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A review by izzalice
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don't quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there's a visitor at his window. It's ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.
Before she died of breast cancer in 2007, children's author Siobhan Dowd had the idea for A Monster Calls which Patrick Ness wrote in her memory.
I listened to this in pretty much one sitting while I was ill in bed and bawled my eyes out multiple times in the span of 3 hours. This is a fantastic and hard-hitting book about grief, anger, being truthful to yourself, and about how life just isn't bloody fair.
My heart ached for Conor the entire way through, not just with his experiences but also with my own. Grief- particularly grief surrounding cancer- is something that a devastating amount of us can relate to.
This story is visceral and heart-wrenching. A Monster Calls brilliantly conceptualises grief and big emotions in a way that is so important in young adult literature.
“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 them good and hard."
Before she died of breast cancer in 2007, children's author Siobhan Dowd had the idea for A Monster Calls which Patrick Ness wrote in her memory.
I listened to this in pretty much one sitting while I was ill in bed and bawled my eyes out multiple times in the span of 3 hours. This is a fantastic and hard-hitting book about grief, anger, being truthful to yourself, and about how life just isn't bloody fair.
My heart ached for Conor the entire way through, not just with his experiences but also with my own. Grief- particularly grief surrounding cancer- is something that a devastating amount of us can relate to.
This story is visceral and heart-wrenching. A Monster Calls brilliantly conceptualises grief and big emotions in a way that is so important in young adult literature.
“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 them good and hard."