Book Title & Author: The Hate U Give by Angie ThomasGenre: Contemporary
Pages: 444
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
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Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
Review:
I will never be able to explain why it took me so long to read this book and why my own mother read it way before I did. This is a book that will sit with you for a very long time, I know it will sit with me forever. It ripped out my heart from the very beginning and despite me taking over 3 months to finish it, it still hits me. Right in the heart. This is one of those times where I know I took a long time to read this book, but I'm so glad I finished it.
I knew this book was going to be a tough read, but I definitely underestimated how tough it was. From the minute Khalil is shot and I start sobbing, I knew this book was going to hurt, and holy moly did it hurt.
But then, there was Starr. Oh my god. I just loved her voice. She was grieving not only the fact that her friend was dead, but also that a white cop had seen him as a threat and had killed him because he felt afraid. No other reason. Just "he was afraid" It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why he was afraid. It was the simple reason that Khalil (and Starr) were black. No other reason. That just about shattered me. I know racism is still alive and well in this country, but I had never read a book that outlined it so clearly. Massive kudos to Thomas for how clearly she wrote it.
Starr is backed by her family, who I really liked. From her mom and dad to her brothers Seven & Sekani. Starr's strong family unit was really one of my favorite things about this book. Her parents were around & present in her life and in the lives of her brothers. I read too much YA where the family is completely uninvolved. Not only do we get a strong nuclear family in this book, but we also get an aunt & uncle who are also very involved in the lives of their niece & nephews. Starr having her uncle Carlos around reminded me of how I've always had my uncle around.
Starr also had Hailey & Maya around at school. One of them bugged me more than the other one did and the one who bugged me the least actually ended up redeeming herself by the end of the book. They were pretty irritating about the whole thing at first though. Treating a protest day as just a "free day off from school" They didn't seem to care one little bit about why they had that protest and instead thought only of themselves.
Chris was another one I wasn't sure of at first, but he quickly grew on me and by the end I really loved him. Loved how he treated Starr, dealt with her family and generally stayed in her corner 100% He was one of those good guys who understood the reasons for the outrage & the protests and Starr's grief.
There's so much more I could say about this book. From Iesha to DeVante to Kenya to the King Lords and everything else in between. There's a lot to talk about in regards to this book and it just gets more and more relevant to our world now.
Final thoughts: Read this book.
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