Why "Monster"

I chose "Monster" purely because I needed a simple and quick read but what I found was that the book very much pertained to my interests in movie making and the cleverness of it's format is very intriguing and different. I loved the constant format and font changes to show a new person speaking while I also had to back and forth between excerpts making connections and predictions by comparing testimony's. This was a very fun and interesting book and I would recommend it to a friend. 

"Monster" excerpt

"Maybe I could make my own movie. I could write it out and play it in my head. I could block out the scenes like we did in school. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I'll write it down in the notebook they let me keep. I'll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me." This is the overall basis for the style of the book and why it's written as a movie script.

"monster" characters

This book tells the reader the backgrounds of each criminal, (Bobo, Steve, King, Osvald) and about their account of that night, starting with Osvaldo Cruz. He states that his participation with three others in a drugstore robbery resulted in the unplanned murder of the drugstore's proprietor, Alguinaldo Nesbitt. According to Cruz, the original plan was that Steve would go into the drugstore, check for police or citizens, and then make a signal if the coast was clear. All sources indicate that Nesbitt drew a gun to defend himself against the robbers, then one of the robbers wrestled him for it causing Nesbitt's death when the gun discharged. Bobo takes the witness stand to confirm that James King pulled the trigger and Steve, who he hardly knew, was indeed meant to signal an all-clear. Other than this synopsis of the night of the murder not much else is revealed about the characters and their personalities.

"monster" intro

So far "Monster" by Walter Dean Myers focuses on Steve, an aspiring filmmaker, who is writing about his experience and involvement in a current case involving robbery and murder. The book is written in a screenplay format like a movie script, which I find to be extremely unique and cool. Steve's trial involves 4 men, 3 black, 1 Hispanic. Two of these men have entered a deal by pleading guilty. The overall feeling in the courtroom is a malignant one, demonizing the others waiting on trial. The Judge called the remaining men "monsters."