A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness
Conor is a boy who has a close relationship with his mother who is battling cancer. He has a strained relationship with his father and grandmother, so he uses stories and dreams to help him deal with the more difficult aspects of his life.
I absolutely loved the imagination that went into this book and how the monster featured throughout the stories, perfectly capturing all of Conor's emotions in so few words. I also thought the book was visually very beautiful - the pictures simply helped to enrich the images I had in my mind and made me realise how much I miss picture books! I also love how unique, detailed, yet shadowy they are - as if they are designed to work to everyone's imagination
I was also impressed how the character of Connor was so different from that of the characters in the Chaos Walking Trilogy - so many writers create very similar voices for their characters in different books until they are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Conor retained a unique personality which makes him stand out.
By far the best part of this book was the power of the emotions in the incredibly short space of time and words. With very little description I could feel Conor's rage, anger, sadness and guilt throughout the story, eventually making me cry at the end due to the sheer power of the conflicting emotions.
Overall, I thought this book was excellent!
Rachel, Yr 12
Showing posts with label A Monster Calls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Monster Calls. Show all posts
Friday, 27 April 2012
Friday, 30 March 2012
A Monster Calls
By Patrick Ness
This book is about a boy called Conor being visited by a monster, but it is not the one he is expecting, not the one he is terrified of. The monster tells him three tales that help him. Conor's Mum is ill and having treaments in the book and so the monster makes him see things about himself.
To begin with I didn’t enjoy this book that much, but as I read more, I grew to like it more. My favourite bits were the ones with the actual monster in, especially as I think the stories the Monster told are very true. I liked them because although they were aimed at Conor I think they were true for nearly all humans.
I really liked the character of Conor’s Mum and I thought she really came across as someone who really really cared about her son. I also liked Conor, I thought it was really sweet how he really wanted to care for himself and his Mum without help, and I felt sorry for him, having to be so grown-up with his Mum.
Ness managed to really do the descriptions in the book well, describing everything clearly and I think that definitley added to the story. I also really liked the drawings in them, whole page ones and ones in the corner of the pages, they were really effective.
I read this book really quickly and although it didn’t take me long, I really enjoyed it. Overall, I think that this was a good book and an easy read.
By Emily B, Year 8
This book is about a boy called Conor being visited by a monster, but it is not the one he is expecting, not the one he is terrified of. The monster tells him three tales that help him. Conor's Mum is ill and having treaments in the book and so the monster makes him see things about himself.
To begin with I didn’t enjoy this book that much, but as I read more, I grew to like it more. My favourite bits were the ones with the actual monster in, especially as I think the stories the Monster told are very true. I liked them because although they were aimed at Conor I think they were true for nearly all humans.
I really liked the character of Conor’s Mum and I thought she really came across as someone who really really cared about her son. I also liked Conor, I thought it was really sweet how he really wanted to care for himself and his Mum without help, and I felt sorry for him, having to be so grown-up with his Mum.
Ness managed to really do the descriptions in the book well, describing everything clearly and I think that definitley added to the story. I also really liked the drawings in them, whole page ones and ones in the corner of the pages, they were really effective.
I read this book really quickly and although it didn’t take me long, I really enjoyed it. Overall, I think that this was a good book and an easy read.
By Emily B, Year 8
Thursday, 29 March 2012
A Monster Calls
By Patrick Ness
Love, love love this book! The illustrations are beautiful and I really enjoyed the story overall, with it making me cry! It would have been interesting to see Siobhan Dowd's interpretation of the story, however Patrick Ness did a brilliant job! It's tough to see whether this is going to win or not, but ti's definitely one of my favourites!
Abi, Yr 12
Love, love love this book! The illustrations are beautiful and I really enjoyed the story overall, with it making me cry! It would have been interesting to see Siobhan Dowd's interpretation of the story, however Patrick Ness did a brilliant job! It's tough to see whether this is going to win or not, but ti's definitely one of my favourites!
Abi, Yr 12
A Monster Calls
By Patrick Ness
I absolutely loved this book! It was quirky and original with beautiful illustrations and powerful ideas. It was like reading a much loved book that I's read many times before, and it was incredibly moving for considering how short it was.
Rachel, Yr 12
I absolutely loved this book! It was quirky and original with beautiful illustrations and powerful ideas. It was like reading a much loved book that I's read many times before, and it was incredibly moving for considering how short it was.
