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

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Summary: The Best Book Ever!!!
Review: Monster- The autobiography of a L.A. gang member is a book like no other. The author's use of imagery and his choice of words enable the reader to go in deep with the book. Kody Scott was born in 1963 and grew up in South Central Los Angeles. His life was not picture perfect. He did not know his father and his mother was a single parent trying to provide her children with the best things. When he was eleven years old he joined the L.A. gang "Crips" and from that day on "bangin" was his top priority. Even though Kody was shot numerous times, he still banged. He shot and killed numerous amounts of people himself. After putting in a lot of work for the hood, he becomes the most formidable Crip combat soldier which earned him the name Monster. Monster was known for committing acts of brutality and violence that shocked even his fellow gang members. When the inevitable jail term confined him to a maximum security cell, Monster channeled his aggression and drive into educating himself. He endured a complete personal and political transformation. He went from Monster Kody Scott to Sanyika Shakur. A black nationalist, member of the New African Independence movement, and crusader against the causes of "gangsterism".

I believe that everyone should read this book because he allows you to see South Central from a gang member's point of view. Even though Sanyika a.k.a Kody was a hardcore gang banger, he did later improve his life and changed his way of living. He went from nothing to something and I respect him for that. This autobiography is bizarre but it was Sanyika's goal to reveal the vagaries of gang banging and its deadly consequences and he does succeed in doing so. I feel that if no one makes mistakes how can they grow emotionally and physically? People learn from their mistakes and Sanyika showed his readers that he did just that.


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Summary: Monster: the autobiography of an L.A. gang member
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It all starts out with this young African American boy named Kody Scott. When he was eleven and was growing up in South Central Los Angeles; he got into a gang called Eight Tray Crips. During his initiation he had shot four guys from the shotgun that G.C. the leader gave to him to shoot at rival gangs. After growing up he started doing more than just try to kill rival gang members, he jumped and killed an old man coming from the market for all his money. He killed him with his bare hands. When the news goes around, spectators and witnesses said that a "monster" did it; that how he got his name. As his friends from the gangs start getting arrested and put behind bars, he felt that he had to step up which he did. His family didn't include his mom and siblings; they were the people in the gang. This got to the point where he didn't even care for his mother anymore, which made him frequently, visiting jail. He was so devoted to his gang that he even convinced his little brother, to join the gang. After getting shot on New Year's Eve and ending up in the hospital he got arrested and was sent to jail.


I would recommend this book because it exposes you to things that you're not use to. My parents have always sheltered me from the negative things. This book states that there are bad (negative) things around. This book made me think outside my surroundings. It made me think of my family. How one person in the family does have an impact on what another person do or becomes. That it can make you closer with your family or became separated. It shows you that when you're in a certain neighborhood, you can't wear certain colors, or say certain things. That even if you're not associated with a gang, people might confuse you for an enemy instead of a civilian. This book exposes the truth about gang wars. That they are not wars from Crips to Bloods, but sometimes from Crips against Crips and Bloods against Bloods.


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Summary: Shakur's Powerful Insight
Review: A testament so powerful, one can open to almost any page and be gripped immediatley. In the rest of America, we might all have lived in oblivion of the madness of the Los Angeles ghettos, but Sanyika Shakur demands to be heard. As a teacher, I use this book to demonstrate how the dangers of poverty, societal and family neglect, and institutional racism can turn one man's entire world into a prison. But this book is more than social criticism or grit for grit's sake. It demonstrates much of what is still wrong today with America and, indeed, industrial society. Anyone who allows themselves to believe that our aspirations for a vibrant, egalitarian, and harmonious multi-racial world are coming closer to fruition must be prepared meet the challenges posed by "Monster".

The book's flaws are subjective and detract only a little from the overall impact.

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Summary: A Gangsta's Paradise...
Review: Shanyika Shakur, aka Monster Kody Scott, writes his gangland memoires in this graphic autobiography entitled "Monster," based on his gang-given pseudonym. I think anyone interested in the sociology of gangs and gang violence must read this book. It is very graphic, portraying the violent deeds of a young black man in the ghettos and prisons of Los Angeles during his young adult life. The majority of the story takes place while the author is only 13 to 19 years old. His struggle to build his O.G. reputation within the gang system and the never-ending violence gripping his surrounding neighborhoods paints the backdrop to his vicious deeds.

