Title: A Monster Calls
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Horror
First published: May 5th 2011
Publisher: Walker Books
Finished reading: August 19th 2017
Pages: 216
“You do not write your life with words… You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.”
I was initially saving this title for last since so many people call A Monster Calls their absolute favorite Patrick Ness story… But sometimes things don’t work out as planned. The fact that I picked up my copy is mostly to blame to the fact we recently got Netflix and I couldn’t resist watching the movie; since I normally never watch the movie before reading the book, I had to remedy that and read the book straight away. (Did you guess already I LOVED the movie?) And WOW. I completely understand why there is so much love for A Monster Calls, because this story is simply BRILLIANT. It’s Patrick Ness at his best and definitely one of my new all time favorites… The writing is wonderful, engaging, enchanting and will put you under its spell straight away. The mix of reality and fantasy is very well done and I loved the underlying messages than can be applied to the real world. A Monster Calls is a very strong, powerful, scary, emotional and sad story that will manage to win over your heart in less than a heartbeat… I practically devoured its pages and loved the characters and their development. And as for the movie: I loved just how faithful the script was to the dialogue and writing of the book! It’s not seen often that you can literally read and watch at the same time and see the characters say/do the same things… Both book and movie have earned its spot of my all time favorite list and I’m already looking forward to revisit this story in the future. Have you guessed already I can highly recommend this book?
Conor has been having nightmares nearly every single night since his mother started her treatments, and it’s always the same thing happening. And even though he knows it’s not real, Conor suffers every time he wakes up just before the dreaded thing happens… But then a monster shows up after midnight. And Connor isn’t afraid; no, he’s angry it only wants to tell stories. Because Connor has a lot more important things to worry about… But the monster is something ancient and wild, and demands to be listened to anyway. And so it begins…
I should have known already I would love this book after seeing so many glowing reviews and after positive experiences with some of his other stories, but WOW. This is hands down my new favorite Patrick Ness story and it will be hard for any other story to live up to this one. Between the brilliant prose, characters, powerful and emotional topics and perfect mix of reality and fantasy there just isn’t something I didn’t love about A Monster Calls. Read this book if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it.
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My D went to movie…came out in bits!!!!
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I can imagine! It’s definitely good to have some tissues ready when reading/watching A Monster Calls.
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This just sounds like such a beautifully crafted and incredibly emotionally written story. So glad you loved the book and the movie! I really need to read something by Ness soon…
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A Monster Calls is a true masterpiece! I can highly recommend this one, although if you read A Monster Calls first the rest of his stories will probably never live up to it haha.
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I still haven’t the strength to see the movie! I cried while reading most of the book and as Ness wrote the screenplay I imagine the film is very faithful to his story and so equally moving!
SO glad you loved this book. One of my all-time favourites. Only downer about it is that I still haven’t read another book by Ness which is quite as good. He set himself an impossibly high standard to match here.
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The movie is VERY similar to the book and most of the dialogue is actually the same! I didn’t know Ness wrote the screenplay but after seeing the movie it definitely makes sense. If you loved the book, you will definitely love the movie as well. And I agree with that last statement! I liked his other books so far, but A Monster Calls is on a whole different level. He sure screwed it up for his future books with such a high standard haha.
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I still need to see the movie! I’ve missed it at the cinema but it is on at the film group I’m a member of in October, so I might try to see it then. I listened to the audio book and had to save the last chapter or two for when I was home because I didn’t want to be ugly-crying while I was driving. I have since bought the hardback movie tie-in special edition so I can experience all the illustrations but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
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I can imagine people will look at you strangely ugly-crying while you are driving! xD The movie is just as good as the book and I can definitely recommend watching it… I hope you will be able to in October! The illustrated version sounds wonderful as well.
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Wow, all the starts?????
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Would have given it more stars if I could! A Monster Calls has definitely deserved its place on my all time favorites list… SO beautiful. ❤
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I still have to watch the movie, and it’s great to hear it totally reflects the book. I 5-star loved that one as well… one of the few which made me feel soooo emotional! Great review!
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If you loved the book, you will feel the same about the movie! I just love how similar it is to the book (then again I was told Patrick Ness wrote the screenplay, so that does help a lot I guess).
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OK, Ness is one of those authors I have yet to read.. super excited that you loved both movie and the book… and I didn’t even know there was a movie.. Guess who just made their Netflix plans for the night? 😀
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I hope you will enjoy the movie! Patrick Ness wrote the screenplay, so watching the movie will give you a pretty good idea if you are going to like the book. The only negative thing of tackling A Monster Calls first is that the rest of his books are unable to live up to it. 😉
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I’ve been meaning to read this for years, but I guess with all the new books coming out I had kind of forgotten about it! Your review made me excited to read it again 🙂
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Oh please do pick this one up! It’s so wonderful you won’t regret it. (And the movie is brilliant as well). 😀
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So happy you loved this one! The illustrated edition is just gorgeous isn’t it? 🤗
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I sadly don’t have the illustrated version yet… But that definitely is a must now I’ve read it. (I imagine the movie is based on those illustrations right? Because I loved the graphics of the fantasy part).
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I think so – I really need to see the movie!
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I can highly recommend it! It truly shows that Patrick Ness wrote the screenplay and it’s very faithful to the book.
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