the parents in the grip of mid-life crises and the children coming of age, tricky at the best of times, and not helped by the arrival of Will, Peter?s vampire brother. Also running throughout the book are extracts from the non-practising vampire self-help manual ?The Abstainer?s Handbook?, which is like a twelve-step programme for bloodsuckers. Blood is the drug, and this makes the vampire hunters the equivalent of the drug squad and junkies? families.This book is a brilliant take on all the pressures upon modern suburban families. It?s dark, it?s funny, it?s wildly original; it was also easy to read and I loved it. If you?ve been suffering from vampire fatigue, this could be the antidote, and you?ll always wonder what your neighbours are up to! (9/10) I requested this book from the publisher ? thank you to Canongate.
    • 2/5
      I didn't find anything enjoyable with this.
    • 4/5
      The Radleys is unlike any vampire book I have ever read. It is a family saga and could be written about many English families, if those families happen to be vampires. It is the relationships within the family that truly matter - between husband and wife, parent and child, between two brothers. It is the discovery of a family secret that changes lives and redirects many paths. The Radleys is nothing like Twilight or True Blood or urban fantasy novels featuring vampires. There is much less action and more introspection. There are moral questions and a strong attempt to blend in to the unblood English society.Told in short chapters with shifting focus, The Radleys is a dark examination of life in English suburbia when keeping the family secret is held more closely than anything else. If you are a fan of all things English and vampires, I highly recommend The Radleys. I found it a delightfully dark change of pace from the other types of vampires stories that seem to be taking over books and movies these days.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this despite the fact that I'm getting tired of vampires.
    • 5/5
      The Radleys are just a simple family trying to fit in to their suburban English community. Unfortunately, some of their ways are difficult to disguise--especially when Peter's unpredictable brother Will comes for a visit. There's The Abstainer's Handbook to guide them with helpful words such as "If the answer is blood, you are asking the wrong question." But the Handbook isn't enough when young Clara must fight off a rapist.Mom and Dad have a secret that they've not yet told the kids--they are all vampires! No wonder Clara becomes deathly ill when she tries a vegan diet--she must have meat to stay healthy!The vampire family struggling to fit into a normal English suburban community--too funny! The characters are well-developed, the satire is great, the vampire lore throughout (which was almost enough to make a believer of me! Michael Jackson! Jimi Hendrix? Hah!) All the characters grow and change through the week we spend with them, even the terrible next door neighbors!Although the book is ostensibly about marital problems, the children are not vague bystanders, but integral parts of the story. Nicely done, Mr. Haig!
    • 4/5
      The Radleys is a story about a family, living in denial and deceit, learning to tell the truth. This vampire family is not so different from most in their small suburb, yearning to fit in, Peter and Clara find themselves becoming more distant, Rowan and Clara, their teenage children, are bullied and sickly.
    • 4/5
      The Radleys could be your average family: mother, father, brother, and sister. They have some unusual problems, but nothing they think they aren't handling just fine. Except for just one not-so-minor thing -- the Radleys are vampires. With the current literary focus on vampire stories, I wasn't sure I would like this one. I'm no fan of the Twilight series or books similar to those. In fact, my book snobbery comes out in discussions about the current trend in vamp-lit because what I've read of it could have been written with crayons by a third grader. Fortunately Matt Haig is no third grader. He has written a story I found convincing about a family who happen to be vampires but have to deal with situations lots of living people have. I mean, what other literary vampire has to put up with bullying on a pretty intense scale? I'd recommend The Radleys to anyone who likes stories that are a little offbeat but still have heart.
    • 1/5
      In trying to dissect the inner lives of repressed vampires, there is absolutely no reflection on the losses of their victims. Cartoonish, but of the nasty sort.
