I’ve been vlogging my monthly reading piles for a while (September, August, July, May), but I’m not going to this month.
The reason for this is simple: I simply cannot trust myself not to cry while trying to describe A Monster Calls. A brief blurb: Conor’s mother is sick, very sick, and it appears the only thing that can save him from his nightmares is a monster that comes calling in the middle of the night.
I had tears in my eyes from about the half-way point and by the end I was sobbing great gulping breaths. The story, while set in our time, has a timeless quality to it. It embraces fear, but also resilience. Emotion, but perspective.
I can’t say too much without giving away spoilers. The illustrations are stark and evocative. It would be an excellent book to recommend to people (teenagers and adults alike) who are experiencing or processing grief. Perhaps that’s why it affected me so much.
I’ve wanted to read A Visit From the Goon Squad ever since it won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The novel is a series of connected short stories, in vogue at the moment, which are used to varying effect. I finished it feeling slightly unsatisfied: as short stories they work fine (though some are better than others) but do they add up to a unified, cohesive whole? I’m not sure. The Slap feels more ‘complete’ for me, for example. Perhaps the back-and-forth swing of time in Goon Squad contributed to my opinion too. On the plus side, she really nails an observation and the famed chapter written as a power point presentation is inspired.
I picked up Crazy Heart at the library the other day pretty much because it was there and I couldn’t find anything else that I wanted. A Monster Calls was still in my system, if that makes sense.
What are you reading at the moment? Can you recommend something good?
