8 starred reviews · Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best · William C. Morris Award Winner · National Book Award Longlist · Printz Honor Book · Coretta Scott King Honor Book · #1 New York Times Bestseller!
“Absolutely riveting!” —Jason Reynolds
“Stunning.” —John Green
“This story is necessary. This story is important.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Heartbreakingly topical.” —Publishers … Green
“This story is necessary. This story is important.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Heartbreakingly topical.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A marvel of verisimilitude.” —Booklist (starred review)
“A powerful, in-your-face novel.” —Horn Book (starred review)
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.
Want more of Garden Heights? Catch Maverick and Seven’s story in Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas’s powerful prequel to The Hate U Give.
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Angie Thomas has written a stunning, brilliant, gut-wrenching novel that will be remembered as a classic of our time.
Angie Thomas brilliantly used the platform of her artistic talent to raise awareness of prolific police brutality in the African American community. We share home states, culture and a love for great story telling. I look forward to more of her work!
The movie is coming October 19th (October 6th in select cities), starring Amandla Stenberg, and a star-studded cast! I’m going to see it as soon as it airs in Tallahassee.
Starr is in the car when her friend Khalil is shot 3 times by the police officer. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this book explores racial prejudice — but also tells the moving story of this girl who wants to speak out, but is afraid of the repercussions.
Beautifully written. Everyone should read this.
I went into this book scared to get into this book and left it never wanting to leave the Carter family. I loved it. I loved them. This book is full of wit and smarts and honesty and courage. The reader is safe in Ms. Thomas’s hands from start to finish (or more aptly, she’s safe in the Carter family’s hands – really, I can’t say it enough about these characters, you want to meet them, spend time with them, KNOW them). I think everyone should read this book. It’s beautiful, it’s far, FAR more approachable than you could imagine, and it’s crucial.
Wow. Just wow. This book is the rarest of things: both important and mind-blowingly GOOD. It’s real, it’s honest, it’s layered, it’s heartbreaking, it’s heartwarming, it’s funny, it’s devastating, it’s infuriating, it’s inspiring, it’s hopeful, it’s timely, and it’s so so so so good. THE HATE U GIVE is the book we need. I hope everyone I know reads it.
I pretty much inhaled this book and it’s been a very long time since I’ve read a book that has gripped me so strongly right from the first page. The fact that such a beautiful story was inspired by such horrific events is heartbreaking, but that’s often the way of it. Every aspect of this story, the dialogue, the narration, the subject matter…just takes hold and doesn’t let go until the last page is read or… in my case, inhaled. The characters were all dynamically presented and every one of them brought in such a unique perspective. It’s been a minute since I’ve literally screamed at book characters the way I tend to do when I’m alone and watching one of my favorite television shows, but that’s exactly how immersed I was in this beautiful, edgy and inspiring storyline. Outstanding work from a new literary talent!
Such a heart-wrenching, tragic story that could have been pulled straight from the headlines of today’s news. This book made me think, cry. It made me angry and gave me hope. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
This book is just as great as everyone says — timely, stunning, and heartbreaking. Highly recommended.
The Hate U Give is one of my favorite books of 2017. There are so many reasons this book should be on everyone’s TBR list. Here are just a few:
– The subject matter is so incredibly important. The story begins with a cop pulling over the protagonist Starr and her friend Khalil (who’s driving). The cop (supposedly) thinks Khalil is reaching for a weapon (he’s not), and murders Khalil. As the novel unfolds, Starr grapples with the fallout — the senseless loss of her friend, her experience and treatment as a witness, and her role in the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s heartbreaking — but also incredibly inspiring.
– THE VOICE. I kept forgetting that Starr wasn’t an actual, real-live person. I loved her relationship with her family, her complicated friendships, her insight into her culture, and the way she described her thoughts, emotions, and internal conflicts. This is such a great #ownvoices novel. And despite the heaviness of the subject matter, Starr’s sense of humor and quippy dialogue allow for some funny moments.
– The character development. I don’t want to give too much away about Starr’s arc, but it feels so realistic and satisfying. Same with some of the secondary characters. Nobody is one-dimensional. It’s just all so good.
