Monsters aren't real. According to whom? What if a monster is a sheer replica of our subconscious and it appears in times of despair, sadness, or depression to aid in us dealing with traumatic experiences? This idea is seen throughout the novel A Monster Calls, written by Patrick Ness, several times over. Conor O'Malley is a young boy who constantly finds himself running away from the reality of his mother's illness. She is his everything, since his father left years prior to start a new family miles away and his austere grandmother wards off any opportunity of them forming a lovable relationship. In addition, Conor has limited friends at school because he is so aloof and entangled in his own mind. His peers realize this and use it to their advantage as they continuously bully him in hopes of retaliation.

Conor's mother absentmindedly and quite often refers to the old yew tree that lives out back from their kitchen window. Little does she know that Conor has repeated encounters with this same tree, but in a way unimaginable. It becomes quite clear early in the story that this rooted beast will serve a purpose bigger than Conor ever expected...that's if he can get past his own disillusionment of reality versus a lucid dream.

This book captures the reader's attention quickly, as we are thrown into the conflict right from page one. Though the mother's sickness is not described in grave detail early on, we see more of Conor's perspective which helps us understand that he is a tad bit in denial of her struggle. So, what does Conor do when he is faced with a gnarly tree that visits him in his dreams to give guidance and precaution of the challenges that lie ahead?

The short chapters and constant jumps of rising action move this read along in such a way that we find ourselves at the last chapter in no time. Ness doesn't prepare us for the emotional ride that we encounter until we're at the last page and realize just how far gone we were while reading this piece. The reader is left with a sense of reflection that leaves us to question our own personal dilemmas and how we choose to extinguish them, whether that be because a lack of experience or our own self-denial.