Monster Kody Scott has been in one of the most ruthless gangs since age 11. He was drawn by the fame and respect that gang members in his 'hood received. Everything he did since age 11 was done to gain a reputation for his name and his set.

When I purchased this book I was very excited to get an inside look at the life of a gang member from one of the toughest streets in America, South Central L.A. I have always been interest in gang activity and thought this would be a great read on that fact alone.

For the most part the book was able to enlighten me on gang life, however, it wasn't able place me there, so to speak. The book was very very very dull and dry. There was no talk of emotion, from his first kill to his last. There was no talk about how stealing his first car made him feel, whether it be good, or bad, powerful, or paranoid I don't care which it was, but make it interest for the readers!!! I guess the hard streets have left Monster emotionally empty. Everything is stated very matter-of-fact manner, with minimal descriptions of events to make them coherent.

As I said before, this made for an extremely boring read. After reading about his 100th raid, I found I could care less, they were practically all the same. This book has no depth and at the end it felt like a homework assignment, forcing myself to finish it. Which is a shame because given his status in the Crips, Monster Kody Scott, could have given one of the best if not the best accounts of gang-life in America.

Over all I rate it 3/5. I know really only focused on the negatives of the book, but there are also good qualities. It is pretty rare that we get an autobiography written by a gang member, especially an O.G. It did add a level of authenticity that a D.A. or police officer would not be able to provide. All said and done, I would not recommend this book to a friend.

The author offers a stark portrayal of daily life in 'the other Los Angeles,' the one they don't write about in travel magazines, and the situation has only worsened in the sixteen years since this book was first published.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is seeking more understanding about the factors that lead to gangs and a life of crime.

Love this book but this book left me wanting more like what happened after he left prison in 91.I learned alot from this book things i didn't know;very good book.

There are so many things that can be said about this book, because it makes you think on so many different levels. It's brutally honest, and no holds barred, violent and as ruthless as things can get but... Then there is more... And I to date haven't read a book to surpass this in actually putting one "There" in the life of a Gang Banger. It made me think about the loss of innocence, it also made me think about what would have happened if this same man had of been raised else where in a different environment? I'll leave that one to the philosophers and all but the conclusion I came up with is he would have survived no matter where he was planted. When I first read Eldridge Cleavers "Soul On Ice" I was shocked at the intelligence pouring from the pages. I had the same feeling reading "Monster" by Sanyika Shakur. Highly intelligent! This book reads like a birds eye view of his life! It even inspired me to write on the subject so I give credit where credit is due. If you want to know what is really happening in the streets and neighborhoods of America then read this book!!!!

Raw? Without a doubt, but as shocking as all it is, there is also compassion revealed and revelations and for the man to live to write about it is a miracle to begin with.

I think this book deserves far more than what Amazon has in levels to rate.

To understand the real picture you have to see the underside...

And this book reveals it as few have and is an important part of American Literature and a testimony of how it really is with no holds barred!

And in addition to all the other things this man has been, one that he has certainly proven himself to be, without a doubt is an exceptional author and one who knows how to truly write something you won't have to worry about forgetting...

Because you won't...

Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

Okay, it's exciting to read about all the murder; downtown LA must really be another world, and if that's what you're looking to read about, here's the book. My eyes were really opened by that aspect of this book, and I've passed the book on to a new owner for that reason.

So why only two stars?

The back of the book talks about the author's ("Monster Kody") transcendence of his gangland origins.

Bah.

He's unrepentant, he glorifies gang life, and his 'personal growth' was when he realized that he needed to stop hating other black people for living on the wrong street and so started hating white people for the crimes of their ancestors and for the way the racist cops and prison guards treated the serial-murderer willful criminals.

A young black man who is mistakenly treated like a criminal is a victim of injustice. A young black criminal who is assumed to be a criminal because he is black, however, needs to examine how he's helping support the stereotype.

A lot of bad things happened to Monster Cody in this book, and a real percentage (not as high as a quarter, but still) of those things were done by corrupt white people. Every one of those things was earned. Monster Cody is racist. Reading the book has me struggling not to become so myself.

Monster Kody Scott, leading gunman of the Eight Tray Gangstas, recounts his gory murders, robberies and exploits as a member of the notorious Crips. A sickening tide of violence visited this man's life in the span of a decade, from gunning down enemy Bloods to facing death at the hands of rival Crips.

Whether you're an at-risk youth or an activist against the system, you need to read Shakur bare his soul to deliver a message about the cycle of violence in South Central, the descent into crack cocaine during the mid-1980s and the city authorities' chronic failure to address the gang warfare through jobs and youth programs instead of a military-style police crackdown.

Its too bad that Shakur doesn't delve deeper into the Black Nationalist ideology that eventually steered him away from his fellow Eight Trays like Crazy De and Lil' Tray. Why not challenge the reader's own beliefs about race and class in America, even if Black Nationalism falls short as a revolutionary approach?

That said, this is just the type of book that ought to make it on a lot more reading lists in America's schools. Almost anyone with a conscience can connect with this book, even if Shakur's life makes you want to scream at the top of your lungs.

