A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I... am at loss for words.





I've been crying a quarter in the book because it was that sad. It was haunting and brilliant, it was the truth, as the monster would say. I felt I could relate to Conor because I've lost two of my favourite person in the world, all in less than three years. I've lost both a dad and a brother. I've been there.

It is indeed, a very unique way of story telling, a way to tell you the cold and brutal reality: you need to tell the truth. Because if you don't, you can't accept it yourself, you'll forever be in denial. And you will not be able to move on.

Honestly, all the initial reviews about this book making you face your own reality, forcing you to remember that painful memory of losing someone, are very true. I bury all my memories of my dad and brother because they are painful and I would cry every time I remember what they would do to me on a normal day. I hate crying. So I try to forget.

Conor's guilt of thinking and wanting for it to end as soon as possible struck a chord in me because that's what I thought exactly when my brother had a terminal disease; that I wanted it to end fast because I knew where he was going. The guilt of thinking of indirectly causing someone' death is also with me, a guilt I've always blame myself for the death of my father. If only I would have called my mom sooner, would he have been better? Would he still live? And that no matter how much I don't want them to suffer anymore, at the very same time, I do not want them to leave me forever.

It's just incredibly sad that Conor's father is a selfish s.o.b. I abhor him to no ends. What kind of a father is he? The one that runs off to another woman and love that family more? Look what your son has gone through, all alone, dammit!

I have no qualms, no critique to this book at all. A monster Calls is a book that grips you, and pulls you into its world and makes you bawl like a baby. Yet, when you have finished reading it, you feel like you have learned something profound. Indeed, it was.

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