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tanja_alina_berg 's review for:
A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
It was immediately apparent that this was a book I would love. I could feel the weight of it gathering as I continued reading, mesmerized. A monster comes calling on Conor. It's not the one he's been waiting for, so although the monster is big and scary and could devour him, he's not frightened. Not until the monster demands to tell him three stories, and in return, to hear the truth. The truth about the monster Conor is truly frightened of.
Conor's mother has cancer and she's slipping away. He's bullied at school and scoffs at the help of his one remaining friend. The other people shun him like he has the plague. Conor's father is mostly absent, having started a new family across the ocean. So this is the story of a brave young boy facing up to life and its contradictions much sooner than most have to.
The monster's stories are not to Conor's liking. Their endings are not apparent and there are no "lessons" in the sense that he thought. Although there are lessons - people are neither purely good nor purely evil, but a mixture of the two. Accepting and articulating the truth that lies behind our self deception is something most of us never accomplish.
This book has more to say about life than all the psychology and self help books there are. It is a brilliant achievement on so many levels I cannot possibly review it justly.
Conor's mother has cancer and she's slipping away. He's bullied at school and scoffs at the help of his one remaining friend. The other people shun him like he has the plague. Conor's father is mostly absent, having started a new family across the ocean. So this is the story of a brave young boy facing up to life and its contradictions much sooner than most have to.
The monster's stories are not to Conor's liking. Their endings are not apparent and there are no "lessons" in the sense that he thought. Although there are lessons - people are neither purely good nor purely evil, but a mixture of the two. Accepting and articulating the truth that lies behind our self deception is something most of us never accomplish.
This book has more to say about life than all the psychology and self help books there are. It is a brilliant achievement on so many levels I cannot possibly review it justly.