Have you ever dealt with addiction? Has it had an impact on your family or someone close to you? I just finished Last Night I Sang to the Monster and I really enjoyed it. Zach, the main character, tells us a fragmented story as he attempts to put his life back together. We meet Zach inside a treatment center as he battles alcohol addiction. We also meet many other interesting addicts - especially Rafael and Sharkey. But Zach's story is different, as he doesn't remember how he got to the treatment center - what happened that finally set him over the edge?
The beginning of the story was slow going - I had a hard time connecting with Zach. The story was very choppy and his expressions just became repetitive and boring. But as each character told their story during therapy ("Storytime"), and as we learned more about Zach, I really became attached and cared about what happened to each of them. Like Zach, I was upset when Sharkey left and cried along with him at certain key points in this story. And it is very powerful when he finally reveals his story and what caused him to end up where he is. I loved the character of Adam and how he was such a positive character in the story. Definite 4 out of 5 - thanks to Benjamin Alire Saenz for a great story about addiction, battling addiction, and survival.
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