A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness

 

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

Sometimes a book comes along that is so beautifully written, haunting and true that when it's finished, even though it has broken your heart, you can't help but hug it tight and feel so, so grateful (it's not just me that hugs books. Right?).

A Monster Calls is a story - a fable almost - of grief and rage, courage and loss. It tells the story of Conor, who's mother is dying of cancer, who's father is absent, having moved to America with his new wife and child and who is bullied mercilessly at school (by a particularly sociopathic child who reminded me strongly of Kevin from We Need to Talk About notoriety).

One night, at 12:07am, a monster arrives at Conor's window. It has walked the earth for many years, this time taking the form of a yew tree and is here to tell three stories...and to hear Conor tell one. The truth.

(I should mention that the Bea was fully supervised while I was lost in this story!)

As Conor deals with the changing, and often cruel, world around him, the Monster visits, again and again, and helps him to at last confront his own true story.

This is an utterly heartrending tale - I was speechless when I finished and so moved. It is a stunning exploration of grief and the rage that comes with it - and of learning the painful lessons of loss and letting go. I often dog-ear books to remember favourite phrases and this story was so beautifully and lyrically written that my copy is now dog-earred from front to back.

"Stories are important", the monster said. "They can be more important than anything. If they carry the truth."

This story has shot straight into my top three list and I can't wait to see the movie, due for release on 26 January (even though the preview alone is enough to make me weepy).

Patrick Ness created this story from an idea that the late Siobhan Dowd had told her publisher. Knowing that this story was itself built from loss, and the carrying on of someone's imagination, made this story all the more beautiful for me.

A Monster Calls is heavy going at times, but beautiful, and ultimately uplifting. I would suggest it for readers twelve and up. In fact, it's one of those tales that I think everyone should read. Maybe it's just that I enjoy these kinds of books, but I've always disliked the idea of "YA". As Patrick Ness notes himself, in an essay about A Monster Calls,

"a good story should be for everyone - a children's book must be for young people first, but, if you tell a story that works for a child it's got to be a good story because children are no fools".

One small note: I have been so lucky in my life not to have know the loss of a beloved immediate family member at a young age, and with that ignorance in mind, I'd suggest proceeding with caution in buying this for someone who has lost (or is losing) someone close.

Available at all good bookstores - there is also an exquisite illustrated version that I plan on getting my mitts as soon as I can.

The Book and the Bea x