Monster (Amistad) by Walter Dean Myers Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Monster (Amistad)
Book Review: Guilty until proven innocent
Summary: 4 Stars
I had the pleasure of reading this book for my literature class for the past couple of weeks. The plot was believable because there are so many situations where the innocent are punished for the crimes of others. Steve is a young boy who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
During the trial you have a chance to get into his head. He is just a scared little boy who was forced to grow up because he knew someone involved in a crime. His lawyer doesn't believe that he is innocent but she tries the case as if she does. It's amazing what people will do to win.
The irony of his xwhole situation is that had he dnot been standing trial for felony murder, she would never have been allowed into the prison. The novel is written as a screenplay with little journal entries added along the way. It does a great job of placing you right in the middle of the court room. You feel what Steve feels throughout the entire story. His fear of being convicted and spending the rest of his life in prison is very real.
The pain that his parents experience when the have to visit their sixteen year old son in jail is something that I would not wish on my worst enemy. Monster is a scary look at a very real problem in our justice system. Sometime people fall through the cracks.
Book Review: A book of monstrous creativity
Summary: 3 Stars
Monster, By Walter Dean Myers is a well thought out and well planned novel demonstrating the struggles of a colored teen boy in Harlem. The novels plot is one that is easy to follow as well as clear and realistic; however, in a way it is a slow plot made to be simple.
This novel tells the story of a sixteen year old boy named Steven Harmon who is on trial for murdering a store owner when a robbery went bad. Stevens story progresses with the trial and it moves at a slow pace, making it hard for the reader to stay intrigued at times. Subplots are used to contribute well to the overall theme of the novel and encourage the reader to continue. The slow moving atmosphere of the story makes it difficult to maintain the reader's attention but the pacing does match the genre of the novel. It is not an adventure novel, it is a story written to be dramatic and realistically depict the stereotypes and struggles of today's people with the law.
Myers did not include many details in this novel and this fact can either be detrimental to its impact, or it can amplify it by unspeakable measures. The reader must have an independent imagination in order to comprehend and have true interest in this novel. Although there is a lack of details, the dialogue contributes to successfully developing realistic and believable characters that the reader can relate to as well as creating some sort of setting which the reader can expand upon when reading.
The dialogue and the rhythm of the words changes as the scenes change along with the people speaking. This helps the reader to distinguish between the characters and to find the story more convincing as well as realistic. In today's society people speak in many different ways with many different accents, Myers includes these speech diversities and therefore allows us -the readers- to distinguish the characters personality and a sort of relationship with them which will then help to deliver his overall theme in the end.
Book Review: Guilty or Innocent?
Summary: 3 Stars
Guilty or Innocent? Imagine having to spend the rest of his life in jail. But for what you ask. Maybe it was something as simple as trying to fit in, trying to prove that you are tougher or stronger then someone else. Or, maybe your getting accused or murdering an important person in someone's community. Or maybe you're getting accused of robbery. Or maybe it's both. In Walter Dean Myers' Monster, this is just what happens to Steve Harmon in this fast moving novel, which is actually written like a movie script.
The court room is filled with drama, and so is Steve's life, and because Steve is made out to be a "real character" our lives to, seems to be filled with drama. We go through Steve's struggles with him, and we want him to be proven innocent, as much as he wants to be proven innocent. But really, do we want to know who he truly is? Do we want to know if Steve is truly a monster? This story is filled with so much suspense and as the reader, we just want to keep the pages flipping. The reader finds about Steve's struggles with his family, and learns about his fears in jail. The reader also learns the truth about Steve's past, from insight directly to his past, and through that we learn that and the crime that he really committed. We watch the relationship between Steve and his Father as it disintegrates into nothing, and we relate to Steve as he gets ripped apart. We relate to Steve's fears of being in jail, of being alone, and of being hurt, and we as the reader feel hurt also. Steve is such a real person, it makes him so easy to relate to, and want to relate to.
The way that Myers wrote this book really makes the reader feel for Steve as he searches within himself to try to prove to himself that he is not a monster, even though he is presented as one so many times through the novel. The story line builds with no definite answers to weather or not Steven is a monster, or weather or not he is guilty. This story is chock-full of emotions that readers will, once again find the book hard to put down.
Book Review: Monster Critique
Summary: 3 Stars
Monster written by Walter Dean Myers is a novel about a young man who finds himself in a precarious situation. Steve Harmon's entire life lays balanced on the tip of a knife; that knife is the jury that will ultimately decide if his accused crime of felony murder is punishable by life in prison or worse death, or if he may walk free among the living people.
