A Monster Calls *Finished Reading*

[Cynthia]

This thread is for those who have finished the book. Spoiler away!

[Angelique]

I misunderstood how this book of he month worked. I thought the two books were the nominees, and we would have to pick one. Neither book grabbed me outright, in fact, I never would have considered them. But that's okay, because that's why I joint a bookclub: I wanted to try out other things beside my regular reads.

Anyway, I decided to read the first chapter of each book, so I could have some idea which I might actually finish and for that one I would vote. After reading those first chapters I still didn't know if I actually wanted to read either of them. But this one was (a lot) easier to read, so this one would get my vote.

Knowing myself, whenever I have to read/do something I don't really want to, it takes forever to finish it. Because of that, when I finished my last book of April I started this one. However, I was hooked after chapter 3 and boy, did this book grab me! At the end it had me crying my eyes out.

It's not so much that I could identify myself with Conor, which actually I could! But I've got two teenagers of my own and I could easily imagine my youngest going through the things Conor goes through. And that in turn made me identify with Conors Mum.

I sure hope I'll never have to find out how I would handle things.

I gave it 5 stars.

[Cynthia]

Wow that's great to hear! Patrick Ness's writing has a tendency to do that, which is why I picked it. I cried multiple times on his other series, Chaos Walking. His books always have a hard hitting theme and well put together characters. I'm going to get the book this morning, will hopefully finish it by tomorrow.

Glad you enjoyed it, and sorry you were unclear about the way BOTM nominations work. Perhaps I will rewrite the description so it is more clear?

[Cynthia]

I just finished! Wow that was even better than I thought it was going to be. It was so sad yet so powerful that he had to face his true nightmare and come to terms with his thoughts.

There were a lot of quotes from this book that I loved but this section stood out the most to me, and covered the basis of what I took from the story:
"How can a queen be both a good witch and a bad witch? How can a prince be a murderer and a savior? How can an apothecary be evil-tempered but right-thinking? How can a person be wrong-thinking but good-hearted? How can invisible men make themselves more lonely by being seen? The answer is that it does not matter what you think, because your mind will contradict itself a hundred times each day...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.
"But how do you fight it?"
By speaking the truth.

Ahhh love it! The monster was such an intricate character. It was something to be scared of but not because he is evil but because he speaks the truth.

And the realization of the significance of 12:07 was heartbreaking!

I also give this book a 5 stars.

[Cynthia]

Discussion question: How does the monster help (or hurt) Conor come to terms with his mother's cancer? Do you think Conor ever might have been able to face his grief without the monster's help?

[Angelique]

I think the monster helped Conor to accept what was happening to his mother, so he could be there for her when it was time for his nightmare to come true.

[Cynthia]

I agree, it seemed like even though the ending was depressing, the monster helped Conor, and the reader, come to terms with the mothers death.

[Cynthia]

Would the book have been as emotional without the illustrations? What did you get out of the many illustrations?