This book would be a much more interesting read if the author would have just presented his actions without trying to fake his deep moral feelings and such. The stories he relates of his life on the streets are of course interesting, giving you a window into the life of a remorseless serial murderer. He shows very little regret for his actions or sympathy for his victims, about the best he can come up with is that they should not have been there, in his way. He searches through most of the book for someone to blame, obvious targets like white people (americans), cops, the prison system are pointed out, no surprise there. He constantly compares himself and his fellow criminals to the military, attempting to make them seem in some way noble I guess, but it falls flat. He even goes so far as to compare himself (favorably) to the president, when he tattoo's his gang name on his neck, saying the president lacks the conviction to tattoo "republican" or "capitalist" on his own neck. It's silly thoughts like this that lessen the impact of this book, and just make him seem naive, a child in a man's skin.

Overall, some good writing in between a lot of propaganda and excuses. And what is the point of replacing "understand" with "overstand" throughout the book??

This book is tough! When I read this, I was living in a small town in the Northwest, with a low occurrence of violent crime and an obscenely high average education level (lot's of dishwashers with Master's degrees), but nonetheless, while reading this book, I would find myself riding around in my friends' cars, and wondering why I'd left my "gat" @ home. Considering I don't even own a gun, that is fairly impressive. The book is engrossing,entertaining and thought provoking, all in equal measure. I mean it's no Autobiography of Malcolm X, but I'd say it is definitely a biography worth reading.

This book is all about some gang member who polluted LA.
There is nothing REAL about this and everything he does is stupid.
Smart people keep their noses clean and live in tough HOODS and have hard lives to live also.
They grow up and don't spend time in prison and bragg about how tough they are because they carry a gun.
Growing up in the HOOD don't mean you need to be a monster.
Nothing but excuses and all they did was make living in America a worse place.
All the dummys follow in there path.
Put them in jail and keep them there, the world needs no more phony gangbangers...thats for sure.
Hard luck...bull....
Your just weak to begin with.

This book is all about some gang member who polluted LA.
There is nothing REAL about this and everything he does is stupid.
Smart people keep their noses clean and live in tough HOODS and have hard lives to live also.
They grow up and don't spend time in prison and bragg about how tough they are because they carry a gun.
Growing up in the HOOD don't mean you need to be a monster.
Nothing but excuses and all they did was make living in America a worse place.
All the dummys follow in there path.
Put them in jail and keep them there, the world needs no more phony gangbangers...thats for sure.
Hard luck...bull....
Your just weak to begin with.

Not a bad read but not a great read either. I found this book easy to read and not two deep.

Monster spent most of his life being stereotyped by others for being associated with a gang at a young age. Sanyika Shakur explains that it is possible to turn your life around from a gang member to an award-winning author. I recommend this book to young adults and older. I enjoyed this book because it alerts people about gang violoence. DeQuincy

MONSTER KODY IS A LEGEND
THIS IS THE ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR CRIPS WORLDWIDE
FIND OUT HOW HE BECAME KNOWN AS "MONSTA"
IT DOESN'T GET ANY REALLA THAN THIS
THE LIFE
THE LEGEND
MONSTA KODY

I read this book years ago and read it again a few years later. Even though this isn't my lifestyle, I could relate to everything as far as the environment and having grown up in Los Angeles. When I let someone borrow the book, I definitely had to get it replaced to have in my collection of recommended books to read.

Sanyika Shakur's remarkable text vividly reveals the author to be an articulate apologist for self-actualization without the embarrassing self-egoization recognizable in cinema actors, hit parade screamers, catwalk cretins, stammering sports stars and mumbling reality television mouthpieces. 'Monster' is the embellishment of that acclaimed LA Times article in 1998, in which Shakur briefly recounted the genesis of his gangland activities. 'I didn't know what I was gonna do after I left school in the third grade. First I tried the law but them bums always found me guilty, then I tried medicine but them tablets made me constipated. So I figured the gang stuff was my bag. The travel was good, I got to interact a lot and the Drive-By Committee gave me a free ghetto blaster'.
'Monster' is the sort of book you read till you stop.

I bought this book thinking I would learn that my impression of gangbangers as empty-headed thugs might be changed. The only thing that changed is that I am now fourteen dollars poorer.

Kody Scott is a loser who is trying to save face. He went from a loser who thought he was invincible to one who has rethought his entire history to make himself a victim. He hates white people, or "Americans", as he calls them, as opposed to Hispanics, New Afrikans (black people he approves of) and Negroes (black people he doesn't approve of). He's not a man. He's an overgrown child playing a racial version of Dungeons and Dragons in his head to rationalize the mind-numbing violence he's inflicted on other people. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

How can their mothers (the mothers of ALL gang members, regardless of color) allow this to go on?

One of the best books I have ever read. The aura of realism and truth to these "tales from the hood" resonates throughout. Just absolutely fascinating. You might not think reading about an ex LA gang members life would be interesting, but take it from me this book will engross you to no end. Monster Cody was a real villian and his autobiography holds nothing back.