Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Monster


By Walter Dean Myers

Steve Harmon is on trial for allegedly taking part in a drug store robbery that turns bad and results in the shooting death of the store’s owner. The title of the book, Monster, comes from the word that the prosecutor uses to describe Steve and the other suspects of the crime. He wants to figure out what it means to be a monster and why people would see him that way. He’s not sure what to make of himself anymore. He thinks he’s a pretty good guy, but now he’s not so sure. The prosecutor does a convincing job of making some of the other guys involved in the trial seem pretty bad and Steve is worried that the jury, and his family, will see him as a part of that group.

Steve is interested in filmmaking and he spends his time in jail writing a screenplay about the trial. Steve’s screenplay makes up the bulk of the book’s text and the rest is made up of Steve’s handwritten reflections about himself and what he is going through. The style is unique and effective. The visual cues in the script set the scene and the mood. The reader understands when Steve is sad or confused. The reader becomes uncomfortable when Steve tries to rationalize his own actions. He does know those other fellows, the ones who look so bad. What does that say about Steve? How will the jury view him? How does his own lawyer view him? How does his father view him? These are the issues and emotions that Steve deals with throughout the course of the book. It’s a quick and engaging read and definitely worth checking out from the fiction section of the LFHS library.

No comments: