Review of MONSTER
A. Myers, Walter Dean. MONSTER. New York: HarperCollins, 1999
B. PLOT SUMMARY: 16 year old Steve Harmon is studious and his favorite class is media and film making at his Harlem high school. He is articulate and bright and it seems also that he is at exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. There is a robbery at a convenience store. Two young men are designated to rob and or shoot. Someone is to go in and case the joint first and another young man is delegated to keep people outside from coming in to apprehend the suspects. Whether Steve cased the joint ahead of time we are not quite sure. His time in jail is unbearable to him. As he tries to go to bed at night he hears other inmates being beaten, being sexually abused and crying. During the incarceration and the trial Steve keeps a journal. He decides the best way for him to deal with the stress of a possible death sentence or 25 to life is to write a screenplay of his life in jail and his time in the court room. His journal entries are more than poignant and they may well serve the current generation like the documentary “Scared Straight” served my generation.
C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
I have been a Walter Dean Myers fan for a very long time. I loved MOTOWN AND DEE DEE years ago and have never found a Myers book that I didn’t think was a substantial contribution to YA literature. MONSTER is a particularly moving novel of good and bad and how they too often overlap and become confused especially for young adults living in unsafe urban areas. Myers wrote urban fiction before that was a catch phrase. MONSTER is almost impossible not to read in one sitting.
I can’t imagine MONSTER not appealing to young adults. It is young adult realistic fiction at its finest! MONSTER looks to be printed in Steve’s handwriting and the movie script and commentary appear to be typed which is a very novel looking script for today’s young people. From movie script to journal entries and back again the dialog and narrative flow like a bestseller but there is more depth here than many adult novels currently on the New York Times bestseller list! Steve has never been known to be a violent or tempestuous young man. Neither has he been considered a coward.
I am not usually a bleeding heart regarding crime but I cannot understand how a young man who doesn’t shoot, rob, or kill a man during a burglary could possibly get the death penalty. His attorney is concerned as the trial goes on that Steve begins to look more and more like the young African American witnesses who have done jail time for numerous offenses and are testifying in the trial. Criminals are turning state’s evidence to help their own case which is a common occurrence and problem in our criminal justice system.
I realize that MONSTER is an eight year old but it seems to me just the book that our young African American males need to read today. Males we are loosing to the criminal justice system day after day. This is a book that famous African American men from different parts of the spectrum would applaud in my estimation. Yes, there may be things that Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Bill Cosby could agree upon.
Myers deftly builds up and fleshes out his characters. Steve and his attorney, a white female named O’Brien are written about with an eye for detail and nuance. Steve becomes very real after a few short pages. We root for him. We are scared for him. We want to cry for him and I believe many young people can relate to him. His age will appeal to young readers and the mugshot cover will as well.
Following are some of my favorite excerpts from the novel. All of these come from Steve’s diary. “They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can’t kill yourself no matter how bad it is. I guess making you live is part of the punishment.” (Myers, page 18)
“Miss O’Brien—I didn’t see her looking at me but I knew she was. She wanted to know who I was. Who was Steve Harmon? I wanted to open my shirt and tell her to look into my heart to see who I really was, who the real Steve Harmon was.” (Myers, page 92.)
“That’s what I was thinking about, what was in and what that made me. I’m just not a bad person. I know that in my heart I am NOT a bad person.” (Myers, page 93.)
Steve is having stomach problems quite often. He just can’t get use to using the bathroom in from of everyone.
“I’ve never seen my father cry before. He wasn’t crying like I thought a man would cry. Everything was just pouring out of him and I hated to see his face. What did I do? WHAT DID I DO? Anybody can walk into a drug store and look around. Is that what I’m on trial for? I didn’t do nothing but everybody’s just messed up with the pain. I didn’t fight with Mr. Nesbitt. I didn’t take any money from him.”
D. REVIEW EXCERPTS:
Horn Book praises MONSTER: “Taylor-made for readers' theater, this book is a natural to get teens reading—and talking.
School Library Journal says, “
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-Steve Harmon, 16, is accused of serving as a lookout for a robbery of a Harlem drugstore. The owner was shot and killed, and now Steve is in prison awaiting trial for murder. From there, he tells about his case and his incarceration. Many elements of this story are familiar, but Myers keeps it fresh and alive by telling it from an unusual perspective. Steve, an amateur filmmaker, recounts his experiences in the form of a movie screenplay. His striking scene-by-scene narrative of how his life has dramatically changed is riveting. Interspersed within the script are diary entries in which the teen vividly describes the nightmarish conditions of his confinement. Myers expertly presents the many facets of his protagonist's character and readers will find themselves feeling both sympathy and repugnance for him. Steve searches deep within his soul to prove to himself that he is not the "monster" the prosecutor presented him as to the jury. Ultimately, he reconnects with his humanity and regains a moral awareness that he had lost
REVIEWS ACCESSED FROM:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780439272001&itm=2
and
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Walter-Dean-Myers/dp/0064407314/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196930323&sr=1-2
CONNECTIONS:
If students have not read other Walter Dean Myers books I would certainly encourage them to do that. I have a feeling SCORPIONS would be a good mix as Myers’ next book for YAs to read. Victoria Hamilton has many noteworthy books and characters who happen to be African American. I would like to see a field trip to a jail for any child that is grade 4 or above
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