Seven minutes past midnight

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Seven minutes past midnight is a novel by the American writer Patrick Ness . It is based on an idea by the author Siobhan Dowd , which she was unable to implement due to her own death from cancer. The work published in the literary year 2011 with the original title A Monster Calls (German publication: 2011) tells the story of Conor who receives nightly visits from a monster.

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The focus of the story is 13 year old Conor O'Malley. Conor wakes up again and again from the same nightmare. He lives with his mother in a house near a large yew tree . One night at 0:07 a.m. the yew tree turns into a monster that suddenly stands in the garden and gets bigger and bigger and calls him. The monster explains to Conor that he called it and it will tell him three stories and in the end Conor will tell his true story.

Because his mother is sick, he has learned to be very independent so as not to be a burden for her. This behavior always makes his mother sad. His grandmother often takes care of her daughter after treatments and explains to Conor that he will probably live with her.

It is not easy for him in his school because he is bullied by Harry and his gang. The others in school, however, treat him like a raw egg or don't talk to him. The only person who wants to help him is his school friend Lily. He's angry with her because everyone knows about her that his mother is sick.

In another night, Conor the monster reappears at 12:07 am and tells him the first story. It should make him understand that nobody is just good or bad, but that everyone is something in between.

Conor's mother has to go back to the hospital and Conor to his grandmother because of that. Conor's father, who lives in America and has a new family there, comes to visit and Conor tells him that he would like to live with him, but his father immediately makes it clear that this is not possible.

When Conor is alone with his grandmother and still angry, the monster appears after breaking his grandmother's precious watch. It tells him the second story, which is about not losing your faith even in bad times. The story makes him very angry. He orders the monster what to destroy because he thinks he is only dreaming. When he is in the living room, the sight stunned him because everything has been destroyed. His grandmother comes back from the hospital and can only scream when she sees the chaos and spends the rest of the night in her room crying.

His mother's condition has now deteriorated again and there is only one remedy the doctors want to try. This remedy is made from the yew and Conor asks the monster, since it has the shape of a yew, whether it will heal its mother, but the latter only says that it is not his job.

Despite the mother's poor condition, Conor has to go to school. During the lunch break, the leader of the bullies tells Conor that he will not see him in the future because he is now invisible to him. The monster appears to tell the third story. It is the story of an invisible man who wanted to be seen again, and while the monster is telling this, it appears to Conor as if he is the monster, attacks the bully and beats him hospital-ready. The monster teaches him that to be feared is worse than not to be seen. Although this should result in expulsion from school, the headmistress refrains from doing so due to his situation and does not punish him.

In the classroom, Lily apologized to him the next day with a note and told Conor that she missed their friendship. But before he can answer her, he is called to the hospital. The medication didn't work and he talks to his mother for a moment before asking his grandma to drive him home. Once there, he runs to the tree and wakes the monster, who tells him that it is here to heal him and not her.

The monster now forces Conor to go through his nightmare. In this his mother is standing on a cliff and Conor tries to run to her, but he only succeeds when two fists tear his mother down. He still manages to hold on to her, but says that he won't be able to hold out for long. However, the monster makes him admit the truth to himself, namely that he could have held his mother even longer, but let go of her because he wants it to be over. After she falls and Conor feels guilty, the monster explains to him that it is not his fault, that he just wanted the pain to stop. And besides, it doesn't matter what he thinks, just matters what he does. When he wakes up, his grandma finds him and they drive to the hospital, where they stay until his mother dies.

literature

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