The story is basically about Conor O’Malley’s mum slowly dying of cancer. As a result, Conor is having nightmares. Every time he has a nightmare, Conor wakes up at exactly 12:07am. But one day the yew tree, in the shape of a monster visits him. However, Conor’s monster isn’t your ordinary monster, it is different. It is not there to terrify him. It wants to …show more content…
Although he is sarcastic, he detests school and despises visiting his grandma; the reader can deduce that he is extremely mature for his age. This is because his mum has cancer and is almost always sick, so he had to become her caretaker. Because of this, he’s had to grow up faster than other pre-teens.
Another main character is Conor’s grandma. Because Conor’s mum is almost always in the hospital, his grandma has to come and look after him. Again, Conor’s grandma isn’t your average grandma. She lives in a pristine house, she still works as a real estate agent and dyes her hair so her grey hair won’t show. Although she has good intentions for Conor’s mother’s sake, she is just one more person who doesn’t like or understand Conor.
Two main themes in A Monster Calls are isolation and suffering. Ever since his mother got sick, Conor has been feeling lonely. Not only do her treatments take her away from him, his friends and teachers are ignoring him. This is because they don’t know what to say to him now that he’s experiencing losing a dying mother. The suffering Conor’s mother is feeling is wanting to be at peace from her tremendous amounts of pain. But the rest of her family has to endure and suffer the grief of her