A Monster Calls

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

A Monster Calls, conceived by Siobhan Dowd, is put in words by Patrick Ness. It is a story about a thirteen years old boy named Conor. Conor's mother is withering away day by day with cancer (as had the originator of the story). Conor is having a hard time accepting the truth of his circumstance. The truth though, as is its habit, remains unchanged. It hits Conor right between the eyes every day. With his pedantic grandmother's subtle hints of his mother's fate. His friends' ignorance of his presence (as though he is the one suffering from cancer). And his teachers' lenient conduct on his misbehavior.

As the title raises hope for a monster, Mr. (Awesome) Ness will give you one, maybe two. Every night Conor is haunted by the same nightmare about a monster. This time though a different monster visits him. In the form of a yew tree (I am Groot). Conor meets him in the garden because he doesn't want the monster to wake his mum up by thumping monster hands on the window. The monster, unlike the one from the nightmare, isn't scary. This one claims that Conor called him, although he has no memory of doing that. It also promises to tell Conor three tales, saying these stories will give him the courage to share his truth of the nightmare. The monster's visit seems like a dream, until he steps out of his bed to munch tiny yew trees with his feet and to discover the floor covered in it.

Belief is half of all healing.

Throughout the book, the author never mentions Conor's mother has cancer. He gives hints that no reader can miss. It is a literary technique, I first witnessed in Hemingway's stories, used to explain the air of the story. I loved the way this technique was executed. Alongwith the simplicity of Patrick's writing. He won 17 literary awards for this book and deserved them all.

Recommended to: people who need a cry, laugh. People who want to let go. And people who love monsters.