Wow!

Every now and then, I read a book that blows me away. That happened yesterday and the book was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd, who passed away in 2007.

At the center of the story is Connor, a 13-year-old British boy who lives with his beloved, seriously ill mom. Connor's dad has moved to America with a new wife and family. Connor's life is hard in many ways. He's the willing caregiver for his mom and himself, cleaning and cooking and keeping track of his mom's progress, or lack thereof. All this plus school leaves Connor tired out, partly because of a recurrent nightmare that he won't talk about. He is almost invisible at school, except for a long-time friend who he tries to avoid and a merciless bully he can't get away from. As if Connor's life wasn't tough enough, a monster starts visiting him each night at 12:07am. This boy can't catch a break. The monster, shown in the book cover above, is a huge thing that emerges from the yew tree in his backyard. The monster says he's come to tell Connor three stories and after those stories, Connor must tell the monster a fourth tale, sharing the truth about what happens in Connor's nightmare.

I started the book yesterday after work and finished it in about 100 minutes, sobbing uncontrollably for the last third. I've read many books about a teen dealing with a recent death in his or her family, but I can't remember any that went into the detail of what it felt like during that family member's last few weeks. A Monster Calls has a beautiful honesty, revealing and reveling in the gray areas that we all must struggle through. I loved Patrick Ness's book The Knife of Never Letting Go and I loved this book, too. The characters (especially the monster), the stories, the writing, and the illustrations--wow. I urge you to give this powerful book a try.