Last Night I Sang to the Monster

Well, after reading my YA favourite ("Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets to the Universe") I thought I might give this a try. It's by the same author and I can truly say that this book was not a let down. Probably not as good as Aristotle and Dante, but definitely in the region. The book was full of great characters, brilliant themes and a storyline that was proper quality.

Again, sorry if the typeface looks a little dodgy - I still haven't got my laptop with me since there ain't no point lugging it around at the Brum Lit Fest.

Characters:

The narrator (Zach) was  my favourite character. He was drinking, driving and smoking all by the age of thirteen and not to mention the kind of weird love/hate relation he had with his father. There was always a sense of lamentation in whatever he said - not like he was feeling sorry for himself, but like he was looking back on his life trying to find out where he went wrong. 

Themes:

My favourite theme was family and friendship. There was a sense that Zach had a better relation with his friend Adam at times than his own father. The amount of love and hate that was going on between him, his father and his mother was a bit too much to take at times. Especially with his mother. He explains how his mother's clinical depression sometimes made him annoyed - but then he forgave her after a while. It was quite poetic in its analysis of these events. 

Storyline:

The storyline - as I said, was quality. There was a massive cathartic lamentation that seemed to underpin whatever happened in the book and that, I believe, was my favourite thing about it all. From start to finish - there's a sense of contentment, but never a sense of actual happiness. There's a sense of hatred and irritation - but never a sense of violent loathing. Feelings never become too extreme and there's always that little part of Zach that tells him whether he should be loving this person in difficult times - same goes for the other characters towards Zach. 

Verdict:

I give this book 8/9

100% for characters: Zach and Adam are both complex characters and to put that much complexity into a YA novel successfully is difficult. This book truly succeeded.

100% for themes: I really enjoyed the theme of family and friendship intertwining with the storyline. It worked very well. 

2/3 for storyline: It wasn't AS good as "Aristotle and Dante" - okay now I wanna read that book again.