From the Bookshelf of The Reading Challenge Group…

A Monster Calls

Patrick Ness,

Jim Kay (Illustrator)

Start date: October 1, 2014

Finish date: October 31, 2014

Discussion: Group Read Archive 2014-16

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Showing 2 of 139 topics — 2,834 comments total

Group Read Archive 2014-16

Genre Group Read (Humour) - December 2016 - You Are Not So Smart
By Allison , Quest Hound · 11 posts · 30 views

last updated Dec 28, 2016 04:05PM

Alternate Group Read (Classics) - December 2016 - Mansfield Park
By Allison , Quest Hound · 5 posts · 18 views

last updated Dec 04, 2016 09:34AM

showing 10 of 24 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 16, 2017 Tara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What a beautiful story and beautiful illustrations. Grief is a hard subject for anyone let alone young adults, what a way to make it meaningful young and old alike. Will definitely be rereading.

3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 25, 2021 Cindy (BKind2Books) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-genre-challenge

What a beautiful book on grief and loss. I picked this one up thinking I would finish it over the next few days, but was compelled to finish this. It is utterly heart-breaking and still uplifting. Colin is visited at 12:07 by a monster who forces him to confront some hard truths. It's not like his life is easy. His mom is fighting cancer. He has a rocky relationship with his grandmother. His dad is living overseas with his new wife and child. And the kids at school either treat him like he's inv ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2014 Elise rated it it was amazing

"A Monster Calls" is a beautiful and dark tale of love, loss, and truth. This book could be a therapeutic read for readers at any age coping with a loved one who is fighting for life, but it is also an arresting fairy tale that occupies the territory of nightmares and is bold enough to show us the powerful wisdom those nightmares have to offer us. I started reading this today at the library while waiting for my daughter to finish her homework. Two hours and 160 pages later, I realized I had been ...more

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Jul 05, 2016 Mickey rated it it was amazing

Patrick Ness seems to have taken up the same mantle as Robert Cormeir as a YA writer who specializes in difficult and heavy subjects: exploring suicide (in More Than This) and a prolonged, suspended grief (in A Monster Calls). Each writer has the ability to describe a state of mind and paint comprehensive psychological portraits of teenage characters using their thoughts and impulses like an artist would use shade and color.

What I liked about this book is the honest and sympathetic look at grief ...more

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Jul 28, 2017 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. It's such a great story about grief, and the different stages. Patrick Ness just earned his way onto my auto-buy list. ...more

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Jan 05, 2017 ѕнelley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, 2017-audiobook-challenge, audio-1000

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness provides an emotional rollercoaster ride that has you crying your heart out!

The First novel to win both The Carnegie Medal and Kate Greenaway Medal

AUDIBLE SUMMARY: The monster showed up after midnight. As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming....This monster is s ...more

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Jan 16, 2016 Celena rated it really liked it

I'm glad I didn't finish this book at 12:07. Nearly but not quite. Bit of a harrowing tale of a young boy dealing with the monster that turns up in his life one night. The yew tree outside his window will, like Conor, never be the same again. Not a story for the faint-hearted. There will possibly be tears. Terrifyingly wild illustrations by Jim Kay. ...more

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