From the Bookshelf of Between the Covers…

A Monster Calls

Patrick Ness,

Jim Kay (Illustrator)

Start date: May 5, 2014

Finish date: May 26, 2014

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A Monster Calls *Finished Reading*
By Cynthia · 8 posts · 4 views

last updated May 11, 2014 03:02PM

We Have Always Lived in the Castle *Currently Reading
By Cynthia · 3 posts · 3 views

last updated May 11, 2014 03:01PM

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May 01, 2020 Melanie Brinkman added it

Shelves: own-n, fiction

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

Every night at 7 past midnight, a monster walks out of Connor's nightmare, but it's not the one he expected. Why has this one come the calling when his mother's illness spawns its own horrors?

It's ancient. It's wild. And wants something from him. But what if that something is he cannot lose?

A story of a boy and the monster that calls through his dreams. sometimes the very things that "Stories are wild creatures," says the monster. "When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak."

Every night at 7 past midnight, a monster walks out of Connor's nightmare, but it's not the one he expected. Why has this one come the calling when his mother's illness spawns its own horrors?

It's ancient. It's wild. And wants something from him. But what if that something is he cannot lose?

A story of a boy and the monster that calls through his dreams. sometimes the very things that cause the most pain are also the things that bring us the most relief.

POTENTIALLY SPOILERY TRIGGER WARININGS for ************ grief, illness of a parent, cancer, divorce, bullying, death, murder, mention of sick children, and violence.************

Desperate, grief-stricken Conor was living in an inescapable nightmare even as he tried to stop its close. Isolating despair ran rampant around the young soul as he faced the inevitable. I longed to give this lonely, courageous boy a hug.

From a storytelling tree, to a mother trying to spare her son, to a brash grandmother anxious over a future she can't stop, every soul in Conor's life battled monsters, tangible and not. Abstractly detailed, they each experienced honest fears in ways specifically unique to their pain. Yet it was impossible not to see your own grief reflected in their arcs. Well-crafted, I just had to know how things would turn out for all of them.

As the last page swam into view, I realized that the leaky valves in my face are never going to stop overflowing the boundaries of my fragile heart. Gorgeously sharp, Patrick Ness's simply worded magic conjured illustrations of moral complexity right before your very eyes. Conor's conversations with his monster as they survived a nightmarishly hopeful landscape of loss, love, grief, and acceptance, were painfully healing. Captivating, A Monster Calls steals your breath as it destructively repairs your emotions. It reminds you it's okay to have them, and it's especially important you feel every single one of them. Surprisingly enough, there's always comforting truth to be found, even in the darkness.

Will you be listening if A Monster Calls? ...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Cynthia Evans rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-favorites

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