    • 3/5
      When you read a mystery thriller book, you expect to be kept on the edge of your seat and to want to keep turning the pages long into the night. When I went into reading this book, that is not what happened for me. I read the description on the book and was excited about a new mystery book available to review, filled with family secrets. However, upon opening the book and reading through it, I was quite disappointed to see that it was a vampire-like story. Definitely not what I usually read. Oh, don't get me wrong. I will, from time to time, read a book outside my favorite genres because every author deserves a chance. And, so, I delved into this book with hopes that it wouldn't be "just another vampire story" that I so don't like to read. To my surprise, while definitely NOT my absolutely all time favorite book, it was an alright book. I wouldn't keep it on my bookshelf though. I found that the plot, was indeed, well written and interesting. The characters really fit the roles that they played in this story. The complexity of the vampire-likeness of the novel, was so much more than in past vampire-y novels that I have read. The author truly has a talent for writing this style of book. Would I recommend this book to everyone? No. Would I recommend this book to those who love vampire novels and fantasies? Most definitely. Would I read it again? No, simply because this is not my usual taste in books. Does it deserve a fair rating? Of course. The author deserves high kudos for talent and the book deserves 3 stars for being well written.
    • 2/5
      "Are you going to read this?" "Why wouldn't I? - it's by Matt Haig and I loved The Humans" "But it's a vampire book" "Oh I'm sure he does something clever with the idea" - thus went the conversation in our house, I should have heeded the implied warning. This is a not terribly well written load of nonsense.
    • 5/5
      ?I loved this book. That perfect combination of fast paced, well plotted easy reading, but with deep themes and insights on the human condition. Repression and secrets and how we control our urges and how denying our urges stops us being who we truly are. And how maybe, somewhere in the middle, if we're lucky, there's a balancing act that will get us through.
    • 4/5
      Now this is a vampire story I do like. Written in our everyday world, good people who try to live alongside the rest of the world. It certainly does all go wrong but it is written in such a way that the reader can identify with some elements like fitting in, after all we all do our best to fit in as human beings. Many of us suffer with allergies, okay maybe not quite so specific and with a strong need to hide said allergies! Uncle Will is the typical rogue needed to liven up this law abiding family and bring out their secrets. Funny, witty, a good read.
    • 2/5
      The Radleys are a normal suburban family with the typical problems such families have in novels: the parents live meaningless and boring lives and feel trapped and stifled by their marriage but don't have the courage to do anything about it, while their teenagers are disaffected and self-absorbed. They're also vampires, which I thought would add excitement and interest. 174 pages in, and this hope was not met. Instead it was page after page of characters' boring internal workings as they wish for connection and excitement. I skimmed the rest of the book; a lot of stuff apparently happens, but none of it gripped me. And I was disappointed that each of the Radleys end up embracing their vampire sides and giving up on being abstainers.

      People who like literary fiction would probably like this book a lot more than I did. As fantasy stories go, I found it completely unsatisfying. I didn't care about the characters, I didn't like the minutia-obsessed writing style, and I didn't like the undercurrent of disdain for normal life that I felt running through it.
    • 4/5
      I won this book from the Goodreads First Reads program.The Radleys are a normal, boring upper middle class British family, with one tiny difference: they are vampires. When Helen and Peter Radley get married and find out Helen is pregnant, they decide that they are going to leave their wild and crazy blood-filled life behind and follow the rules from The Abstainer's Handbook: integrate, integrate, integrate! If you get the urge to drink blood, work out! Or do the dishes, or some other mundane chore. Their children, Clara and Rowan, have no idea that they are vampires, they just think they are always tired and have chronic headaches (and in Rowan's case a terrible skin condition) because they have a vitamin deficiency. That is, until Clara is being physically attacked by a bully from her school, and she fights back by chomping into him! Their parents are forced to tell them the truth and call Will, Peter's very active blood-drinking vampire brother, to help them out. That's when their carefully constructed plans all come apart at the seams. From Goodreads: "One night, Clara finds herself driven to commit a shocking?and disturbingly satisfying?act of violence, and her parents are forced to explain their history of shadows and lies. A police investigation is launched that uncovers a richness of vampire history heretofore unknown to the general public. And when the malevolent and alluring Uncle Will, a practicing vampire, arrives to throw the police off Clara?s trail, he winds up throwing the whole house into temptation and turmoil and unleashing a host of dark secrets that threaten the Radleys? marriage."I wasn't sure what to expect from the book because it is listed, per the author, as a "domestic drama." And in essence, that's what it is. The fact that they are vampires is almost secondary to the fact that they are doing everything in their power to be good, constructive members of society. Peter is a doctor, and Helen belongs to the weekly book club. But vampires they are, and no matter how much they try to hide it, it doesn't change the facts. I thought Matt Haig did an excellent job blending these two things. This isn't your average vampire book by any means, but in this case, it definitely works. As you watch their carefully constructed world fall apart piece by piece, you are drawn into the story. There is a nice little back story going on about how Helen was converted into vampirism, and this too works nicely to flesh out the story. The characters definitely grow and change throughout the story, and I was very happy with the ending! In summary, this is a very good book, and I definitely recommend it for vampire book lovers who are looking for something a little bit different to sink their teeth into :D
