Monster tells the story of 16-year-old Steve Harmon who is on trial for murder in New York. Steve's creative outlet is in film, so his story is told through a mixture of scripts and 1st person diary entries. The book is set through the length of his trial, and events leading up to the trial are told in flash backs. Steve's involvement in the murder of a convenient store cleric is ambiguous the entire story. Steve ends up being found innocent, but when he turns to celebrate with his lawyer the look she gives him, makes him wonder what she saw and if she sees a monster within.
I saw the creativity of presenting the story the way that Myers did, but while I liked the story, I personally did not like the format in which it was told. It would be a great book though to use with high schoolers when either exploring character and point of view or when learning about nontraditional ways to tell a story. I think that kids will like the ambiguity of the trial as well. It will allow them to fill in the blanks and look inwardly at themselves when they are interpreting the sides of the trial.
No comments:
Post a Comment