R.F. Gammon's Reviews > A Monster Calls

You’re only young once, they say, but doesn’t it go on for a long time? More years than you can bear.

This quote sits on the first page of this book, before the story even starts. And this quote is where I started crying on this readthrough of A Monster Calls.

More clearly than ever before, I think I understand that this book is a metaphor. The entire thing is about one boy grappling with grief—a violent, broken, isolated grief, where he feels utterly alone. No one is willing to break the bubble. No one wants to see him for more than “that poor child.”

And he. Just. Wants. To. Be. Normal.

He welcomes bullying—and why? Because at least his bully sees him. He is desperate for punishment for all the things he’s done—but what point would it serve, reason all the adults around him?

And I understand all of this. Because this has been me.

I’ve been the girl standing above a picture frame preparing to slam the heel of my pumps into it, longing to shatter the glass and cut a hole through the face of someone who ripped my heart out. I’ve been the girl who wouldn’t tell anyone she was having a medical emergency, because I wasn’t part of any group, but I didn’t want to be even more of an outsider. I was the girl who got sad looks from people who found out she needed surgery. I was the girl who screamed, who punched the wall, who went numb, who would rather die than admit the truth about how much it all hurt.

And those are the kids this book is for.

I weep at the ending of this one. “Stories are wild, wild creatures,” says the Monster, and it’s true. As an author who has lived through unbearable darkness I can attest to it. Not all stories have happy endings! Not all the characters make it out alive! Ness does not shy away from that truth, even as he writes this story that only someone who has grappled with the worst of griefs could possibly write.

A 12:07 will come for all of us—but the truth is not our enemy. It’s action that matters, overcoming thoughts and emotions and leaning on the One who carries our griefs. That is what is important.

5 stars. Thank you, Patrick Ness, for writing this book for all the kids out there who need it. Thank you for sharing your pain.

Thank you.

Another review because YES well

I just...love this book

It's been too long

I cried man

actual tears

*sobs*