Book #78 of 2024: A Monster Calls | DNF: Hero Wanted!
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Hero Wanted! concludes my "read every book on my Kindle with a dragon on the cover or the word dragon in the title" project.
Next I'm going to read a book with a word in the title for each letter of alphabet, checking from the oldest end of my pile. So for A it's A Monster Calls. Next book after it will be something with a B-word in the title.
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A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.
Quick synopsis: Humans are complex, messy creatures and how we handle grief often makes no sense. This goes double for children.
Brief opinion: I lost count how many times I said "Holy crap, this is so good!" out loud while reading. Also things like "Nooo!" and "Oh no!". I never react out loud to things that happen in books, that's how good this one is.
Plot: 13 year old Conor's mother has terminal cancer. Each night for the past few months Conor has been having the same horrible nightmare, so when he has a new nightmare he's not at all scared of the monster in it -- it just can't be as bad as his usual nightmare "the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming".
The monster in the new nightmare keeps coming back at 12:07 AM. It tells Conor it will tell him three stories, then Conor will have to tell it one true story in return.
The three stories illustrate how complex and illogical humans can be: Good people can do bad things, bad people sometimes have good hearts, a man could kill the woman he loves "for a good reason" -- nothing is black and white in the real world.
Interwoven with the stories from the monster, Conor's mother keeps getting sicker and sicker. Conor has to stay with his grandmother (the two don't get along at all) and his father flies in from America (to his new family's unhappiness).
When it's Conor's turn to tell his true story, it fits with the three told by the monster: that human grief in the face of a loved one's lingering terminal illness is a complex, illogical thing.
[I feel like a monster myself, trying to put the book's plot into words. Imagine a kid with a crayon trying to copy a master's painting, that's me here. The book is beautiful and subtle, the story slowly building and details coming out, while I plunked down a pile of words and muttered "here" and then walked off.]
Writing/editing: Both were perfect. The book was short (about 200 pages), and not a single word was wasted or out of place.
What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: This was the oldest book on my Kindle and I now want to kick myself that it took me so long (years!) to read it. Best book of the year! Also the worst book of the year. A horrible, terrible read that was so painful... but everyone should read it and I'm so glad I did. Even if I'm still crying while writing this.
I loved the monster, it was as complex as humans are.
I loved the stories within the story (each one was worth the price of the book itself, I'd love a whole book of those kinds of stories!).
I cried so hard through the ending, something I don't usually do.
I had only vaguely known there was a movie made of the book, and it was with much trepidation that I watched a trailer. The monster's voice was perfect! Just how I heard it in my head. Also, the trailer made me cry AGAIN.
Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- Loved. If only I had a million stars to give...
DNF #62: Hero Wanted! by Mark Powers. I almost didn't pick this book up. While I read a lot of MG/YA, the cover made this story seem way too young for me. I loved the idea of a talking horse and other elements of the story though, so I gave it a try.
The book was full of humor, but that humor didn't work for me (I think I was too old for it). I made it to about the 25% mark before I decided to DNF.