Oh, readers, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness totally slayed me. It is heartbreaking from the opening page until the very last page. I went into A Monster Calls completely blind, meaning I knew nothing about the story except that there’s a monster who calls and that’s full of the sads.
A Monster Calls
Set in England, A Monster Calls is about Conor O’Malley, a young boy who lives with his mum because Dad is in America. However, life is not idyllic for Conor. You see, his mom is slowly losing her battle with cancer and he’s bullied at school. A monster comes to visit Conor at 12:07 a.m. to tell him three stories in exchange for one story. I won’t ruin the stories for you except to say that each take on complex themes of character and such.
Ultimately, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is a story about grief and letting go. It speaks to the common childhood fear of losing a parent. And really, I think that is one of the biggest fears of a child. I thought Ness did a fantastic job juxtaposing the monster and nightmare imaginary fear with the real fear Conor has of life without his mum.
Friends, you need to know that A Monster Calls is not an easy, happy go lucky book. It is deep. It is painful. It will make you feel unless you have a heart of stone, in which case, why are you even reading my reviews considering how much I write about my emotional reactions. I absolutely think A Monster Calls is worth the emotional bombs it will drop on your soul.
The narrator, Jason Issacs aka Lucius Malfoy is pitch perfect in the audiobook of A Monster Calls. I think I finally understand what a gravely voice is — since at parts Issacs has one, mainly when he is voicing the monster. I have to say, his monster voice is scary. But his voice for the words other than the dialogue, the prose and such is perfect. Issac’s narration is impossible to ignore or to tune out. At first, I was sad that Nick Podehl wasn’t narrating since it seems he does Ness’s audios, but I honestly don’t think Brilliance Audio could have done a better job with the narrator. I am TOTALLY going to recommend this audiobook to audio beginners because it is excellent. It’s really short too, it’s only four hours and one minute unabridged. Also, there’s a fascinating interview at the end between Patrick Ness and Jason Issacs that I think is absolutely worth listening to, about how Ness went with Siobhan Dowd’s barebones idea, had never met her, but didn’t have like an overly detailed outline from her and instead let the story take him where it would without being encoumbered by overly detailed plans from Dowd. Now, that’s not word for word, but a brief summing up. ANYWAYS.
The audiobook of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is totally worth your time and I think if you really want to try audiobooks but have no idea where to start, you should start with this book. Seriously, it’s wonderful. You’ve likely seen the narrator in the Harry Potter movies. And it’s not incredibly long. PLUS there’s a disc that has the pictures on it.
Disclosure: Received for review.
This is a CYBILS book.
Other reviews of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness:
Amy Reads
YA Bibliophile
Tahleen’s Mixed Up Files
A Patchwork of Books
Chachic’s Book Nook
Lisa Is Busy Nerding
The Allure Of Books
Purchase A Monster Calls here* clicking the link will take you to Amazon where I am an affiliate. Basically that means if you purchase things after clicking the link a very small portion of the proceeds will benefit Good Books & Good Wine at no extra cost to you. Now that’s what I call a win-win situation.
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I’ve just started audiobooks…they make my long runs go by a little faster! Though, I’ve never done Patrick Ness…not sure my first foray should be in audio format? Thoughts?
I originally first read Ness in print format and enjoyed that, but I also enjoyed this foray. Really, I think his work excels in both formats!
Oohhh sounds like a great narration, I must look for it. So many people say that books are emotional and I just don’t believe it but man. This one? SO EMOTIONAL!
It’s definitely worth re-reading via audio, although I will do the opposite and re-read it in print.
This book broke my heart, it was such a beautiful book and left me in tears for awhile after finishing it!!
I like hearing how deeply A Monster Calls has affected others, it feels like a testament to it’s brilliance.
this is, quite literally, one of the best books i’ve ever read. it’s amazing on so many levels. it will forever be like a pebble in my heart. gently weighing it down as a reminder of the intense emotions that books can pack.
nice review.
I love your pebble analogy, because that is exactly what it feels like. I also have a heart pebble for manchee, hardcore.
I just picked this book up from the library because of a post Kiersten White did on this. She kept talking about emotional and wonderful it was, and, me, I like to cry, so…
I’m so happy I learned a little more about it in this review. Because I had virtually no idea what it was about.
– Asher (from Paranormal Indulgence)
I’m so excited for you. You are in for a sad weepy mess and I bet you’ll love every bit of it!!
This is one of the best books that I’ve read this year. How can you not fall in love with Patrick Ness’ writing when it’s so heart-wrenching? Most (if not all) of the reviews that I’ve seen for this book have been very emotional. I’ll keep in mind that the audiobook is really good. I hope you check out a physical copy of this because it includes illustrations.
For sure! I actually did flip through a physical copy at a book signing, I am thinking I will need to buy a physical copy at some point because I liked it in a tactile way.
This is one of those books that makes me feel like a failure for not having read yet. It sounds completely and utterly amazing
i am SO getting this for Christmas
(even if I am a little bit scared to read it…)