A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls

By: Patrick Ness



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.

This book is so much more beautiful than I was anticipating. The imagery, the symbolism, and the emotion floods from the pages. This book is all about how we handle grief, particularly about how children handle grief. And I'm sure everyone can relate to how Conor processed the things happening to him (if not always to the extent of what he goes through).

This is a book that creates a story so vivid and genuinely touching that you feel it in your bones. The artwork is gorgeous, the words are meaningful, and the story is important. A book relevant to everyone who has had to grapple with their own fears and heartbreaks.

The haunting beauty of this book will guarantee that you remember the story far, far, far into the future. This book has the overwhelming potential to change lives, to give readers a vehicle to understanding themselves better.

I can't say enough good things about this book. It's a masterpiece, sewn together with careful precision by everyone who worked on it, the writer and the artist. I adored every second I spent reading it.

A Monster Calls is a stunning work of fiction. Please consider reading it if you haven't yet.

Quotes:

"Stories are wild creatures, the monster said. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?"

"Stories are the wildest things of all, the monster rumbled. Stories chase and bite and hunt."

"It is a true story, the monster said. Many things that are true feel like a cheat. Kingdoms get the princes they deserve, farmer's daughters die for no reason, and sometimes witches merit saving. Quite often, actually. You'd be surprised."

"Belief is half of all healing. Belief in the cure, belief in the future that awaits. And here was a man who lived on belief, but who sacrificed it at the first challenge, right when he needed it most. He believed selfishly and fearfully. And it took the lives of his daughters."

"You be as angry as you need to be," she said. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not your grandma, not your dad, no one. And if you need to break things, then by God, you break the good and hard."

"The answer is that it does not matter what you think, the monster said, because your mind will contradict itself a hundred times each day. You wanted her to go at the same time you were desperate for me to save her. Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.

"You do not write your life with words, the monster said. You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do."