    • 4/5
      THE RADLEYS, by Matt Haig, paves its own road in the vampire genre. The Radley's are a family of vampires who choose to abstain from human blood in an attempt to fit in better with humans. But when the Radley children discover their supernatural lineage, this family questions their role in society.I really enjoyed this book. I loved each and every character. The structure of the book was unique in that many POVs were explored to get a wider scope on this character-driven plot. When Clara Radley kills unexpectedly, she creates a ripple effect all around her. This brings in the police (where in this universe Radley created, knows about vampires but kept very hush hush), friends of the victim, and a banished Radley family member who shares a dark past with Helen Radley.The family dynamic in this book was not unlike a human family having issues, but the supernatural aspect added to the tension. Peter and Helen's marriage had been failing for a long time and the strain of abstaining added to the strain. Clara and Rowan were unpopular in school and being enlightened to their genetics did not help one bit. And for as much as I felt I was supposed to hate Will, he was my favorite character. He reminded me of the 'cool uncle' type and I anticipated when his cockiness would get him into serious trouble. I liked Haig's 'take' on vampires. The lore surrounding how they are changed and how they react to blood was interesting and unique. Another thing I appreciated was the setting and feel of the UK. The sarcasm and tone that is prevalent in UK novels was definitely present and added to my love for this book. Overall, it was a great story and definitely should be on a TBR list of anyone who is a fan of vampires and wants a new perspective.
    • 3/5
      This was a pretty good book and a quick read. An interesting and different take on the whole vampire craze.
    • 3/5
      The Radleys book coverThis book was completely not what I was expecting. I picked it up last year in a book sale, recognising it as a title my big sister had mentioned, in passing, as being quite a good read. This is the blurb:"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."...which I managed to read as "They look like a normal family! But actually, they're vampires! Hilarity and wacky consequences ensue!" That, and the quotes on the cover from Vogue and the Daily Mail pronouncing it to be "great fun" and "addictive" led me to believe that this would be a kind of black-comedy chick-lit, with vampires. That was... not quite the case.First off, I have to say I did enjoy this book. The tone was just not what I was expecting, which threw me. I wouldn't describe it as black comedy after all - although there were a few lines that made me smile (the part where Will is reminiscing about his and Peter's parents, and "the time they brought a freshly killed department store Santa Claus home for their midnight Christmas feast", stood out as a wonderfully vicious throwaway line), the tone overall was surprisingly serious. I couldn't quite decide whether the writer wanted you to take the book seriously, or if it was just meant as a parody of the current craze for vampire novels. Apart from the fact of their being vampires, the Radleys are portrayed as a fairly stock "dysfunctional family" - the bullied son, the self-conscious daughter, and the husband and wife stuck in a loveless marriage and gradually drifting apart from each other. None of the characters exactly had tons of depth, but I wouldn't expect that from a light read like this. They were all quite likeable, particularly the son, Rowan, who reminded me a bit of a vampire Adrian Mole.I found the uncle, Will, a practising vampire (i.e. he still kills people, unlike the rest of the abstaining Radleys) the most interesting character in the book. Haig pulls off the unlikely feat of making this cold-blooded murderer seem like quite a decent bloke, sympathetic even - for most of the book, at least. The descriptions of, and references to, his killings were much more graphic and brutal than I had expected - not a bad thing at all though, I like my vampires vicious!This book attempts a tricky balancing act between gentle suburban dysfunctional family tropes on the one hand, and proper bloody horror on the other, and almost succeeds. The thing that let it down for me really was the ending, which I found a bit unsatisfying: it felt far too contrived for me, too neat. That's a small criticism though for a book that otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed reading.And hey, look: I managed to write a whole review of a vampire novel without referring to it as "a story with real bite" or "a book to sink your teeth into"!Verdict: 3/5
    • 2/5
      I just don't get Matt Haig. I've read two of his books now, the other was "Humans", and contrary to the above Book Descriptions I don't find him "hilarious" nor most of the other things some cited authors have blurbed. This isn't a funny book, nor is it at all witty. I don't agree with any of the myriad mini-plot summaries proposed - I think "The Radleys" is all about the temptations that all of us confront every day of our lives, and our inability to just say "no" - and the consequences. From drugs, sex, alcohol, eating too much, spending too much, blah, blah, blah. We are weak, we are all vampires. We must satisfy our cravings. Doesn't sound "hilarious" to me. Cleverly told as a vampire tale. Points for that. But I didn't like his characters at all. Not one. Minus points for that, big negative. Hard to like a book, feel eager to pick it up again, if you don't care about the outcome for any of them.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyed the book it was very sweet. Started to slow a little but then picked right back up.
