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A review by librarybonanza
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
5.0
Age: High School-Adult
Family: Mom, son
Tough Issue: Cancer, Grief
Awards: 2015 Lincoln nominee
Hot damn. I mean, hot damn. I'm going to make a shelf called "I actually cried" and I think this book will be alone for awhile. Although the cover makes the book appear creepy, and yes, there are monsters and nightmares, this book is not scary or startling and should not fit in the horror genre. If there is horror in this book then it is in the complexities of the human mind.
The book jacket teaser is better than anything I can craft. It is intriguing without giving anything away:
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.
Family: Mom, son
Tough Issue: Cancer, Grief
Awards: 2015 Lincoln nominee
Hot damn. I mean, hot damn. I'm going to make a shelf called "I actually cried" and I think this book will be alone for awhile. Although the cover makes the book appear creepy, and yes, there are monsters and nightmares, this book is not scary or startling and should not fit in the horror genre. If there is horror in this book then it is in the complexities of the human mind.
The book jacket teaser is better than anything I can craft. It is intriguing without giving anything away:
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.
Spoiler
The monster turns out to be a counselor that demands Conor speak the truth before the truth eats him alive. The truth is terrible: Conor wishes that it was all over, that he could just let his mum go and end the waiting game for what he knows is coming. The poetry spoken by the monster is so beautiful and comforting for those that have ever grieved and thought selfish, contradictory thoughts, that "[t]he 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" (191). How do you fight this contradiction? Not with words or thoughts, but with your actions. Breathtaking!It wants the truth.