To sum up, I love this book, and you should read it too. And I’ll gobble up any other book Angie Thomas ever publishes.
This is the most important book I’ve ever read.
“Something to live for, something to die for”
This story follows Starr, a sixteen-year-old young black woman. Starr is living in two vastly different worlds. In these worlds, she is herself and then she is someone else. Then tragedy strikes close to home and her worlds start to collide. She does try to keep them separate but eventually merges them together. The Hate U Give is a powerful eye-opening story into the life that is a black person or if you prefer African-American living in America today. I highly recommend this story, as it will give you insight into a world that not many know, including myself. Yes, its fiction but it very well could be about your friend, your friends’ friend, a co-worker, or a neighbor.
I must be the only person on the planet who hasn’t read The Hate U Give yet but God am I glad I did. These days I’m not too excited about the YA genre in general, but after seeing this title win multiple awards, I figured it was at least worth a try. Oh my heart. Oh my soul. Oh the perspective of an entire community struggling to be seen and heard, and not viewed as an automatic threat because of pigmentation. Informative, eye-opening, emotional, and powerfully message-filled. Read it. Be an ally. Speak up and speak out. Black Lives Matter.
All the stars
My favorite quote:
“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”
Wow! Just, WOW!! This book blew my mind, and I devoured it in one sitting.
This story is so well-written, so real, so emotional, it brings you right into the protagonists’ world. And it couldn’t be more timely.
Told from the point of view of a young, black women straddling two worlds–the ghetto where she lives, and the mostly white private school she attends–this is the story of how a brutal police shooting of an unarmed black man she grew up with impacts that their families, friends, and community.
I don’t want to give away more. Suffice it say, this is a must read for everyone in America. Go buy, read, and review it now.
“That’s the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”
This is by far one of my favorites releases of 2017. This book is so incredibly timely and relevant and necessary. In addition, Thomas made this book completely captivating, and Starr is one of the best protagonists I’ve read in a while. Her inner dialogue poses many questions I found myself asking as I was reading it, and I so appreciated that Thomas anticipated her readers having those questions.
This would be a great fictional companion or follow-up read to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, and I couldn’t recommend this book more.
You don’t need me to tell you this book is amazing, you already know that. But I can add that the narrator for the audiobook is also amazing. She perfectly captures the emotion, age, and gender of each character.
I really enjoyed this book. It is well written, fast-paced and provides a unique perspective, both on a topical subject, but also what it is like to grow up straddling two completely different worlds. Watching the main character, Starr, trying to reconcile who she is and how she changes in each world and then the revelations that come when those two worlds are finally slammed together, is fascinating. Anybody who grew up feeling like they had to hide a part of themselves to fit in, will relate to her struggles, even if that is the only thing that they have in common. For me, that was the beauty of this book. Yes, it does tackle a huge current issue in the news, but at the end of the day, it is a coming of age story. The way that Angie Thomas explores some of the universal struggles of coming of age makes Starr relatable even for someone who seemingly has nothing in common with her. And because Starr is relatable, it’s easy to empathize with the situation that she has been forced into, and see this topical situation from the eyes of someone else. I can’t recommend this book enough, it is beautifully done.
I’ve been wanting to read this since it released but I put it off because it’s a story we already know. A story that is deeply painful, not only to read but to witness everyday. Sadly I went into this story knowing it wouldn’t have an HEA but I needed to read it anyway.
This was an excellent read, and I highly recommend it to both adults and older teens. (Some of the content might be a bit too mature for a young teen/tween audience.) The plot was fast paced, and the characters from Starr’s private school world and her Garden Heights world were authentic. After recently reading the nonfiction books So You Want to Talk about Race and Waking Up White, I found the text that much more engaging seeing some of the racial issues explored in those books represented in a YA fiction story.
This book is well-written with a wonderful voice and a cast of great characters. It’s realistic and honest and I love it — it’s definitely something you should read.
I can’t even lie. I doubted the hype. Really, could it really be as good as everyone says?
Well, yes it was!
More than just a good story, I feel like The Hate U Give will be considered great American Literature one hundred years from now. This will be one of the books my grandchildren will read to get a feel for my decade.