Monster : Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member, The

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Summary: A book that is intresting from the very first page!
Review: The Autobiography "Monster" was written by a man named Sanyika Shakur is about a kid growing up in L.A. as a gang member. When Shakur was graduating from the sixth grade he got expelled from flipping of the school camera in a picture. His name at this time was what is mother gave him, Kody Scott. After he got kicked out of school he started to hang out with some older gangsters. Monster is a very exciting book from the very first page until the very last page. It goes into very good detail about what it is like to be gangster in L.A. at the time in which gangs were starting to double by the day. Monster shows to people the inside track of the life of a teenage member. It puts a fear in some eyes showing how easy it is to kill some one and get away with it. Kids can walk into gang territory with the wrong color of clothes and get shot just for that. Monster has some knowledge of inside some of California toughest jails.

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Summary: Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member
Review: I was very pleased with Monster in that Kody Scott did not use these stories for personal glory, but rather showed the shocking realities of gang warfare and the problems which occur in a neighborhood like South Central Los Angeles. The book breaks down several stereotypical barriers, as Scott's eloquent voice gives the reader a real perspective of his thoughts and the politics inside the Crips, who battle the enemy Bloods. It's an outrage how little is published about gang warfare and the amount of people who are killed on a daily basis in these gang wars. I also enjoyed how Scott stayed true to himself and his readers as he used the actual gang names, and the slang that is involved in the 'hood. This brought a real element of realism to the story and I believed from the start that this story was absolutely true. I also liked Scott's personal transformation from gangster to muslim activist, even though he is still a little extreme in his beliefs and even actions. One thing I think that Scott could have done better would be the less-than-smooth transitions from the streets to the various juvenile halls and prisons. At times I found myself wondering,"What landed him in jail this time?" as it seemed like important events in the story were left out. The story was very graphic and depressing throughout, so I would definitely not recommend this to anyone who gets overly scared or wants to keep their life as sheltered and safe as possible in thinking this kind of thing doesn't go on. I would also not recommend it to any of these Eminem wannabes who think the streets are the only answers to the problems in their life, and that gangsters like these are cool. Make no mistake, these guys are murderers and criminals, and are not meant to be role models. The intent of the book is not to glorify gang violence. For anyone else, though, I would recommend this book if they would like to be exposed to something that has been plagueing the streets for years, with no peaceful end in sight.

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Summary: A good read for people of all ages.
Review: This is an well written book about life and death, love and hate, and self discovery.

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Summary: From the cradle to the grave
Review: I have just finished Monster:The Autobiography of an L.A. gang member, and I would have to say that it is some of the best accounts of the Crips and gangsta life that I have read.I would like to stress that this book is not for those who have no idea about the struggle and are easily upset. Sanyika Shakur is a great writer and I am happy to see a black man from south central rise in education to such an amazing writer. I don't agree with a few things in this book such as use of the word overstand in place of understand, only because of the confusion it creates when you come across it, and it slows down the pace. It would also have helped if Shakur had explained why he use overstand so that the ready could comfortably read knowing where he was coming from.This is the real deal, and teen-agers and young adults are killing themselves and their communittees and the violence must stop. I salute Shakur for his difficult transition from Crip to New Afrikan nationalist. To the author should he read this-I don't agree with your mentality of "seperation of races" because my road dog, my best friend, my brother is black and yes I am white-Italian and if your philosphy to seperate was in effect then I would not be able to live and die by the gun with my homie. I love him as you love De.Peace brother you are a good man, and your past is nothing that you can change. Thank you for letting me see through your eyes before I have made the same mistake. I do Overstand.

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Summary: Great and Informative Book.
Review: I suffer from lack of better words to discribe this book. I've overlooked it many times in the bookstore but since I've purchased it, I don't regret it. Since reading it, I've come to understand the driving force behind gangs: the sense of family. Many of the gang members including the author himself profiled in this book came from broken homes where there wasn't necessarily a shortage of love as much as there was a lack of positive structure and bonding and of course the positive father figure.
"Monster" Kody Scott or rather Shakur is honest and unforgiving in the tale of his troubled youth and his rise to knowledge of self and self love for himself, his wife, children and community. Though this book is dated, much of the racism of which he was a victim whether legimitately (how could it ever be legimate?) or not still persist today in 2002. Read this book and The Culture of Make Believe and you're well on your way to understanding why the American Dream can be a nightmare for some complete with it's mad gun-totting phantoms and hapless victims.

