Publisher: Amistad
Authors: Walter Dean Myers
List Price: $6.99
Amazon Price: $6.99
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Reviews:
Summary: Unethical Justice
Steve Harmon is a 16-year-old Harlem kid, who is on trial for assisting in the killing of a convenience store owner. The story is "written" by Steve in the form of a screenplay. He is an amateur, aspiring film-maker. This interesting narrative-convention allows us to simultaneously see the trial through Steve's reporting, feel Steve's fear and confusion, and still not know Steve's actual role in the robbery. Exploiting the limited but seemingly objective viewpoint offered through Steve's screenplay, Myers effectively captures the fear and doubt a young, black guy has concerning the US legal system. Steve is scared, and as he should be. Lawyers, judges, and jurors are cynical when it comes to crimes involving black youth. Whether this bias is the media's fault (definitely a factor, in my opinion), is inherent in our justice system (also a factor), the fault of citizens who no longer care to engage their critical faculties (check), or based on thoughtless habit and bigoted precedent (double-check)-- Myers does not point fingers, but he faultlessly explicates Steve's predicament: how a black kid must defend himself against snap judgments in a supposedly fair trial. Not to put the onus squarely on the justice system, Myers also shows us actual thugs through the characters of James King and thug-in-training Osvaldo Cruz. Myers wants readers to know that actions predicated on a thuggish mentality have grave consequences. The consequences are severe: violence against innocents, violence against thugs, jail-time, prison rape and violence, and a cynical legal system that is tired of hearing the same stereotypical cases repeated ad nauseum.
Whether Steve served as a look-out or not, the punishment for being found guilty is unduly harsh, especially keeping in mind that, by most estimations, Steve is a kid. An innocent store owner was murdered, and those even lightly associated with the crime will serve hard time. Steve had no idea discussing a scheme with thugs could land him in a gambit for his youth and freedom. This book was excellent, and kept me reading in one sitting, because I wanted to find out how Steve would make out, and if he actually committed the crime. The book answers one of these foregoing questions, and leaves the other out in order that readers can ponder the nature of current justice system, the plight of New York ghetto youth, and thug culture.
---Possible Spoilers Follow----
Did Steve do it? I think he did, but he was lucky enough to escape the unnecessarily harsh and unfair punishment allotted for him. I also think that spending a few days in lockup, and fighting for every argument in order to save his skin will scare him straight enough to never associate with thugs or discuss schemes ever again. In this way, I think his experience will serve as ad hoc aversion therapy, and in his case, is much better than prison ever could have been. Steve is an intelligent kid who nearly made a fatal mistake, allowing himself to be associated and suspected of a murder, which carries a heavy sentence in the US for young black men. The quote that most poignantly captures America's heavy-handedness with black youth, concerns Steve talking about how his younger brother isn't allowed to visit him in jail: "They didn't allow kids in the visiting area, which was funny. It was funny because if I wasn't locked up, I wouldn't be allowed to come into the visiting room."
Summary: ! MONSTER !
The book, Monster is about a boy named Steve Harmon who is 16 years old. Since he is in jail for a crime, everyday he writes in his notebook a movie that he is planning to film about his life. Not only his life but his experience. He'll call it what the prosecutor called him, MONSTER.
I really liked the book, Monster because once I was reading, I couldn't stop because it was sooo interesting to me and also because the book sounds more like non-fiction instead of fiction.
I can't really pick one part of the book that I liked only because I liked the whole book a lot. The evidence from the book that made me like the whole book started from the beginning of the book when the main chracter, Steve Harmon was writing in his notebook how he's going to film a movie about his life and experience.
I didn't think the author had to make anything better in the book because I really liked the book very much.
Summary: Monster
this is about a 16 year old boy named Steve harmon who is on trial for a murder/ crime he did not coomit but in a way was a part of it . he has a death penalty against him. is he telling the truth or will he b a liar in the juries eyes?
Indica stinson
Summary:
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