Why I decide to review A Monster Calls?

I chose to analyze A Monster Calls because it is a book that can not be judged by its cover. This book is not just for children it is for the young and old of heart and deals with the scary truth of reality and what could happen to anybody. I think it is a book everyone should read to learn to appreciate life and to learn little life lessons that it is ok to be scared, to wish for something and to feel anger when nobody has done anything physical to you. It is a book that brings out an emotional side to everyone who reads it. “An honest, heart-wrenching story that moved me to tears.” –John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. “A  wrenching tale of loss and grief….Beautiful and achingly sad.” –The Wall Street Journal. A Monster Calls a novel by Patrick Ness and inspired by the ideas of late Siobhan Dowd and beautiful black and white illustrations by Jim Kay.

The PLOT of the Story

A monster calls is about a 13 year old boy named Conor who is having to come with reality that  his mom is very sick and she does not seem like she is getting better. Conor has a reoccurring bad nightmare that keeps haunting him every night, but later on a different nightmare that he thinks is real is of a monster. This monster is a form of a yew tree that comes to visit him and he says that Conor has summoned for him. The Monster tells him that he is going to tell him three stories and at the end of the stories Conor needs to tell him the truth of his nightmare. Conor has this monster so deep in his mind that causes him anger and destruction to those around him. The monster symbolizes that sometimes reality is not pretty and in the real world not everything going to go the way you want it to. This books teaches us that it is ok to let go and feel hurt and pain because that is what makes us more human. The scary truth is that nobody is ready for the real world and what it brings us. 

The Creators of A Monster Calls

British writer Siobahn Dowd created the idea of the Monster Calls but she passed away in 2007 from cancer so she passed her ideas in the story. “Siobhan spent twenty years as a human rights campaigner for PEN and Amnesty International. All of Siobahn’s royalties for a Monster Calls benefit the Siobhan Dowd Trust, they bring books and read to disadvantage young people in the United Kingdom.”

Later her Editor asked Patrick Ness to finish what Siobahn started on her ideas for A Monster Calls. At first he refused to finish writing the story because he said “to tell a story, you have to be yourself and if you're writing a story for any other reason, you're risking mediocrity". “Ness never met Siobahn but they shared the same literary editor.” The beautiful black and white illustrations in the book were created by Jim Kay. For the illustrations in A Monster Calls Jim Kay use monoprint, collotype, aquating, etching and engraving including nature printing. Some of the drawings were done in pencil  and some ink then water color. I loved that he did the book in black in white it shows there is a good and bad to everything or nice and evil. 

Conor's Analysis of Grief

Conor goes thru the five stages of grief. He goes through isolation, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. He feels isolated because no one punishes him for the trouble he keeps getting himself into. Like when his teacher does not punish him for beating up another child in front of the whole school she knew he had bigger problems to face and her punishing him would not change anything. He gets into a depressed stage from being isolated from people and that is why he starts to see the monster because he has no one to really talk to about what he is going thru. The monster was like his getaway from reality into a fantasy for not dealing with the world.  Conor also goes thru denial because he ignores what everyone is telling him about his mom. He does not take it seriously what anybody tells him or thinks he has to be right. Anger is something Conor does threw out the whole book he gets mad at his dad for coming when he has not visit him in a very long time and especially since it is not a holiday and he only can stay for a little while with him. Conor is also angry with his friend Lily for defending him in front of the other guys and spreading rumors about his mom. Conor begins to bargain in his dream with the monster to help him with his mom. In the end he lets reality hit him and he accepts what has to happen. Conor goes thru the emotional journey of understanding reality and maturity. He learns “it’s about guilt comes from denial, and the healing comes from truth.”

THE MONSTER

The monster character in the book is supposed to be terrifying for Conor but isn’t because Conor is dealing with another fear much scarier than a monster. The monster is there to symbolize wisdom and truth in the real world. He tells Conor three stories that make no sense to Conor because they are crappy stories to him that do not have a happy ending and make it seem like good people don’t get what they want in life. “Who is the monster? He is a form of a Yew tree or a Green Man or Herne the Hunter.” I love that they use a tree because a tree represents vitality, fertility and wisdom. Tree are connected to everything like earth, heaven and the underworld. They are still here when we are all gone. The monster is not just any tree he is a Yew Tree. This type of tree that bears poison and grows around the midst of death. They are very poisonous but there poison is also what can cure a disease. The monster symbolizes everything he is bad but can really be good. One question I had to ask myself at the end was the monster real or was it all in Conor imagination? Nobody else sees the monster besides him and he was the one who saw all the leaves in his room and can see him during school. But yet the monster told Conor stories that he would not expect the endings to them he found them surprising. 

Don't JUDGE a Book By its COVER

A Monster Calls is a book that is not what I expected what it would be about. Don’t get me wrong it was not a bad book it was just that it is one of those books that you should not judge by its cover. I thought it would be scary because of the illustrations in it like a terror kind of fear. It does not have any kind of fear that will make you have nightmares it is more of a fear of reality and what someday a friend or loved one may go threw in life. In this book you have to mentally imagine what a child might go thru when dealing with someone sick in the family. The book is dark and deals with a sad young boy. Of course this book will bring many tears. This book was based of the ideas of Siobahn Dowd but she passed away before she could write the book. Later Patrick Ness picked up her idea and created the dark world for Conner. 

My Overall Impression

This book is sad from the beginning to the end you will need tissues. But this book has a light at the end of the tunnel. At the end you will realize how good you have it your life right now and how to enjoy spending time with your family and appreciate being with them. This book teaches us a lot of life lessons about learning to let go of the things we love, that it is ok to feel helpless when you cannot help someone, or wanting something just to end because the fear of waiting for it is hard to carry on our shoulders. 

“Ness teaches us that the most terrifying monster of all is real life, because it’s something that does not go away. It cannot be stopped or denied, and you can’t wake up at the end to realize it was all a dream, Yet, at the same time, A Monster Calls is a healing book that shows there is light even in darkness.”

Where I got my Sources...

Chipman, Ian."Top of the list: Booklist interview: Patrick Ness." Booklist 1 Jan. 2012 111. Biography in Contest. Web. 10 Nov.2015.

Gale Document Number: GALE:A279137583

Horn, Caroline. "A monster calling:Patrick Ness follow his prize-winning Chaos Walking trilogy by completing a novel begun by the late Siobhan Dowd." The Bookseller 4 Mar.2011:23.Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Nove. 2015

Masters, Tim “Patrick Ness Why I Wrote A Monster Calls” BBC NEWS.6 August 2011.Web. 12 November 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-14308543