Rachel, Yr 12
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
A Monster Calls
The name "Chaos Walking" suits this book aswell, Ness really stuck to his style on this one. Dark, very dark; I'm not complaining. I really enjoyed this book, we all now know that Ness was not just lucky with a trilogy - like J.k Rowling and the seven books of drivel known as Harry Potter - we know Ness can write a decent book that isn't backed up by one before that just got lucky (I never read New World but I count it as a Chaos Walking).
Then we get to the book itself, almost poetic, the "Monster" spoke the way you'd expect a wise old man to speak but could change to a Monster in a second. He lead Conner down a dark path, no following family, he seemed almost happy at the start though. Happy he was alone, his mother had cancer, that he was bullied and plagued with nightmares of a tree monster.
The entire thing was written in the same style as the Chaos Walking trilogy; dark, twisting, a certain hint to the writing that I can see but can never quite put my finger on.
The illustrations were yet another part of this book that added up up as awesome, the darkness of it, the style of it was almost goth, the Monster was - in my point of view - exactly how I would have imagianed it. A dark, twisted monster with tendrils and leaves, a brown that's closer to black than it is to brown. Just more perfection.
So, A Monster Calls is proof that Ness is more than just the amazing author of Chaos Walking, its proof Ness is an amazing author that we all hope will write more amazing novels. GO FOR THE SECOND WIN IN A ROW!
Louis Yr 9
Then we get to the book itself, almost poetic, the "Monster" spoke the way you'd expect a wise old man to speak but could change to a Monster in a second. He lead Conner down a dark path, no following family, he seemed almost happy at the start though. Happy he was alone, his mother had cancer, that he was bullied and plagued with nightmares of a tree monster.
The entire thing was written in the same style as the Chaos Walking trilogy; dark, twisting, a certain hint to the writing that I can see but can never quite put my finger on.
The illustrations were yet another part of this book that added up up as awesome, the darkness of it, the style of it was almost goth, the Monster was - in my point of view - exactly how I would have imagianed it. A dark, twisted monster with tendrils and leaves, a brown that's closer to black than it is to brown. Just more perfection.
So, A Monster Calls is proof that Ness is more than just the amazing author of Chaos Walking, its proof Ness is an amazing author that we all hope will write more amazing novels. GO FOR THE SECOND WIN IN A ROW!
Louis Yr 9
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Catching the Buzz
A couple of weeks in and the buzz surrounding the shortlisted titles is really getting loud. Students throughout the school are reading the mini-reviews up on the library board and the gossip around these books is spreading as half of us spend most of break and lunchtime talking about them!
Marvelous.
We're all a little distracted today by the release of Patrick Ness's new novel, A Monster Calls, which was supposed to arrive in multiple copies at some point during the day but hasn't yet appeared. *shakes fist at Amazon* Clearly they don't understand the importance of this day! Fingers crossed, they'll be here soon.
The temptation to buy the Kindle edition is very strong, but at £6.39, it's only 30p cheaper than a hard copy. Can this be right? An electronic copy that simply downloads to a device that you've already paid out for, costing only 30p less than a real, true, paper copy that you can hold in your hands, sniff (yeah, I know, I'm weird) and lend to other people? I know that the price of the hardback on Amazon is heavily discounted, to the extent that we no longer even look at the recommended retail price, but what do you guys think about book pricing? If they're discounting physical books, should we be expecting a proportionally cheaper electronic copy?
Discuss.
Marvelous.
We're all a little distracted today by the release of Patrick Ness's new novel, A Monster Calls, which was supposed to arrive in multiple copies at some point during the day but hasn't yet appeared. *shakes fist at Amazon* Clearly they don't understand the importance of this day! Fingers crossed, they'll be here soon.
The temptation to buy the Kindle edition is very strong, but at £6.39, it's only 30p cheaper than a hard copy. Can this be right? An electronic copy that simply downloads to a device that you've already paid out for, costing only 30p less than a real, true, paper copy that you can hold in your hands, sniff (yeah, I know, I'm weird) and lend to other people? I know that the price of the hardback on Amazon is heavily discounted, to the extent that we no longer even look at the recommended retail price, but what do you guys think about book pricing? If they're discounting physical books, should we be expecting a proportionally cheaper electronic copy?
Discuss.
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