Last Night I Sang to the Monster

A finalist for the PEN USA Literary Award, this novel sensitively captures a teen’s recovery from alcohol abuse and depression.

Zach is pretty sure that when he was born, God wrote Sad on his heart. Now, at eighteen, he finds himself with a drinking problem and walking the halls of rehab instead of high school. The thing is, he doesn’t remember exactly how he checked in.

Instead of a dog, Zach has a therapist. He’d rather have a dog. The dog wouldn’t push Zach to remember. Maybe remembering would be worse.

But as Zach tentatively makes friends and opens up to the process, he begins to wonder if he might be capable of happiness, too.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz is a novelist, poet, essayist and writer of children’s books. He has received the Wallace Stegner Fellowship, the Lannan Fellowship and an American Book Award. He teaches at the University of Texas at El Paso, and considers himself a fronterizo, a person of the border.