Social Justice Book Choice: Monster

The sense of a social justice theme in Walter Dean Myers Monster is very prominent. The novel practically takes place in a courtroom the majority of its narration. On trial is Steve Harmon, sixteen year-old African-American charged of murder. Did he commit the crime? No. And justice is rightfully served but only in law. Mentally, justice was not served for Steve. Though the conflict of novel was Steve potentially going to jail for life, the greatest conflict Steve faced was in his head as he tried to figure out if he's really the monster everyone sees him to be. He sees in the jury’s eyes and in the people of the courts. They way they look at him even had him want to throw up—the struggle’s gotten physical now.

Before all of this, before the trial, Steve saw himself as a good kid. In the reader’s eyes, he is good kid. But the trial really messed with his mind and he continually battled other people’s perceptions of himself with his own belief of his goodness. So in the end, regardless of his innocence, the damage was already done and what others think of him will continue to haunt Steve.

Monster

Walter D. Myers's Monster is an interestingly written novel. It's the first novel I've ever read that's written in both screenplay form and when the perspective is centered around a single narrative, the text is written to look like actual handwriting. Very cool. This also made the novel a very fast and easy read. Right away the novel hooked me in with the first line, "[the] best time to cry is at night, when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and screaming for help" (Myers 1). I say this because while the text was formatted to look like actual handwriting, words such as "cry", "night", and "screaming" was slightly larger and bolder. You can literally see the emotion the narrator (Steve) was feeling. Using this technique made me feel like Steve was on the verge of breaking. But on the other hand, readers also get to see a reserved version of Steve. For reserved Steve, the text is formatted to look like it's written on a typewriter and everything is calmly stated. Eventually, readers begin to realize Steve is twenty-five years to life in prison for murder and that he's pretty stressed out about it (go figure). Since writing in a journal isn't doing him much good anymore, Steve starts chronicling his experience in screenplay form.
The screenplay (or film) is pretty boring at first, just generic courtroom things, but things eventually get interesting once witnesses start taking the stand. That's when the drama really starts. But it doesn't just happen in the courtroom, drama spews out in flashbacks from Steve's past. This gives readers more insight into his character. We also see him struggle over a question that haunts him: Am I truly a monster? He thinks of this because constantly ever since he was called a monster by his prosecutor. In the end, when the verdict is announced and Steve is not guilty, the question still remained and lingered in his thoughts. In court, Steve (now a free man), turned to his attorney open-armed, yet she turned away from him. So of course, this causes Steve (and readers) to question why did she turn away. Unfortunately,  all questions are left unanswered and the novel ends with one final question: What did she see? And it's unfortunate that the novel ends on that note because we don't know if those answers will ever be answered for Steve.
Themes. While there were a plethora of themes in this novel, the two that really caught my attention were fear and isolation. In Steve's case (pun intended) his fear manifested in two different ways--physically and mentally. His physical fear was a response to his surrounding, he had to do everything in front of strangers. Strangers that are significantly older than himself. His mental fear however, was his fear of the truth (reason why there were so many unanswered questions, he might have not been willing to face the truth). This is the kind of fear that causes people to lie to others and themselves. Isolation plays a huge part in Monster. Steve is literally alone all the time. As he sits in his jail cell, as he watches jurors turn away from him in court, and as he tries to hug his attorney. While being alone plays into fear, its also hard to be alone.
This novel loosely positions adolescents into two categories. Guilty or innocent. If you associate yourself with people who are considered "bad" or who are from the "wrong neighborhood", you become tainted.
I definitely believe this novel would appeal to adolescents--especially to those of color. Though Steve is innocent of his crimes, there really isn't a true happy ending--the realness in this shows the reality some teens might face today.

Grade: B+

Wintergirls

Though I've only read one other novel by Laurie H. Anderson (Speak) I knew Wintergirls was going to be a tough read too. In summary, this novel depicts the struggles the main character--Lia--faced while suffering from anorexia and depression. She struggled with the feeling of being trapped between life and death, torn between the desire to eat and the power she felt when starving herself. Alongside Lia, readers are introduced to Cassie--Lia's best friend (or at least was her best friend). Her death was a trigger for Lia; from there Lia began to really feel her life spiraling out of control. I also want to mention that each chapter is formatted to look like numbers on a scale and as each chapter rose in number, Lia's weight continually dropped. She lied about what she was eating, skiped school to cut herself with razor blades and traveled alone to meet Elijah--a guy she's never met who works at the seedy Gateway Motel where Cassie died. He also has a message for Lia, left by Cassie, but Lia goes out of her way to not hear it.
The night of of her death, Cassie left numerous messages on Lia's phone (which she ignored) and because of that Lia feels responsible for Cassie's death. The guilt ate at her conscious because the two once swore (on a blood oath) to be the skinniest girls in their school but she deliberately sabotaged Cassie's attempts to recover from bulimia. Her guilt grew so large, it caused Lia to see hallucinations. This is when Cassie's ghost appears. The ghost of Cassie seemed to appear whenever Lia's emotions were out of control. One of the most prominent appearance of Cassie's ghost happened after Lia fought with her father about whether she should be admitted for treatment or not. She ignored his pleas to get better and instead called Elijah, who planed to travel down south in a couple of days. He finally told Lia the message Cassie left for her on the night she died--that Lia won. Lia is the skinniest. But this doesn't make Lia happy. So she decides to to end it all by cutting her chest open. Fortunately, this does not kill her but I found this part so heart wrenching to read especially when Emma walked in oh her and witnessed such a horrifying scene.
Cassie's ghost pops up a lot and while I believe her ghost was a figment of her imagination, I couldn't help but believe Cassie's ghost was real because it just seem so vivid. For example, in the end of the novel when Cassie's ghost is waiting in the room where Cassie died, she tells Lia that her heart is about to stop and that it's too late. But then Lia grabbed a see-glass out of Cassie's mouth and licks it. Right about here I was very, very confused because it wasn't the glass at all, but a dirty green lollipop. The sugar made her strong enough to call for help. It was scenes like this that really had me thinking that Cassie's ghost was indeed real. How else could that scene be explained? The depiction of that scene seemed so real, I thought for a second that there was a supernatural theme in this novel.
Though weakened and weakened throughout the novel, Lia is a strongly written character but her ignorance stunted her growth as a character and a person (until the very end when she finally realized that food is life).
I definitely believe this novel would appeal to adolescents because they might face the same struggles Lia did; and what better way to see that they could overcome such struggles by reading Lia's story?