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Summary: Mr. Innocent or Society Made Me Pull the Trigger
Review: This autobiography does not lend itself well to being rated, since it basically consists of two different parts. The first one is a fascinating and insightful description of a childhood and a youth spent in one of the country's most gang-ridden and dangerous neighborhoods, South Central L.A. This part deserves four stars. The second one is an endless tirade of how society has done the author wrong. This part deserves none. As a result, I could not give the book more than two stars.
Kody Scott tells with verve how he grew up to become one of L.A.'s most notorious teenage gangsters. A shocking and frightening account of boys gone mad, killing other kids for the mere fact of wearing the wrong color, or living on the wrong street corner. What sets Kody's story apart is the fact that he is a first-person narrator (albeit, it seems, with the help of a professional writer), whereas other authors have based their books about gang-life on observations and interviews. As a result, readers will learn more from Kody about gang members' motivations and feelings than they ever could from an author who has not been affiliated with gang-life him- or herself.
However, the second part of the book, Kody's description of his life in prison and his conversion to a black nationalist, is downright pathetic. He constantly blames others for the choices he made in life: His parents he calls "promiscuous" and "irresponsible", society ("the system") he accuses of "oppressing every person of color". The horrible acts of violence he has committed he plays down as "wrongdoings ... things that were morally wrong based on the human code of ethics". He tries to make his readers believe that there is an automatism: Every kid from a poor neighborhood will invariably end up as a gang member. However, why then, I would like to know, are kids mentioned throughout the book who choose not (!) to join a gang. And finally, he constantly complains about life in prison ("nothing ... could explain this level of action to me"), as if he had just run a red light or stolen a candy bar. He demands respect, but he doesn't give any (cops and prison guards he calls "pigs" and "Nazi-types").
The saddest thing of it all is this: Kody obviously revels in the attention and applause he has received from journalists and book critics. However, he overlooks that this praise is only lavished on him because he "only" ran amok in South Central. Had he gone to the suburbs and shot kids there, the same people would have called for his head. Considering the fact that Kody is a self-proclaimed Afrikan, I find his disregard for the lives and the well-being of his fellow African-Americans quite astonishing.

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Summary: Shocking and Disturbing
Review: "Monster" exposed me a different side of life. I had been aware of newscasters and officials speaking out against the "gang problem", but until this book it had all seemed very far from my experience. Sanyika Shakur pulls you into a world of gangs and violence from the first page. Scenes from this book will stay with you and haunt you. Reading this is almost like living in another person's mind. I thought Shakur's comparisons of gang-life to being a soldier in a war were well thought out. There isn't much to say about this book, its sort of like the scene in the "Matrix" take this pill and you can never go back to the way things were...read "Monster" and you will never see gangs and the environment that spawns them in the same way.

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Summary: The real American truth
Review: This book served as a harsh reminder that this country has been at war for the last twenty-twenty five years. This war is often ignored for the fact that most middle class Americans still want to believe that America is the greatest country on Earth, and those who live a life of crime and violence bring it solely upon themselves. As this book shows there are many underlying factors which contribute to the prevalance of the urban banger. And these days bangin' isn't restricted to urban areas as gangs have flourished in rural areas. Sanyika Shakur slaps society in the face and forces them to think and not judge, to accept a collective responsibility to educate and enlighten today's youth, no matter what their race is or their economic situation. Opportunities have to be attainable for everybody; and the closet racists need to be exposed. Police corruption has to stop as Sanyika clearly illustrated how the police would use gang members as pawns to meet their own dirty needs.

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Summary: Monster
Review: Monster is a very interesting book that takes place in a harsh enviroment. Monster, a well known cript L.A. gang member survives very exciting and dangerous real-life gang-banging, drive-bys and much more. I enjoyed this book although it is not for everyone. There is a lot of cursing, violence (not too bad), and adult content.

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Summary: The Best gang book
Review: This book is about a gang member who joiend the crips. His name is Monster, Kody Scoot. He kills alot of people, and goes to jail for killing some people. Monster did not kill these people because he was at another place killing people. Thats when things start getting really messed up. Some of the people from the gang start grtting killed by many of the differnt gangs. These are some of the reasons that this book is real good. I recomnd this book to anyone who likes action books.