A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Rating: ★★★★★
"All he could feel, all he had felt since the monster revealed itself, was a growing disappointment. Because this wasn't the monster he was expecting."
A Monster Calls exposes the raw, painful truth of saying goodbye to a loved one. Conor's mother is fighting cancer. Conor is fighting something else entirely. A monster comes to tell him stories. "Stories are wild creatures, the monster said. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?"
This book completely tore my heart apart. It spoke to me and touched me so personally and so deeply I felt like this book was written for me. If you are struggling with loss and grief this book may be just what you need to feel understood, like you are not alone.
The length of this book gives it additional appeal to me. I have read this book twice now. Both times I have devoured it in one sitting. I timed myself today and it took three hours from start to finish. Your busy schedule is no excuse for not picking this up.
Favorite Quotes:
"There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between."
"And if no one sees you, the monster said, picking up its pace, too, are you really there at all?"
"'You be as angry as you need to be,' she said. 'Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not your grandma, not your dad, no one. And if you need to break things, then by God, you break them good and hard.'"
"'And if, one day,' she said, really crying now, 'you look back and you feel bad for being so angry, if you feel bad for being so angry at me that you couldn't even speak to me, then you have to know, Conor, you have to know that is was okay. It was okay. That I knew. I know, okay? I know everything you need to tell me without you having to say it out loud. All right?'"
