Is it hard to read?
No, the spare, direct language keeps it accessible, and no prior knowledge is needed. The greater challenge is emotional: Conor faces fear, anger and the possibility of losing his mother.
Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 33 / 100Moderate
- Length
- 224 pagesCandlewick Press · 2013
- Reading time
- 4 h 30 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Moderate
- Emotional intensity
- 5 / 5
About 4 h 30 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 9 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Thirteen-year-old Conor O’Malley lives in England with his mother, who is undergoing cancer treatment, while school bullies and a recurring nightmare leave him increasingly isolated. At seven minutes past midnight, the yew tree near his house becomes a monster and calls his name. It promises him three stories, on the condition that he then tell a true story of his own.
Reader notes
The monster’s unsettling fairy tales interrupt everyday family life in a YA fantasy about fear, anger and the possibility of losing a parent. Spare language and flashes of dark humor keep it accessible, but the emotional weight is considerable, and the stories resist easy distinctions between heroes and villains.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Atmospheric · Direct · Lyrical
- Tone
- Dark · Intimate · Melancholic · Unsettling
- Structure
- Framed · Linear
- Collection
- Standalone
- Driven by
- Character · Ideas · Relationships
- Point of view
- Third person, limited
- Setting
- England
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 2 / 5
- Ideas
- 3 / 5
- Structure
- 3 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Coming of age
- Grief
- Guilt
- Isolation
- Knowledge and truth
- Mortality
Content notes
- Violence
- Mild
- Sexual content
- Mild
- Swearing
- Mild
- Substance use
- None
- Abuse
- Strong
- Self-harm or suicide
- None
Standing and awards
Highly regarded
- Carnegie Medal, 2012
- Kate Greenaway Medal, 2012
- Kitschies, 2011
- Los Angeles Times Book Prizes finalist, 2011
- Bram Stoker Award nominee, 2012
Questions readers ask
How dark and upsetting is it?
The emotional weight is considerable, with a mother undergoing cancer treatment, a recurring nightmare and Conor’s growing isolation. Flashes of dark humor interrupt the intimate, melancholic tone, but the monster’s fairy tales are unsettling.
What difficult content should I expect?
Strong abuse is the main content concern. Conor also faces school bullies and the possibility of losing a parent while his mother undergoes cancer treatment; violence is mild.
Are the monster’s stories simple moral lessons?
No, the unsettling fairy tales resist easy distinctions between heroes and villains. The monster promises three stories and requires a true story from Conor in return, bringing questions of truth and guilt into his everyday family life.
How long is it?
224 pages in the Candlewick Press 2013 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Candlewick Press · 2013 · paperback. ISBN 9780763660659.
How long does it take to read A Monster Calls?
About 4 hours 30 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 224-page Candlewick Press edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness is an American-British novelist and screenwriter best known for young adult fiction, though his career began with the adult novel The Crash of Hennington and the story collection Topics About Which I Know Nothing. His books often use speculative premises to place young people under intense moral and emotional pressure. The Chaos Walking trilogy makes thought itself public and unruly, combining experimental, fragmentary prose with questions of political control, violence, and responsibility. A Monster Calls approaches grief through a dark fable in which storytelling complicates easy divisions between truth and falsehood, innocence and guilt. Elsewhere, Ness shifts tone without abandoning his interest in isolation, loyalty, and the difficulty of seeing clearly: More Than This builds a mystery around death and uncertain reality, while The Rest of Us Just Live Here uses comedy and parody to move conventional heroes aside. His fiction is distinguished by direct narrative momentum, formally inventive voices, and close attention to characters confronting fear, loss, and coercive power. Ness has also written for film and television, including adapting A Monster Calls and creating the Doctor Who spin-off Class.
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Edition and details
- Publisher
- Candlewick Press
- Publication year
- 2013
- Format
- paperback
- Pages
- 224
- ISBN
- 9780763660659
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 2011
- Genres and form
- Fiction · Novel · Fantasy · Young Adult · Dark fantasy · Fable
- Editions
- 15
- Languages
- 3 (English, Italian, Unspecified)