    • 4/5
      A novel of suburban angst, about a middle-aged couple, Peter and Helen, who are bored with their tepid existence where one Friday ?is practically indistinguishable from the last thousand or so.? Their two children, high schoolers name Rowan and Clara, are just as unhappy. The difference between this and any other similar novel about suburban boredom is that the Radleys?and this is not giving anything away?are vampires. Following the rules in a volume called The Abstainer?s Handbook they have chosen to live quietly among humans and forego the drinking of human blood. Even their children do not know of their dark heritage, until the night when a drunken school bully tries to force himself on her and she accidentally eviscerates him. Haig?s clever twist on a old theme is fun and unique, and he manages to quickly dismiss the usual, tired vampire myths like crosses and mirrors, and focuses more on the philosophical problems of how, or even if, a basically abnormal family can quell their instincts in order to live on a quiet little place on Orchard Lane. There are a lot of ethical considerations behind this choice, as the adult Radleys are aware. Is it best for them to deny their instincts in order to live a ?normal? life? Is it possible to be ?a little bit? vampiric without going the whole nine pints?er? yards? The chapters are very short, and I found the author?s writing style to be just a little bland at times, as if he were trying to mirror Orchard Lane?s sense of droll order in his writing so that the moments of horror might create the same sense of shock in the reader as they do in the Radley?s once-insulated world. The Radleys is less a ?vampire? novel than it is a statement about what happens when we repress our true natures.
    • 3/5
      I picked this up at the library thinking it was probably a "spin-off" of To Kill a Mockingbird. Why not? Somebody should surely have written the story of Mr. Arthur's tormented life by now, right? Well, it ain't that. It's about a dysfunctional family, sure enough, though. I'm not sure why I sank my teeth into it at all after reading the cover blurbs....I thought I was finished with Wampyres long ago. But this turned out to be a decent junk food read that kept me turning pages even though the writing is nothing special and the story line is somewhat predictable once you get the set-up. Which is this: over the centuries a lot of well-known artists (as well as "ordinary people") have been vampires (who prefer the term "blood addicts" for some reason), some of whom have chosen to abstain from the practice of blood-sucking. Among these, we are meant to believe, were Bram Stoker himself, a good many rock musicians (nod to Ann Rice), and pretty much all English Romantic Poets except Wordsworth. Abstinence from blood-drinking is a path much much harder to follow than celibacy, for instance, as there are fairly extreme physical obstacles to be overcome. The Radleys are an old vampire family, whose current members include wild Will (definitely NOT an abstainer): his brother Peter, Peter's wife Helen, and their two misfit teenage children who have been kept ignorant of their true nature for 17 years. Naturally, no story would ensue if SOMETHING didn't happen to reveal the secret. The whole thing feels slightly satirical, and ends with a message---to thine own self be true, even if it means slugging back a pint of VB from time to time. Points for the vampire vocabulary, which includes "bram" (originally an acronym for Blood Resister's Animal Meat), VIB (Very Important Blood, of course) and UPU, the Unnamed Predator Unit of the Manchester police force, which knows all about the vampire culture, and strives to "limit its socially and morally destructive activities" by highly unconventional means. More points for references to the Booker Prize and Hay-on-Wye. Still, not something I'm recommending highly to my friends, at 21/2 stars.