A Monster Calls (Book reaction)

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to another blog post. Today I am going to talk about “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness. If you have never heard of “A Monster Calls” never fear, I have the lowdown right. So, this novel was published in 2011. I had never heard of this novel until I saw the trailer for the film adaption of the novel of the same name. When I first saw the trailer it gripped me emotionally and made me very excited to see it. I soon discovered it was a book and was curious about the original source material. I had the pleasure of reading this novel in the last two days and was instantly gripped by the emotionally raw portrait of a young boy’s journey of self-discovery and the pain of letting go of those you love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the official synopsis on goodreads:

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his         nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her                             treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild.                 And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

 

One thing this book does well is create a great sense of realism about what it’s like coping with a mother who has been threatened with life-threating illness. Something I have experienced myself, I was easily able to relate to some of the feelings Conor experiences throughout the novel. While I have never been bullied like Connor or saying ‘the truth’ Conor ultimately has to speak, I can relate to the isolation of adults in particular, but also other kids not knowing how to show compassion about the circumstance you find yourself in.

This section, in particular, jumped out at me when I read it:

“The teachers in his new year were even worse because they only knew him in terms of his mother and not who he was before. And the other kids still treated him like he was the one who was ill”.

I won’t give anything else away from this novel as it’s a book worth experiencing but I highly recommend this novel if you enjoy coming-of-age stories.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post and I can’t wait to see the movie when it hits cinemas in Australia. 😀

Until next time, enjoy your week and Godspeed.

 

Link to the song written for the “A Monster Calls” film which I love:

 

Soundtrack link:

 

Link to the movie trailer: