FICTION, FANTASY AND YA LITERATURE BLOG #3: MONSTER

FICTION, FANTASY AND YA LITERATURE BLOG #3: MONSTER


BIBILIOGRAPHY

Myers, Walter Dean. 1999. Monster. New York, NY. Harper Collins Children’s Books. ISBN: 0-06-028077-8


PLOT SUMMARY

Steve Harmon is a sixteen year old by from Harlem who finds himself on trial for murder. The book’s title comes from the word that the lady prosecutor calls him. Monster. So what really happened? What did Steve do? Was he a part of the robbery gone wrong, at the wrong place at the wrong time, or guilty because he has the same brown skin as the criminals? The reader is able to act as a fly on the wall in the courtroom by reading the fast paced screen play of the courtrooms activities. The handwriting typeface journal entries from Steve allow the reader to understand Steve’s feelings and fears while he sits in jail awaiting the verdict. This fast paced book has the reader engaged and engrossed until the final verdict is in.


CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The story opens with a journal entry from Steve: “The best time to cry is at night, when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and screaming for help. That way if you sniffle a little they won’t hear you. If anybody knows that you are crying, they’ll start talking about it and soon it’ll be your turn to get beat up when the lights go out.” Steve introduces his screenplay with a cast of characters and then gets right to the story of the courtroom with the dialogue as the main vehicle used to reveal the characters, although we are able to come to understand Steve’s feelings and character through his journal entries scattered throughout the book. The story is set at the Manhattan Detention Center in New York. I liked the fact that the book allows the reader to come to their own conclusion after being presented with the evidence, the witnesses and the final remarks. There is a sense of ambiguity about the book. We never learn the exact truth, but learn a lot about our main character, and our own judgments and biases. One thing is for sure Steve’s life will be forever changed by this experience.


REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Amazon.com
"Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve really the lookout who gave the "all clear" to the murderer, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? In this innovative novel by Walter Dean Myers, the reader becomes both juror and witness during the trial of Steve's life. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker Steve chronicles the proceedings in movie script format. Interspersed throughout his screenplay are journal writings that provide insight into Steve's life before the murder and his feelings about being held in prison during the trial. "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."


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. Christopher Myers's superfluous black-and-white drawings are less successful. Their grainy, unfocused look complements the cinematic quality of the text, but they do little to enhance the story. Monster will challenge readers with difficult questions, to which there are no definitive answers. In some respects, the novel is reminiscent of Virginia Walter's Making Up Megaboy (DK Ink, 1998), another book enriched by its ambiguity. Like it, Monster lends itself well to classroom or group discussion. It's an emotionally charged story that readers will find compelling and disturbing.Edward Sullivan, New York Public Library Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

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