Short Thoughts: A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls, written by Patrick Ness and based on the last story idea Siobhan Dowd had before she died, is a children's/middle grade novel with magic realism about a boy dealing with the cruelties of the word. So basically, my specialty.

The actual book--especially the hardcover edition--is a work of art, with gorgeous and haunting illustrations by Jim Kay. And despite its friendly format, I soon found that this was not a book I wanted to read aloud to children, even older ones. Not only would I be sobbing, but it's just so painful and sad that I wouldn't wish it upon them.

And yet, that would be betraying everything this book tries to do. This is a book about Conor and his mother's cancer treatments, and how that makes the adults and classmates (including bullies) in his life tiptoe around him and not always tell him the truth. His family is more optimistic than they should be, something he knows. And he just traps everything inside. Meanwhile, he interacts with a monster that only he can see and who tells him stories where the characters aren't simply good and evil. The monster teaches the contradiction of human feelings, how guilt and anger have a place, and that resolutions aren’t always happy.

A Monster Calls might be a tearjerker, but it doesn't rely on cheap tricks to achieve that. Rather, the real tears come from the realization that it's all absolutely true.