Published: 5th May 2011
Publisher: Walker Books
Pages: 216
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.
But it isn’t the monster Connor’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 Connor.
It wants the truth.
I had an interesting experience reading this, I was told there’d be a dog in it, and aside from thinking about when this non-existent dog was going to show up, it was a sad and beautiful story. This is not a full Ness original, it was written based on ideas conceptualised by Siobhan Dowd. Having read nothing else by either author I had no idea what to expect but I was not disappointed.
There is so much to love about this book; I love Connor’s fierce bravery and protectiveness of his mum, I love the mystery and the suspense of waiting for the monster and the uncertainty about what it means. I even loved Connor’s frustration. Ness depicts perfectly Connor’s conscious and unconscious desire to be seen, to be punished, to be treated normally. You can sense it bubbling under the surface and Ness builds up suspense slowly with excellent pacing that makes you eagerly turn the page. Ness doesn’t state outright what is wrong with her but there are enough clues to figure it out. The bond between them is evident and Connor’s determination to keep things as they were is heartbreaking but admirable.
The edition I read was filled with wonderfully dark black and white sketches by Jim Kay (the same man who is currently illustrating Harry Potter). These illustrations reinforced the eerie, mysterious nature of the book and Connor’s interactions with the monster. They captured the nightmare feel and the mystical and Kay manages to keep it very simple but still show so much.
As a character, the monster is an intriguing one. He doesn’t seem evil, but he does seem formidable and unforgiving. I really enjoyed his interactions with Connor, and Kay brings him to life on the page wonderfully as well.
This may be a tough book for some people due to the depiction and description of experiencing cancer and the impact it has on the family, but it is also a very important story about it as well. I fully recommend this book to people, it’s a very strong story told very simply and very imaginatively.
You can purchase A Monster Calls via the following
Lost in a Good Book 