Ms. O Reads Books

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a creepy story ripe with meaning. The writing was superb and in light of the situation behind the story the tone fits perfectly. I jotted down several quotes that I liked. These page numbers will not reflect the final hard copy as they are from an electronic preview. I just share them as example of some of the beautiful turns of phrase.



"Stories are the wildest things of all, the monster rumbled. Stories chase and bite and hunt." (p 45) That's why we love stories, right? Because they make us feel things.

“You’re as old as the land and you’ve never heard of sarcasm?” (p 59) Irony. Gets me every time.

"Stories are wild creatures, the monster said. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?" (p 61) Again, very similar to the earlier quote. The power of story is one way in which we all come together as authors and readers. We find things we have in common after reading a book!

"Belief is half of healing." (p 139) Most doctors would agree with this. And it definitely can be a big part of emotional healing and coming to peace with things that are happening, even if it doesn't end up changing the final outcome.

"Connor's grief was a physical thing, gripping him like a clamp, clenching him as tight as a muscle. He could barely breathe from the sheer effort of it, and he sank to the ground again, wishing it would just take him, once and for all." (p 200) This is just beautiful. WHY CAN'T I WRITE LIKE THIS?

"You do not write you life with words, the monster said. You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do." (p 202) Another case where I am jealous of this author's power with the written word. In this case his action of writing the book in honor of Ms. Dowd is the important thing. The rest of us ... well, what will we DO?





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