A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: [from the dustjacket] “At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting — he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.”
Expectation: A mushy, hopeful tale of a teen manifesting a monster to help him grapple with the death of a parent and the ways it will change his life.
Reality: A simply told, yet incredibly impactful exploration of the ways in which we lie to ourselves.
Recommended For: Fans of well-done young adult literature or lightly illustrated stories.
Why I Read It: It was in the bargain reads section of Apple Books, and I vaguely remembered the film getting stellar reviews.
My Take:
I went through a phase around fourth grade, where I was convinced if I touched something wrong it would explode. The explosion belief was a manifestation of fear over the Unabomber and watching Terminator 2: Judgement Day far too young, and the whole situation of “not touching things right” was low-level OCD brought on by stress from school at a time when I was failing math.
About 15 years later in therapy I figured this out, but at the time my fear felt real and justified. My family humored me for a while, before a trip to The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisc., provided enough sensory overload to break the explosion paranoia.
In reading “A Monster Calls,” I couldn’t help but think about this time in my life, because in many ways Conor’s experience was not dissimilar.
The lack of control. The internal bargaining. Acting out of character. The fear and shame. Manifesting alternate realities. This is how tweens and teenagers interpret life when we lack the understanding that sometimes there is an effect without a cause.
I don’t want to give away much of the plot — the dustjacket gives you enough details to grasp general themes — because the power in the story is watching how Conor takes and twists his reality before realizing he must honor his truth before moving forward in life – with the help of a mostly nice monster.
Siobhan Dowd, who developed the story, and Patrick Ness, who completed it after her death, delivered a simple narrative that mixes fantasy with reality to explore the way our internal dialogue makes us believe realities that are simply not true. It’s a powerful lesson for all readers — regardless of age — although this is targeted to middle grades.
Young Adult is not a genre I read often, because I usually find the stories based in reality (aka, not “The Hunger Games” or “Twilight”) to be over-stuffed, exploitative and written for adults.
Exhibit A is the horrendous “Surrender Your Sons,” by Adam Sass, which used shock value and cheap thrills. Whereas the understated “Flamer” by Mike Curato, and now “Calls,” prove YA writing is at its most powerful when it remembers what it’s like to be a teen.
Not every teen speaks like a dictionary or aspires to find their true love before they can drive, but they all want to be seen and heard and learn who they are in a way that gives them hope for the future. These are universal truths, and when handled with respect and compassion, as Ness does here, they have the power to heal wounds both fresh and scarred.
I highly recommend this story in any format, but I read the illustrated version with gorgeously crude black and white drawings by Jim Kay, which helped bring the monster and Conor’s emotional state to life and gave me “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” vibes. While only about 25 percent of the novel contained art – and I don’t think the story needs the enhancement – the drawings certainly added another level of immersion.
Rating (story): 5/5 stars
Rating (narration): N/A
Formats: E-book (personal library)
Dates read: January 16 -23, 2021
Multi-tasking: N/A
