A Monster Calls

This is a well written book - its quite moving and emotional about a difficult subject to deal with for children (the death of a loved one). Its imaginative and I enjoyed reading it.

yup, I'm never recovering from this book.

“And he also knew he was going to get through it. It would be terrible. It would be beyond terrible. But he'd survive.”

Quick read of a book about a young boy’s experience with growing up and maturing during life’s hardest time for him.

What a touching story. I'm sure if I had a child it would have hit me a million times harder. Sadly, there are many people I know of who would find this book comforting. It is a scenario that, unfortunately, we all have or will face during our lives. It's always so hard to let go.

Can I give this ten stars? No? Why not? God, this book deserves more than five stars. And I can't talk about it without spoilers.

It made me cry. Oh god, did I sob. Ugly sobs for the last, like, fifty pages.

"I didn't come here to heal her. I came to heal

you."

And now it’s time to hand the baton on to you. Stories don’t end with the writers, however many started the race. So go. Run with it.

Make trouble.

Almost asleep with the illusion of paralysis, at the ingress of dreams, when a monster calls. . . the Yew tree outside the window is walking, walking.

Written for very young readers, with ordinary and simple language, the story itself is complex, and transporting, really. Try not to get beyond halfway in one sitting, or you'll be up late into the night.

very short but powerful read

incredible illustrations that definitely would have given me nightmares as a....teenager

(i'm scared of everything ok)

i thought i knew what the ultimate lesson of this book would be

a young boy in england is watching his mother die of cancer, and an eldritch creature appears to help him on his journey

it was so much more than i imagined

so much smarter

so much better

life sucks and then you die, okay?

Why did I take so long to read this?

It was a wonderful story told in a wonderful way, also short and one to leave a mark in your heart. I read it as part of a group read and I just loved it.

“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.”

Conor is a good child. His mother is undergoing treatment for Cancer. His father separated from him is far away. His grandmother is a wealthy lady and a bit of a snob. Conor is visited by a Monster in the form of a Yew tree which is in his backyard.

Conor has nightmares, dreadful ones and he doesn’t talk about it to anybody. He is not afraid of the monster either because he says he has seen more, in his nightmare. Yew tree monster tells Conor three tales from different times and all these tales doesn’t have a hero or a villain, everyone is in between.

“Stories are the wildest things of all, the monster rumbled. Stories chase and bite and hunt.”

And in the end Monster makes him tell the fourth tale and the tale with truth which only Conor knows. Conor always knew but he never acknowledged the truth. And monster slowly helps him to acknowledge the truth. The truth, how his life is going to change when it changes. How to let go but still cling to it through good memories.

I was holding back my tears in so many places, that I had to close it and take few moments to calm down and start again.

Wonderful story.

Happy “Monsters” !!

This book was emotionally manipulative. This book had some big eye-rolling cliches. However, I still pretty much read it one day and ended with ugly crying, so that takes some talented writing abilities.

A good book about fighting inner demons and overcoming fears. I’d recommend this for tweens facing big challenges in their lives.