Last week, I reviewed The Man Who Invented Christmas. Tina compared the Cormoran Strike books with the TV series. Mike gave us a comprehensive look at the A-Z of Christmas in Britain - just reading that improved my Christmas spirit. Gaele reviewed one novel set in the mid-20th century, The Shop Girls of Lark Lane, and another set during the holiday season, Christmas at Strand House.
A Monster Calls is hard to slot into a genre. There are some real scares, but it's not so terrifying that you could call it horror. There's a child at the center of the story, but it's not necessarily a film for children - there are some young people who really should see it and others who might be better off with a preserved innocence for a while longer. There are lots of fantasy elements, but the plot is no one's fantasy.
A Monster Calls is a story about grief. If you've ever experienced a loss, this story will be healing, but not in a comforting way. This film embraces the concept of "the only way out is through." As anyone who has experienced grief knows, there's very little that is a true comfort. The closest thing to comfort is to know that you aren't the first and won't be the last to experience grief. A Monster Calls reminds us that no matter how weird our response to grief feels, it's very likely within the bounds of normal human experience.
My favorite setting in A Monster Calls was the quintessential churchyard complete with grave stones and an ancient yew tree. When I needed an English village for a setting in my NaNoWriMo project, I looked for one with just such a churchyard and found it in Tisbury, Wiltshire. St. John's church claims to have the second-oldest yew tree in Britain at 4000 years old and it has it's own web page.
Have you seen this film? What did you think?
About Joy Weese Moll
a librarian writing about books