collected
Nonfiction · Biography & Memoir · True Crime · Social Science
About 8 h · at 30 minutes a day, about 16 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
Sanyika Shakur recounts sixteen years as a Los Angeles Crip under his former name, Kody Scott, beginning with his initiation on the night of his elementary school graduation in 1975. Written in solitary confinement, the memoir describes his pursuit of status through violence and the neighborhood conditions he holds partly responsible for his path. It also traces his rejection of gang life and involvement in the New Afrikan Independence Movement in prison.
The narration is blunt and steeped in street language, recounting shootings and beatings in graphic detail. Personal recollection develops into political argument, so the book combines an intimate view of gang loyalties with Shakur’s explanation of how they take hold.
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
Not really, though the blunt narration is steeped in street language. The chronological account moves briskly; graphic violence and the shift from personal recollection into political argument make it more demanding emotionally and conceptually.
Strong violence includes shootings and beatings recounted in graphic detail. Strong language and abuse also feature in a dark, unsettling account of gang life and the pursuit of status through violence.
Monster suits someone seeking a firsthand, reflective account of gang loyalties, prison, and personal transformation. Shakur draws on his own experience, combining intimate recollection with his explanation of the neighborhood conditions that helped shape his path.
Yes, personal recollection develops into political argument as Shakur examines how gang loyalties take hold. The memoir also traces his rejection of gang life and involvement in the New Afrikan Independence Movement in prison.
400 pages in the Grove Press 2004 paperback edition.
Grove Press · 2004 · Paperback. ISBN 9780802141446.
About 8 hours at 50 pages an hour, based on the 400-page Grove Press edition. Dense books can take longer.
Sanyika Shakur was an American author and former member of the Los Angeles-based Eight Tray Gangster Crips. His writing drew on his experiences of gang life, incarceration, and religious and political change. In his 1993 memoir Monster, written in prison, he recounts his entry into gang life and his years on the streets and in prison. He also examines the environment and beliefs that shaped him. The book presents his claimed reform, conversion to Islam, and turn toward Black nationalism in his own terms.
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