A MONSTER CALLS REVIEW

‘A Monster Calls’ is a 2011 novel written by Patrick Ness, who

wrote the novel with the original idea from the great Sibohan
David and who sadly passed away just before writing her fifth
novel (A Monster Calls). In this review I will be
discussing the original plot, the movie and my overall review of
the two.

PLOT
The Story follows a young boy -Conor O’ Malley- who keeps
having the same horrible nightmare, ever since his mother
started her Cancer treatments until one night a monster shows
up but it’s not the monster Conor expecting. This monster wants
something much different. It wants the truth.
This plot is a very compelling one but also very heart
wrenching as we go through the book we learn more and more
about Conor’s struggles and adversities. We learn that Conor
has to suffer some things that a twelve year old boy should never
have to go through. It is also a very powerful story that hooks
you in from the very first sentence, “The monster showed up
after midnight. As they do” showing that Conor has seen some
things that a normal kid would have never such as monsters.
The characters are just perfection as well. Siobhan David
created an amazing story with amazing characters but Patrick
Ness expanded on this characters in such unbelievable ways. I
cried when I read it.
 THE MOVIE
When considering the movie adaptation to the book we need
to take into notice that the movie was only one hour and fourth
eight minutes meaning somethings did have to be cut out such as
the remnants from the tree’s visit to “prove” he has came has
completely been cut. One thing that did bug me about the movie
is that Conor’s dad (who came to visit him from America). In
the book Conor’s dad has an American accent and has a heart-
felt conversation about Conor wanting to move in with his dad
meanwhile in the movie it is still heartfelt yet it only includes
Conor’s dads backstory more than Conor’s want to move in
with him which symbolises how he at that moment hated living
with Grandma. Other than that one tiny problem I thought the
movie itself was heartbreaking, some would say more than the
book. The casting for Conor and Harry was perfect. Every time
Harry was on screen I wanted to punch him as it should be. And
Conor’s actor perfectly resembles what a mentally challenged
thirteen year old boy would look like. Credits to the Director,
J.A Bayona for casting the perfect actors in these roles.