A Monster Calls

This review is also posted on Great Minds Read Alike.

If you've heard of A Monster Calls, then you've most likely heard the story behind it: Siobhann Dowd began the story after she was diagnosed with cancer but died before she was able to finish. Patrick Ness finished it after finally giving in to the request of her publisher. In the introduction, Ness says that he was reluctant until he read her notes and felt her saying “Go. Run with it. Make trouble.”

Stories don't end with the writers, however, many started the race. I usually adamantly stay away from “cancer” books, but the story behind this one was so moving.. I checked it out from the library the day first I heard about the book.

A Monster Calls is truly a heartwrenching story - simply but powerfully told. After Conor's mother begins treatments, a monster in the form of a yew tree visits Conor and tells him three stories, with the deal that at the end Conor has to tell him his story.. his TRUTH. At first, Conor (and the reader) has a hard time figuring out if the monster is real. Then Conor comes to expect the monster and finds comfort in his presence, in his stories, which are leading Conor to actually face his truth. Everything in the story is tied together so perfectly... there is beautiful symbolism with the yew tree, the monster's timing, and Conor's dreams.

The story is about grief and how people handle it so differently - how people make themselves believe something else when the truth is too hard, how they think things they wouldn't normally think. I think the true message of this book is to let yourself feel and then to give yourself a break. It was truly touching - not to mention, tearjerking.

You do not write your life with words, the monster said. You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.