A Monster Calls
The thing that drew me into this book was the delicate handling of such a sensitive part of life. The premise is this: a young boy named Conor is dealing with his mother's fight against cancer. Conor is basically alone in his head, with no one that he wants to talk to. One night, a monster springs from a tree in his back yard. But this monster doesn't scare Conor. No, Conor has seen worse than this.
The book brings up a lot of questions, as well as a truckload of emotions. It has a sense of ambiguity about it, like it is keeping its cards hidden from view. Most of all, I found myself wanting to find out more about Conor. He is a well-wrought character, with his own voice and his own feelings. He had me intrigued throughout the book. I followed him through one of the hardest situations that a kid could go through, one that I could hardly imagine. I had a lot of respect for him, as a character. However, I still couldn't find out what made him tick. That seems to be one of the main questions that pervades the book: what does Conor actually want?
Conor is a tightly-wound ball of emotion that no one, not even his beloved mother, can seem to get to. This internal struggle is exactly what the monster is trying to draw out. However, the monster refuses to give Conor a straight answer on anything, reflecting the messy reality of life. Through the monster's stories and ambiguous musings, we can begin to figure out a bit of what is going on inside Conor.
The thing that really struck me about Conor was his perception of how everybody saw him. He was the kid with the cancer-ridden mom. People treated him differently because of it, and it began to drive him nuts. He did not want to be invisible. He did not want to be pitied. The author's portrayal of these very real emotions was one of the highlights of the book for me.
The book offers no simple solution. It's not black and white (although the pictures are, and they are fantastic!). It deals with one of life's hardest truths in a way that is tender and, at least in my own limited opinion, real.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing style was clever and uncluttered, the story was touching (although at times difficult), and the characters well drawn. I would certainly like to have this book in my classroom.
P.S. Here's a book trailer for it, which is amazing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEX5g6c7ueE
So. This is one of the novels I picked up from the public library as a potential for my two contemporary fiction novels. After reading a synopsis/description of it, however, I quickly put it down. It didn't intrigue me at all and the last thing I wanted to tackle was a heavy novel (especially since I had already settled on reading Thirteen Reasons Why). BUT you have me intrigued. You comments, particularly about struggling to understand who Connor is and what he wants, in combination with that trailer (which everyone should watch because it's beautifully done) officially have me hooked. I may not get to it in addition to the required 12, but I definitely plan on returning to it later.
ReplyDeleteRoss, I just finished this book a couple days ago and I really appreciate your thoughts on it. Going off of the idea of Conor's "invisibility," I think there's a lot there. It's a fascinating paradox. Conor just wants everyone and everything to go back to the way it was before his mother got sick. Obviously, that can't happen. He has become invisible because no one talks to him or wants to acknowledge anything about his mother. At the same time, he sticks out more than anyone else in the school because he is "the kids whose mom is dying of cancer."
ReplyDeleteThe whole book seems to put forth the idea that life is messy and complicated and hard, but as people we need to accept what happens and persevere. Coming to terms with our lives is the only way to live and enjoyable life.