Grade: A

Unwind

Well...I can say with great confidence that I will be purchasing the rest of the books in this series (I'd like to insert here an apology to my bank account). But wow! I won't lie, when I read the synopsis to Neal Shusterman's Unwind, I literally gasped in horror. In fact, I said out loud, "who the hell thinks of a plot like this"? Verbatim. So because of that, I kind of refused to like this book. Any inconsistencies I found in the beginning chapters (which were practically nonexistent) I scoffed at and ridiculed. I should also mention first that I began reading this book laying on my bed, in a relaxed position (don't worry, this information is important). Anyways, couple chapters further into the book, I got really into the book. Specifically the characters (all of them). And before I knew it I was sitting up right with a clenched heart, practically holding my breath for the safety of the characters; as well as the heart-stopping twists and turns at the end of each chapter towards the end of the book. Shusterman does a phenomenal job in creating characters for the readers to care about--especially characters that aren't even major to the story. I think he was able to accomplish this due to the altering narration between each chapter.

The main characters of Unwind goes to: Connor, an unruly kid too much for his parents to control, then there's Risa, a ward of the state with not enough potential to be kept alive and  lastly there's Liv, a child born to become a tithe and willing to become unwound. Though they each come from different backgrounds, they are all destined the same fate. To survive (one of the prominent themes throughout the book).

Sure it took a domino effect of coincidences for them to all meet and escape the horrors of unwinding, but even after being split up, they continued to find themselves drawn back to each other. Compared to the other characters in Unwind, these three went through intense character developments (for the better). Connor who was once so headstrong to the point of his own destruction, matured into boy (man?) who used his influence to steer those lost the right way. Risa in my opinion never really changed. From the beginning and even in the end of this book, she always remained a smart girl, always aware of her surroundings for the most part. The stereotype that women depend on men (in this case Risa depending on Connor) never really happened (which I loved). If anything, they depended on each other quite heavily. Lev drastically changed. No longer naive was he and I'm excited to see what happens to Lev in the next part of this series.

Developments like this created a strong voice in their chapters and its no wonder why they are considered the major characters. But there were some minor characters that deserve some limelight as well--like Ronald for example. 

So at first I immediately got sus vibes (suspicious inklings) from Ronald when I was first introduced to him in the old Dragon's basement (I forgot her name but still remember Hayden's "affectionate" nickname for her). Though a smart individual, he came across too controlling and quite power hungry. He resorted to using his intelligence for "evil" (I say this lightly) and conditioned those around him to hate the Admiral or anyone with authority. The whole time I read his character and the things he was doing, I kept on thinking why? Why do this when you are free of being unwound? I knew he knew what was going on the graveyard was not as bad as being unwound. He was not stupid. And for a second, I thought he finally realized his error of ways when he agreed to fly the Admiral to the hospital...but then he ratted everyone out. Causing Connor, Risa and him to go the the harvest camp (at this point I was so done with him). 

I was on complete edge during the harvest camp chapters. Literally. My roommate, who walked past my room, stopped to stare and laughed at my frazzled state. But anyways, after he became a rat. I though I couldn't care less about Roland. But I was wrong. I was sooo wrong. When the time came for him to be unwound, yes I was a bit sorry but when I realized Shusterman intended to include a chapter on what went on in the Chop Shop (damn you Shusterman) I gasped out loud. Again. Reading that chapter was really hard for me. It was just so....disturbing. I still can't fathom how that nurse was able to talk to Roland throughout the whole procedure with a polite smile on her face! And the fact that they talked about a Lakers game once he couldn't talk anymore?! One by one as Roland's memories began to fade, the sorrow I felt rose higher and higher. I really got the sense of the theme, identity in this chapter when readers see Roland's identity fading from "I'm still here" to "I'm still" to "I'm" to "I" and then to nothing (Shusterman 293). 

I think the chapters near the end, catered to Roland narration, really showed his true character. And I think that's why Shusterman had Connor end up with his arm after the explosion (that tiger shark tattoo is a great status detail). The arm that strangled Connors neck, almost to the point of death, but let go the last second because he was not a killer (rip Roland).

There was also other characters that I quite liked, like Hayden. The best description to his character is this line from the book, "I'm Switzerland: neutral as can be, and also good with chocolate." (Shusterman 243). I'd like to believe that this line sums me up as a person as well (lol). 

This book seems positions teens into three categories: those with potential, those without potential, and those naive about everything. I'm sure this book would appeal to adolescents who find themselves conflicted about trying to fit into a category society deems appropriate and also appeal to adolescents who don't appreciate fitting into such conformity all together. 

Grade: A+