Rating: 
Summary: south central soldier!
Review: Sanyika Shakur was a dedicated soldier in the combat zone of south central, LA. His committment and dedication to his set is equal to being a "squared away" soldier in an elite division of the armed forces. He chronicles the infancy of the LA street bloods and explains how young african-american boys are lured into the gang subculture. He explains the torturous initiation down to the "day to day" responsibility of being a gang member. After a number of years of "putting in work" and finally achieving "og" status, "Monster" Kody Scott evolves into Sanyika Shakur after spending time in the toughest penal institutions California has to offer. This book goes into great detail on how comitted Scott was to his gang. His dedication is admirable, but unfortunately his efforts were for the wrong cause. Gangs, in my humble opinion are for followers, and I also question the validity of Shakur's writing skills
Rating: 
Summary: THE REALIST
Review: AS A FORMER LA GANG MEMBER MYSELF (3RD GENERATION),I FELT LIKE I HAD BEEN GIVEN BOTH A HISTORY LESSON AND A WARNING. THIS BOOK IS SO REAL THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY HAVE TROUBLE BELIEVING IT. SEEING THE WAR DESCIBED FIRST HAND, I CAN ONLY SAY THAT AFTER MONSTER, FEW OTHERS COULD HAVE WRITTEN THIS ACCOUNT. BELIEVE EVERY WORD.
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Summary: Slacked off at work, and ignored my girlfriend to read this
Review: I want to stress that this book is virtually impossible to putdown and thats why it got 5 stars from me. It is powerful, captivating, and well-written. However, unlike most other reviews I have read here I do not feel that Kody is a hero and certainly not a role model, in fact it is unclear just how radical or lasting his departure from the gang lifestyle really was and is. But I do not wish to belabor this point for it is not where the appeal of this book lies. What is great about this book is that if you see it in a bookstore and open it to any page at random and read so much as a sentence or so, I will almost gaurantee that the bookstore in which you are standing will be collecting the price of this book.. Kody's style is also impressive as one wonders where he gained education enough author such a well- written story. Although some of his points may be very clouded logically, the writting is always engrossing and insightful. Kody never sugar coats his tales and more importantly never comes off as if he is bragging. Bottom line, bought it on a wednesday night, 383 pages later it was thursday.
Rating:
Summary: Buy This Book.
Review: This book will blow you away. The author's point of view will literally scare you. You think of the author as a stone-cold 30-yr old, and then remember halfway through the book that he is only sixteen. daily murder and violence were a part of his life since he was 11 years old. He does not condone his criminal acts, but explains from a gangster's point of view the reasons for his actions. I could not put this book down until I was finished.
Rating:
Summary: the stars are not for kody but for his effort
Review: Hi, i would rather not say my name, gang banging has been an epidemic in the 20th century, all thought many cities have "copy catted" the Los Angeles style gangs, Monster shares his writing to the world, the man is in caged forerever, he might as well share his thoughts, Many of the young readers may find him a special, or "star", but many do not realize the damage kody has done to himself and his own life. People who read this can't tell themselves and other people, they know now about the lifestyle, because to live it is another story, i have no sympathy for kody, because he may be another black man, and repented, the people he murdered, and the list is endless, you may think to yourself, what if kody had killed my brother? what is it was your relatives, you see he was an angry child burning for accpetance, very few children have the mind of this man, an urge to do anything to become proud and respected in a negative way. This Book I strongly do NOT RECCOMEND TO ANYONE UNDER 17. It is for mature readers who have some Knowledge already of the street, not just a reading leisure, this book should be taken seriously and not as an Adventure for the reader. Thank you all for reading my review.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Absorbing Narrative
Review: Monster: The Autobiography Of An LA Gang Member is a hard hitting narrative that will engage readers of all ethnicities and social classes. This is a riveting account from one who's "been there", but hasn't quite learned his lesson. Whether you love this book or hate it, Monster will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Shakur's book breaks ground in answering the question: why do young people join gangs? During the early part of Shakur's acct. we see that he's a confused kid looking for guidance from someone older and wiser, someone who is an antidote to the sense of powerlessness with which he faces each day. Being in a gang gives Shakur a set of beliefs and values, no matter how skewed his moral universe becomes as a result. I commend Shakur's mostly neutral tone. For his purposes and the book's subject matter, it's extremely effective. This is a book which could so easily devolve into histrionics and melodrama in less adept hands. At times, however, I found Shakur's neutrality disconcerting. At many points in the narrative when we most want him to show more of himself, he pulls back and hides behind his cloak of reserve. The reader has to infer much from what Shakur