A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

A Monster Calls follows the story of a thirteen year old boy, named Conor, who is learning to live with his mother's cancer diagnosis and her declining health.  With his mother's treatments also come nightmares for Conor.  Conor begins to be visited by a monster at 12:07 as he wakes from his nightmares.  The monster is formed out of a yew tree he can see from his bedroom window.  The yew tree monster tells Conor that he will tell him three true stories.  After the monster tells his three stories, Conor must tell a true story of his own.  If the monster determines that Conor's story is untrue, the monster will eat Conor.  The only problem is that Conor's story and his truth are not going to be easy to talk about.

The original creator, Siobhan Dowd, was terminally ill with cancer herself when she started working on this story.  She died before she could finish writing it.  Patrick Ness then took over and expanded the idea into the work it is today.  Ness also worked with a beautiful illustrator, Jim Kay, to really bring life to Siobhan's ideas.  The book has now been adapted to a film starring Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Liam Neeson, and Sigourney Weaver.  They also adapted it into a stage production in 2018, which looks phenomenal from the trailer and previews available online.

As soon as the story opens, you realize this is not going to be an easy, light-hearted read. Conor's mother is very sick, and the author isn't shy in showing the realities of cancer in a household.  For anyone who is sensitive to these topics or has experience with sick parents, just be aware that they don't sugarcoat the experience.  Make sure you have your tissues ready.  As someone who lost a parent to cancer at 17, I can so relate and empathize with Conor.  Especially his anger.  The ending of the book was so cathartic and something I really needed to read.  It really spoke to me on a personal level and helped me work through some of my own struggles surrounding my father's passing.  I don't cry often while reading, but I was crying through the ending of this book.  The ending was exactly what it needed to be.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5
* Positives: Not too long - 226 pages; Interesting concept and idea; Spot on in terms of reality of the story line (at least for me)

* Negatives: A part of me wonders if you have to have experienced grief like this to "get it."  I saw a few different reviews from people who were annoyed or unfazed by the story.  I'm thinking they are just in the wrong demographic (or soulless people who have no heart) but if someone has no concept of grief, then they may not understand where Conor is coming from.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

What a rollercoaster...

I came across Donna Tartt while watching a BookTuber -- a YouTuber who makes book specific videos -- named BooksandLala.  She had read Donna's book “The Secret History” and raved about how fantastic it was.  When I pulled up all of Donna Tartt’s books, I noticed that “The Goldfinch” had just started filming in New York and is due for release in 2019.  I’m a sucker for book to film adaptations.  You know the book must be good if they want to make a movie out of it.  An extra bonus was my timing.  They already have most of the casting in place for the movie.  While reading about a new character, I would pull up the cast list pictures to help visualize what they might look like.

The book opens with Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old, and his mother preparing to have a conference at his New York prep school due to some behavioral issues.  On the way, they stop at an art museum to see one of his mother’s favorite art pieces, Carel Fabritius’s The Goldfinch.  While casually walking through the art gallery, Theo notices a red-headed girl and a grandfatherly figure with her.  He continually catches her eye but never works up the courage to talk to her.  As they prepare to leave the museum, a bomb explodes knocking him unconscious.  Theo comes to, covered in rubble and dust, and sees the grandfather of the red-head close to him. In the old man’s last moments, he hands Theo the ring he is wearing and seems to signal to The Goldfinch, which has been blown out of it’s frame, and tells him to take the ring to a specific location.  In his altered and concussed state, Theo grabs the painting and the dying man’s ring and exits the museum out a side door with no idea where his mother is.  He then returns to his apartment to wait for his mom, hoping that she will meet him there.  Sadly, she never comes home.  The rest of the book follows Theo as he battles grief, post-traumatic stress disorder, and hiding The Goldfinch painting. 

I decided to read this book on my e-reader versus the physical book.  I seem to be drawn towards larger 400+ page books, if you haven't noticed from the majority of my previous reads.  This one is no exception.  The e-reader had it listed as 515 pages.  It was reserved from my library, so I only had two weeks to finish it before I would need to renew it.  I buckled down and tried to fly through it.  Luckily, the plot was drama-filled enough to keep me entertained and kept me flipping quite easily.  I finished the book with mere hours to spare before a renewal was needed.  Mind you, I would stay up until 2AM many a night, but what book-lover doesn't do that to begin with?

Bathing in my glory of finishing the book, I glanced at a few other reviews to see if my thoughts fell into the general consensus.  I saw a lot of reviews saying that it was "too long" or that it dragged in sections.  I was confused as to how people believed that entire chunks of the book could have been edited out, when I saw that the physical book is actually 800+ pages...... You mean to tell me that I just flew through an 800 page book in 2 weeks?  I was baffled by the page difference between my e-reader and the physical copy.  It made me wonder if it would have been a more difficult read if I knew there were an extra 300 pages to get through.  It can be daunting looking at the size of a book or seeing the never-ending numbers flipping in the corner of the page.  Perhaps some people just lost interest due to the size alone and less their connection with the story line.

