Published: August 27th 2013
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Introduction
Every night at 12:07, a monster comes to13-year-old Conor. It wants stories, to tell them, and to hear them. The ancient creature wants Conor's story, a truth that the boy refuses to acknowledge. The monster began coming after Conor's mother started another round of treatments at the hospital. He has become That Kid, and he despises how other people treat him differently. Without his father in his life, he is left with his maternal grandmother, a woman detached from her grandson. And the monster continues to call, demanding to be heard.
Male Protagonist
I originally found Ness years ago when I was looking for books that have believable male main characters, preferably written by male authors. In this regard, this book doesn't disappoint. I appreciated that Conor, as a boy, handles his grief, and bullying, and family issues, differently compared to a girl. I suspect there's more literature with girl MCs in this genre. I find that sometimes male characters are written like tom-boy girls or the author's lay on the masculinity THICK. I recommend this for male readers who really don't want to read books with female leads.
Essay Ideas/Grief and Mourning books
Without directly saying it in the novel, Conor's mom is going through cancer treatments. This may put this book on the "sick lit" category, but Ness handles this very delicately, and it is not the MC that is ill. Another book that it can be compared/contrasted to is Shoulder the Sky. I see that it is often on the same lists as The Fault in Our Stars, but Monster Calls is about when a parent has an illness. I think it would still be an excellent candidate for an essay discussion.
Book Riot has a list of 6 YA Novels About Grief and Mourning that should be helpful. Aside from Fault, I haven't read them (though they are now on my Goodreads list).
Other topics could be fear (about the future, mortality), family, and magical realism. An essay I would love to see would be looking at monsters in literature and their psychological symbolism (Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, dragons, dementors, Cthulhu, Mr. Hyde, zombies, etc.).
Film
Update: I reviewed it here. For now, have a Gif from the film!
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| It's ok, it's just a giant hand. |
Final Thoughts
This is a very touching book about a very difficult, but real situation a young person (or anyone) can find themselves in. I don't see a reason why this shouldn't be in a library collection. Not only is Ness a gifted writer (The Chaos Walking trilogy is one of my favourite sets of books), it's a book that may be helpful to someone, or they may relate to it. It's also a tear-jerker, if you feel like you haven't had a good cry lately.
