Monster by Sanyika Shakur
September 1, 2007
Genre: Non-fiction, gang life
Pages: 400
Duration: I’ve forgotten, a few weeks.
Description: From Library Journal:
“Monster” Kody, today known as Sanyika Sakur, spent 16 years as a “gangbanger” in South Central Los Angeles. His account begins at age 11, when he was inducted into the ranks of the Crips, and ends (hundreds of bodies later) with Scott serving a seven-year prison term for beating a crack dealer. Throughout, he successfully conveys a sense of the siege mentality that prevails every minute of every day, due to the daily barrage of gang-on-gang violence. Names of derivative Crip gangs (e.g., Rollin’ Sixties, Hoovers, Grape Street Watts Crips) and gang members (e.g., Li’l Hunchy, Tray Ball, Huckabuck) flit across the pages in a confusing manner, but Scott pushes the narrative forward with scarcely a glance backward, and, ultimately, names and incidents are not important. Unfortunately, Scott was in prison during the violence that followed last year’s Rodney King incident and thus sheds little light on the peace treaty forged between the Bloods and Crips. Although unrepentant, Scott today is dedicated to ending gang violence. Recommended for most collections.
- Mark Annichiarico, “Library Journal”
Review: I love this book. It gave me a new perspective into gang life. Thing I see everyday, but never realized what they meant. It’s been awhile since I’ve read this, so my memory isn’t great. But I would read it again and even have my father-in-law reading it. It’s written in such a way that makes it easy to read and get in to.
March 4, 2008 at 1:35 am
“Although unrepentant, Scott today is dedicated to ending gang violence” — that is one way to put it. One could also say that he has come to believe it is bad to kill people…if they are black. (I’ve read the book; this is basically his stance.) Complete with this religious awakening comes a new jargon, in which police are not killed, but “corrected”.
Scott speaks with pride about how he has both taken life and brought life into the world. What a manly man!
Poverty and an absent father were not all that made Scott a monster. Hundreds of kids don’t turn out as he did. It was a matter of constitution and choice. He embraced violence. He enjoyed it, and obviously enjoys writing about it.
And he apparently keeps getting sent back to prison (cf. google) as he cannot restrain his violent impulses. He also sheepishly admits that he gets his best writing done in prison. Well, great. Sounds like a match made in heaven. Let’s keep this manly man in a position to share his masterpieces for decades to come.
December 12, 2008 at 7:02 pm
its very easy to judge someone’s outcome if one doesnt understand the concept behind the “butterfly effect”. Any small thing in your environment affects the way you think & feel about yourself from adolecense. Lots of people grow up without fathers & poverty & do not turn into “Monsters”, but let ONLY those who come from the entire mix of each depraved ingredient that caused Monster cast the 1st stone… those from broken homes where the first glimpse of violence was at the hands of your own parents. Those who grew up in South Central LA which resembles a real life War Zone substituting a close community. Monster made his bed and is laying in it. i dont think he’s making himself look like a “manly” man. He admits what he did was wrong & repents.
I know what its like to live in fear & in turn crave power. I know what its like to feel unloved/worthless at home only to seek acceptance in the street. I know what its like to hate so much yet be too confused to know where to direct the hate to.
The sad truth is that a gang will give you love. A gang will give you power. A gang will give you the family you couldnt have at home. A gang will give you someone to direct your frustrations & hate at… an enemy. You join too young to realize the enemy is just a mirrored image of yourself from another side of town.
Is Sinyaka Shakur wrong for the things he did? Yes. But you’re blaming someone for making wrong decisions AFTER the fact. Its easy to judge Monster in retrospect, but did you reach out to 11 yr old Kody Scott? Or any other potential Kody Scotts out there? Probably not. Making good choices come along very simple as adults, but by the time these unfortunates reach that age of reasoning, it’s too late… What was offered in the book is not an excuse, but an explanation.
Its easier to prevent than to change.
January 10, 2009 at 6:35 pm
MAN HE IS A VERY GOOD WRITER AND IN MANY WAYS HE HELP ME CHANGE MY LIFE AND NOT TAKE THAT RODE AND I THANK HIM FOR THAT MUCH LOVE