Steve Harmon is a kid who fell in with the wrong crowd growing up, living in Harlem, New York doesn't help maters much. His story unfolds in such a believable way that it is obvious the Myers was intending to connect with the youth, or open some far more sheltered eyes. The swiftness of the text gives the reader nothing to go on, it is like we are jurors ourselves and must examine each part of the story, except we get the added bonus of notes from the defendant as he sits in the court room or in jail. While we are able to understand what is happening because it is all spelled out for us in either words or setting, there isn't much from a readers view to go on other than the words of the attorneys and witnesses. This may be seen as an initial hindrance because most authors want the reader to sympathize with the protagonist right off; however Myers shakes up the cores of literature by giving us only enough that we can vaguely see it all with a semi-unbiased attitude. In this way he keeps us guessing right up to the very end and beyond.
Towards the end of the novel we must ask ourselves if Steve has truly reformed or learned anything from his ordeal. Is there something that he took out of it all and will make himself better for it. The truth is I am unable to guess. Ms O'Brien seems to think that there was something wrong with Steve at the end. What is probably the question on every readers lips as with Steve as he closes his book, "What did she see?" (281)
The tempo of the peace moves fast enough that it is obviously a young adult novel and entices the young readers with each page turn, perhaps promising a glimpse as to what actually happened that day, but Myers knows better than to give that all away. He keeps the reader guessing, I seriously thought that he would end the book without giving the reader the verdict. If he had done that I have no doubt that there would be blog upon blog about Monster and its re-written endings. But even now I have no doubt that out there somewhere there is a blog or chat in which people are moaning about the ending of the book and how they saw it leading in another direction, maybe a few will even take a stab at FanFiction writing and just tell the story as they think it should have ended.
Thought we are not given much by way of describing a court room, or jail for that matter, it is not hard for any of the youth of America to imagine a court room or jail. Though the majority of us have never been to either place in person, the modern day media does all the describing for you. When you look at day time television, what is it, news, soap operas, talk shows, and Court shows. Judge Judy has become a classic parody of modern culture. Movies from the Green Mile to My Cousin Vinnie show completely different images of a jail and yet we still get the same kind of stories we are getting from Steve just on a visual way. In this way modern media is basically writing all the description for Steve, because if it were a film, you can parody the stuff that's already out there and you're all set.
Each character is portrayed beautifully for the time and place. Steve isn't worried about gangrene in Jail, nor is the stenograph typing on a type writer one letter at a time. The "props" and setting fit in perfectly with the modern feel of the book and there for correspond with the overall flow of the book. Consistent through out is the events. They all fall when they should on the timeline of things, both in the legal terms and guidelines, and in reality. Steve Harmon's character is so much easier to believe because his trial is going as it should and he is trying his best to be a good boy and do what he has to do to get out, without ever actually breaking the law or lying flat out.
Characters, whether protagonist or antagonist, are important to a piece of literature and Myers obviously thinks so too. He doesn't confuse the reader by switching protagonists back and forth in piece of literature, He also allows the reader to swallow any little bits of background information before moving on to the next segment. He doesn't give a whole story of Steve's life leading up to the trial then the trial, nor by any means is it all a memory, he's not looking back on something with a biased point of view. It seems almost crucial to Myers that he tells his story so that readers will understand but not become too enveloped in Steve Harmon's story.
While spoken language may cause problems in other stories Myers doesn't let it ruin his tale. Yes, his characters all have a particular way of speaking, but it is not so heavy and thick that we cannot understand it, and by no means is it really simple as to insult the young reader. Myers finds the right balance in which he gives his characters different voices but doesn't let these voices digress from the real story. It is obvious from some of Steve's notes that he is an educated young man and has the power to use the English language well, but when we speak outside a classroom or boardroom, our language discipline tends to relax and the same holds true the Steve Harmon and his cohorts. Each man or woman has ways of speaking, like the lawyers talk in riddles with all their double talking and saying a lot without saying anything, the street men of Harlem have slang, and innuendos for everything they do, they have to or will get in trouble with the law. But even with these language differences, they really do nothing more than distinguish one person from another and help to move the story along with some interest.
It's hard to tell, the book seems to shift between a camera's point of view which I think would be a veiled third person, meaning we don't really get to see or hear the feelings of all those involved but we still are not viewing the scene from the eyes of Steve. The other view is Steve's own thoughts or notes he scribbles down on paper, these are totally first person and are just trying to get down on paper that which is going on around him and possibly lighten the load that is undoubtedly weighing down on Steve's shoulders.
All I can say is Brava Mr. Myers, Brava.
Book Review: So-so
Summary: 3 Stars
I think the book was really well written. The style was very original and interesting, but I don't feel the book was very challenging. The format kept you wondering what the outcome would be and I found myself constantly changing my mind. The charcters were very realiztic and the story had a good consistant pace where I didn't find myself bored or overwhelmed. All in all I'd say it was a good quick read.