In conclusion, this book is a chore to take on.  I wouldn't consider it a casual beach read by any means.  But I think it will make a fabulous movie and is well worth the time spent.  The plot is thick with twists and turns and never lets the characters settle into comfort.  I'm very interested in Donna Tartt's other books now.

Rating: 5 out of 5
* Positives: Exciting plot; author's investment to research and attention to detail when writing about specific subjects (ex: art history, grief, substance abuse); and it is so well written!

* Negatives: Size of the book and the number of snacks consumed while reading this behemoth 

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

My mom was catching up with an old friend, who is now a middle school English teacher.  She was talking about the books on her class syllabus this year being The Giver, The Hobbit, and Wonder.  My mom asked if the teacher had an extra copy she could borrow, which thankfully she lent us.  The Giver and The Hobbit are both stellar books, and the teacher raved about how wonderful Wonder was as well.  For it to be in the same category as the other two, I figured it would be worth reading.

We are introduced to August or "Auggie" Pullman, who is going into fifth grade.  To make that situation even more daunting, this is Auggie's first year in a public school setting.  He has previously been home schooled due to all of his vast medical issues.  Auggie was born with a condition called mandibulofacial dysostosis, which can result in facial abnormalities.  Throughout the book, he has to battle with the normal struggles of fitting in, making friends, and school work, all while his classmates whisper behind his back and are afraid to touch him because of how he looks.

Not only do we see Auggie's point of view during the school year, but we are given insight into a few different characters as well.  We see some view points of Auggie's friends, Auggie's sister (Via or Olivia), and a few other outer characters as well.  This allows the reader to see an outsider's perspective on Auggie's teasing and how his friend's and family react to his trials.  Auggie knows the difficulty he faces on a day to day basis, but I don't know if he realizes the difficulties his friend's and family face to be there for him the way they choose to be.

I think this is a fabulous book for a middle school English class.  It seems like it would be a wonderful way to drive home an anti-bullying policy instead of trying to lecture from the front of the classroom.  You feel invested with the characters and truly want to see the best for all of them.  I would love to see a future book about Auggie going to high school to see a follow-up timeline.  I do know that the book is being made into a movie starring Owen Wilson, Julia Roberts, and Jacob Tremblay, but I'm not sure when it's coming to theaters.  In the end, Wonder shows us the power of kindness, the strength of friendship, and that you can always overcome your adversities.  It's a lovely, heartwarming story that is well worth the read.

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Nicola Yoon is the current "it girl" of young adult literature.  Both of her books are New York Times Bestsellers, and her previous book was recently released as a film.  The cover art of this particular book is STUNNING.  Seriously beautiful.  I'm sure you've all heard the adage to "never judge a book by its cover" before, but I'm positive that people have picked up this book purely because of the beautiful cover art.  I wouldn't be surprised if this book is a movie in a year or two based on how well it has been doing.

"The Sun is Also A Star" is a story about Natasha and Daniel.  Daniel is scheduled to have a recommendation interview so he can attend Yale in a few years.  Natasha's family is going to be deported at the end of the day, and she is desperate to find a way to stay.  The book follows all of the details and happenstance moments of the one day they have together in New York City.  Natasha is a realist, cynic, and data driven pessimist.  Daniel is a hopeless romantic, a poet, and waits for the wind to blow him in the right direction.  Opposites truly attract in their situation.  Daniel falls head over heals for Natasha within moments of meeting her.  He then tries to convince Natasha that he can make her fall in love with him.  Throughout the day, we also catch glimpses into the backstory of why Natasha's family is being deported, Daniel's resistance to attending Yale, and other people they meet along the journey.

Similar to my "Catcher in the Rye" review, I think you will appreciate the book more if you truly enjoy the young adult genre and/or you are a young adult.  It had the tear-jerking, heavy make-out scenes, and easy-read style of a young adult book, but it doesn't have the same romantic capacity of a Nicholas Sparks book.  I thought it was really sweet and endearing to peak into the character's lives for a day instead of spending years following a relationship.  It makes it a much more casual read, but you still feel invested in the outcome.  I can understand why the young adult generation is raving about the book so wildly.

I think a lot of people are drawn to the book for her diversity in character development as well.  The typical blonde-hair, blue-eyed, popular girl is such romance novel trope character.  Seeing teenage characters that are actually outside that realm is refreshing and different.  The plot lines around deportation and family loyalty were such a lovely dynamic.  Granted, I haven't read a wide selection of other romance novels recently, so they may all revolve around similar themes nowadays.  Maybe I need to read other romance books to truly compare.  Perhaps that will be a future review for a different month!