A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The novella deals with grief and loss and how it feels to be powerless when your world is changing for the worse. Conner is dealing with his mother’s increasing illness and the ancillary changes brought about when everyone at school finds out his mother has cancer. Conner doesn’t know how to deal with his pain and fear, and neither do the kids at school who shun him as if having an ill mother were something one could contract by contact. So not only does he have difficulty at home, such as being forced to live with his grandmother when his mom can’t care for him anymore, but he’s also being targeted by bullies who seem to smell his weakness.
The depiction of Conner and his emotions felt very accurate. Conner is having nightmares because he doesn’t know how to handle his own emotional complexity. He lashes out at people close to him because he wants to be punished for having emotions that he’s ashamed of having. I liked the complicated stories the monster told, and I liked that the plot didn’t have a cheap, Disney-esque turn, which would have ruined the emotional arc. This novella made me cry so much I got dehydrated. Despite that, I liked it. It didn’t feel like it was written for me, but for a person much younger who was learning how to deal with emotions, I think this could be a life-changing book.
I’m not familiar with the work of Patrick Ness or with Siobahn Dowd who was his inspiration for this novella. I think I bought it because it was on special or something. It’s quite short.
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