Mondays Are Red [Hardcover]

Nicola Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2003

Fourteen-year-old Luke begins to realize how much his views of the world and the people in it have changed when he wakes up from a coma after having meningitis. Suddenly he’s seeing two worlds at once. It’s like being in a computer and looking out, seeing first the things on the computer screen, and then the real other world beyond. What’s worse is there’s a strange ugly creature on the screen, who calls himself Dreeg. His voice oozes into Luke’s brain, offering to guide him. All Luke’s senses have changed: He associates days of the week with different colors, and music evokes tastes. He has a newfound way with words and begins seeing his annoying older sister, Laura, as a series of disgusting creatures.

Luke is left feeling frightened but intrigued. He seems to be getting better, but his mind is slowly being poisoned by Dreeg. The creature offers him gifts of recovery, the return of his athletic ability, a “dream” girlfriend, and even the power to fly. In return, all Luke has to do is turn against his friends and join in Dreeg’s evil plans.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-Luke, 14, wakes up from a meningitis-induced coma to discover he has contracted an unusual condition known as synesthesia in which his senses blur into one another, causing him to associate words and objects through odd juxtapositions of taste, sight, smell, touch, and sound. Even though Luke puts these new associations to good use in his poetry, he imagines himself haunted by a presence he calls "Dreeg," whose influence wavers from good to evil. Through a confused and truly bizarre chain of events, Luke, left physically weak from the coma, semi-deranged from the synesthesia, and under the influence of Dreeg, eventually embarks on a final mission to rescue his sister from a kidnapper. Although at times intriguing, the novel too often has its plot derailed by Morgan's confounding and lengthy hallucinogenic imagery, which is well conceived and sophisticated but doesn't enhance the story's pacing or characterization. The outcome is a confusing, hard-to-follow mystery that will lose most YA readers before they reach the halfway mark.
Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A chilling modern take on the Faust story by a stunning new literary talent. Children can join Luke on his odyssey to regain his health after a devastating illness. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; First edition. edition (October 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385730993
• ISBN-13: 978-0385730990
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,521,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MONDAYS ARE RED is a great book for discussion., July 26, 2004

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mondays Are Red (Hardcover)

Luke awakens from a near fatal bout with meningitis to find that his senses are profoundly altered. Mondays are red to him, music has smells, and he sees wasps in his sister's hair. It's a condition called synesthesia, thoroughly explained at the end.

Luke is also followed in his mind by the character Dreeg, an evil force that wants him to do things he finds very hard to resist in his weakened state. Dreeg wants him to play increasingly dangerous tricks on his sister Laura, but Luke fights against it. He also begins to see the ethereal Seraphina, who is like a good witch and who appears when he is at his lowest point. Suddenly, he is able to sense that Laura is in real danger and that no else can help her except him.

Nicola Morgan's first novel is an intricate psychological suspense story. Readers will be drawn into the sensory world Luke lives in through powerful language and imagery. They will be drawn in so thoroughly that it is at times difficult to determine who other characters are, real or imagined, and what is actually happening.

Definitely a mind trip, MONDAYS ARE RED is a great book for discussion.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing out the senses, December 8, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Mondays Are Red (Hardcover)

The Book I am doing a review on is, "Mondays Are Red", by Nicola Morgan. This is a story about a fourteen-year-old boy named Luke. Luke wakes up in the hospital with Synthesia (shifting of the senses). He finds out that he almost died from Meningitis. With Synthesia Luke now experiences a world he's never known. When he thinks of days of the weeks, he associates them with color, music with taste, feelings have smells and words have texture. The setting for the book takes place in modern day California. This book follows Luke as he realizes he has power and is faced with a decision to change the world. I absolutely loved this book, and highly recommend it. The author has a gift for bringing out the emotion of his characters.

5.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly Poetic, March 13, 2004

By 

Jessi Platt (Auburn, AL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mondays Are Red (Hardcover)

Morgan combines elements of horror and poetry in this tale of one boy's strange experience with synesthesia. After waking up in a hospital and learning that he has suffered a bout of meningitis, Luke Patterson quickly discovers that his life has taken a dramatic and confusing turn. With the help of a newfound imaginary friend named Dreeg whose form changes depending on Luke's feelings toward him, Luke learns that all of his senses are strangely blended. ("The fact that I tasted cinnamon when I looked at her and that every now and then butterflies flittered from her eyes was something I had come to expect by now from my muddled senses.") With this new realization comes the power to change situations by thinking about them, and with that power, a new sense of freedom. Luke now adds a new talent to his long-time passion for running and athletics training-the talent to write astonishingly beautiful and eerie poems and stories. Luke learns the dangers of his new powers just in time to prevent catastrophe in this hallucinogenic tale that is sure to please lovers of language and ignite new ways of thinking about ordinary sensations.