With that said, I found the book quite fascinating and worthy of being read; but, upon turing to black nationalism, I feel that Mr. Shakur has taken a step in another wrong direction. He abuses terminology, calling all caucasians "Americans" and blacks "New Afrikans [sic]." The racism implied in these designations does nothing to cure the social ills which trap the youth in vicious violent cycles nor do they help Mr. Shakur's cause. The black nationalist movement is misguided into thinking that they have certain particular ties, often thought to be by blood, to some overarching African culture. Africa was and continues to be a place of many, many cultures and few black people that I know can come close to identifying which particular one (since the cultures are all very different) to which they belong or with which they associate themselves. In fact, many people who "appear" caucasian looking probably have more pronounced ties to Africa than many people think. Although I think this somewhat detracts from the book and also from Mr. Shakur's transformation - one still marked with violence, even if perpetuated on drug dealers - it remains an important and intriguing work which will continue to help in the search for solutions to the voilence that plague America's streets.

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Summary: Sounds a lot like self-puffing from the writer.
Review: This book takes a reader through the two-part life of Monster Kody Scott. From his days as a rising member of a street gang in Los Angeles, to his current position as a black nationalist, housed in the California prison system.

He details his exploits in joining the gang, and then seems to relate details from well over twenty murders that he claims to have committed. From the story that Scott relates, it seems improbable that he only managed one or two murder convictions out of all his exploits. I feel this leaves the reader wondering about some of the validity of Scott's gang-land claims.

Even worse was what Scott related about his life in the California prison system. He told the story of how the Crips street gang unified and allied with the Black Guerilla Family (a prison gang). This unity is supported by FBI files from the early 80s. But Scott also transforms into a black nationalist, and the writing is indicative of that. He draws sharp lines between ethnic groups, and shows a general disdain of every ethnicity which is not African in origin. He often speaks of how the oppression of white society was responsible for all of his behavior, but says he didn't realize it, nor was aware of any oppression in his youth! This is truly a bizzare assertion. He fails to explain how one could be influenced to such abhorrent behavior, by a condition that he doesn't know exists.

His writing which covers his time in prison does not strike me as particularly complete, nor accurate. He speaks of his imposing presence and his prominent stature in the black gang alliances. He speaks of their strength, and yet the book says absolutely nothing of the notorious wars between the Aryan Brotherhood and Black Guerilla Family, which spanned the entire 1980s.

In the end, the book just left me with a feeling that the author was simply trying to boost his stature, and did not give his readers a complete and comprehensive story.

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Summary: Strange reality
Review: I had to read Monster for one of my college courses. While reluctant to do so at first, I pretty much glided through the pages. The movies you've seen on the ghetto, the rap lyrics you've heard about the projects... well, they just don't compare to this! Brutality doesn't even begin to describe the lifestyles of these young gang members. Human nature at its worst. This book basically writes about an ongoing war within the concrete jungle that is being fought by teens, young adults and even pre-teens! It's a scary insight into the tragedy that is the American nightmare. Sometimes the book jumps from one section to another in a rather strange fashion, but it's still relatively easy to follow, unlike the alliances of the inner city gangs. A shocking book on a subject not many are willing to discuss. This is as close as one can get into the L.A. gang activity without being in harm's way!

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Summary: Shakur reveals the horrifying reality of gangs
Review: This is a revealing book if it is read right. As he should, the author devotes most of the book to simply describing in detail the crimes committed by himself and other gang members against each other and against "civilians." His honesty is refreshing, but what occurred to me was that if you follow the definition of the term, Shakur and gangbangers like him are nothing short of serial killers. It is a crime that Hollywood portrays these guys in a glamorous, sympathetic light. Take away all the flash, the gold, the clothes, and the cars and what you have left is a bloodthirsty brute.