DOESN'T say. For example, Shakur's nonchalant description of his violent behavior does not necessarily translate into nonchalance about the violence itself. If we read between the lines of Shakur's account, we quickly see that he's more than a little repulsed by it. What made Shakur's narrative particularly engaging for me is that I kept waiting for him to crack a smile, make a joke, insert some levity and ease my discomfort, but he never does. What he's describing is deadly serious-literally--and Shakur refuses to sugarcoat his story and make it more palatable for us, his audience. His refusal to soften the glare which he uses to expose the truth of gang life make it impossible for us to turn our heads away from the ugliness. He forces us to look at the truth in the same unblinking way that he does, and his use of this technique packs one wallop of a punch. My real issue with this book is that while Shakur goes a long way towards educating himself and rehabilitating himself, in one crucial way he doesn't go far enough. It's clear to us, the readers, that Shakur's dependence on a belief system that was provided by someone else got him in trouble, but Shakur doesn't make that connection himself. Unfortunately Shakur buys wholesale into another dubious and harmful mythology: that of Muhammad Abdullah, a black separtist who exhibits near-militant zeal in his conviction and encourages Shakur to substitute one "us -vs- them" mindset for another, ultimately dooming him to repeat the same mistakes that got him into so much trouble in the first place. Perhaps if Shakur hadn't so willingly accepted Abdullah's doctrine of militant black self-sufficiency, laws and conventions be damned, then he wouldn't have ended up back in prison over taking a matter that CLEARLY should have been handled by the LAPD into his own hands. When Shakur's post-rehabilitation actions lead to his conviction for assault and grand theft auto, his credibility is undermined and the depth of his transformation seems a bit shallow. He's making the same dumb mistakes, only this time it's for a different cause. It would have been preferable to see Shakur shaken out of his complacency by Abdullah, doing his own thinking instead of readily accepting Abdullah's, and finding his own answers. Abdullah's inflammatory rhetoric just fed Shakur's already considerable anger and sense of victimization. Shakur establishes in the first paragraph of the Preface that he's far too smart to become ANYONE'S fool. The ending of Monster left me wondering how Shakur could have possibly become Abdullah's.
Rating:
Summary: And you thought you weren't interested in L.A. gangsterism..
Review: Even if you've enjoyed the luxury of never giving "gangbanging" a second thought, you'll find you cannot put down this well-paced account until you reach the end. But beware: Little is left to the imagination. Shakur's dissection of a lifestyle so completely repugnant to (and ignored by) mainstream society could not have been easy to write. That's precisely why he needed to write it. I'm grateful he did.
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly real and gritty to the end
Review: I have read Monster:Autobiography of an LA gang member six times now, the cover is battered and tatty from carrying it around on numerous journeys with me - yet I would still read it again. When I first read this book I couldn't put it down, it was so real. From the first page I was a crip through and hrough true blue. I felt a part of every scene that was written about. It is good to read the truth in black and white from the inside out rather than the outside in. I feel that Leon Bing tried to capture some of this reality in Do or Die but when you mask out people's names or edit the stories it doesn't captivate the reader as much. When you read this book Kody Scott becomes a part of your life, as though you are his sidekick. You begin to understand gangbanging in its every capacity. One of the saddest moments in the book for me is when Monster has undergone his change and finally visits his roaddog 'Crazy D' in jail. Athough Crazy D is serving life with no parole he is still down for the crips but that bond has been broken with Monster. I would recommend this book to any gang member or wannabe just for keeping it real without the bragaddocio
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Summary: Monster:Autobiography of an LA gang member review
Review: I have read this book a number of times and it still does not fail to capture me. I have never read a book that involves its reader from start to finish as this does. Sanyika Shakur takes us on the path of his life from the age of 11 in the most graphic detail. Being from England, nothing could prepare me for the way of life Kody Scott had to live, a life of violent crime and also of belonging. It was good to see Kody realise his faults and turn into a muslim but unfortunate to hear that he returned to jail on a parole violation.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: Sanyika Shakur has written an excellent, accurate description of gang life. I lost my best friend for a year due to his membership in the Crips. I gave this book to my friend when he went to jail for the year. When he came out, my friend still supports gangs, but he does not want anything to do with them. I have my best friend back due to the description of gang activity in this book. Sanyika Shakur's transformation is believable. For everyone who thinks people can't change, you are wrong. This book is a must read for anyone, especially gang members.
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