“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.”
I didn’t really know what to expect when I picked up A Monster Calls. A few friends recommended it to me, and I was a little ambivalent when I read the synopsis. It didn’t speak to me. But when I stumbled across the edition I found, this beautifully illustrated version by Walker Books, I knew I was buying the book. If only for the really beautiful illustrations.
But when I read the book, I fell in love with it.
Conor, the main character, is flawed. And that makes him, for me, a great character. He is a great character study on human beings. This is a child fashioned by the everyday life, shaped by external forces beyond his control, and choices that were his to make. Choices that, we find out as the story goes along, are colored by what he was taught–by the beliefs instilled in him.
Choices that the monster wants Conor to face.
Our main character doesn’t have an easy life. And I really like how author Patrick Ness doesn’t make Conor the typical flawed protagonists who has a naturally good heart. As I said before, Conor is flawed. And that’s what makes me relate more to him than other characters I’ve read, who are going through the same things he is in this book. And that’s what makes the book’s end all the more heartbreaking. Because by the time the book ends, we become Conor.
A Monster Calls tells the story of Conor, but more than that, it tells the story of us. Humans doing human things, feeling human emotions–being human. And being monsters.
This is definitely one of the best books I’ve read in 2012, and I’m very grateful for the friends who recommended this to me. Now, I shall be doing other friends favors by recommending this book to them.
Before I do that though, let us read a few reviews from book blogs across the ‘net:
There’s a Book
The Book Smugglers
Dog-Eared
taking a break 
I loved this one as well, and found it such a thoughtful, moving take on death and loss. Another that resonated with me recently was Pearl Verses the World, a story about the death of a family member told in verse form.
Ooh, verse form. I’ll check it out, but probably not any time soon. Thanks for the reco though, Stephanie 🙂
As for A Monster Calls; I agree with the thoughtful and the moving. Honestly, I did not expect this from Patrick Ness–but I’ve only read three books from the guy, so for all I know, all his books might be thoughtful and moving and the Chaos Walking trilogy was the difference. 😀
I love this book. 🙂 I read it twice and had almost the same reaction even if I already knew what to expect on the second read.
I think I might be the same way. No time to re-read though. So much new books to read right now. 😀
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