The Hate U Give

I originally bought this book for my granddaughter in 2018. It was later assigned as the summer read for her high school freshman year and she asked me to read it so we could discuss it. This is a powerful read and a great conversation starter for our children. Ms. Thomas gives us well-developed characters and different points of view. When you read this you feel like you know this family and you certainly know her friends. This is a well written emotional account seen through the eyes of a teenager. Well done.

I love the book!!!!!!!!!
I love the book!!!!!!!!!

just finished this book and i really enjoyed it. Not going to lie there were times where i wanted to cry. Khalil story touched

I love the book!!!!!!!!!
I love the book!!!!!!!!!

When a book has a story this moving and powerful, it leaves an impression I’ll never forget. It’s good. Very good. There’s a reason it’s already been made into a movie.

Starr’s life is one I cannot even fathom. Knowing that it’s actually something “normal” for real people is even more unbelievable to me. I don’t mean that to be judgmental in any way, it’s just difficult to relate to. I can’t even imagine a life where hearing gun shots on the daily, knowing “gang bangers,” being related to ex-cons (or cons, as the case may be), needing to watch over your shoulder in case you offended some gang, is normal.

But it’s still a good book with a powerful message. I like the emphasis on doing what’s right. That your voice is your best “weapon.” That being brave isn’t being unafraid, but acting despite fear. That perceptions can be misleading. That we should never judge anyone. That family is most important. And that we obviously still have quite a ways to go as far as racism is concerned.

Starr makes for a great protagonist. Her character develops well and I loved watching her evolve over the course of the events that happened. Her voice was a good one to carry this book. Seven and Chris are both awesome. I liked them each better and better as the book went on. Sekani cracks me up. Maverick and Lisa make for a good couple. They are so cute! I especially like Lisa. Uncle Carlos is cool and I was so glad how things worked out with him and Maverick. The whole thing with Iesha and King is messed up and another tally in the list of things I cannot even come close to relating to. Maya is super cool. I was pretty indifferent about her at first but she ends up being an awesome character. Hailey, on the other hand, is a spoiled little brat. I actually physically felt better when Starr finally punched her in the face (I admit I wanted to do it myself). And Mr. Lewis, this almost nominal character, was so great! I really liked him.

This is a book which, at its core, is about racism and anti-racism. It’s an evil epidemic that needs to be healed. There is a generations-long healing that needs to take place and it absolutely begins with us. And the book definitely addresses that need. But it’s a healing that needs to take place for more than just one race. Maverick, Iesha, Carlos, Khalil, even Starr herself, took issue with the fact that Chris (Starr’s boyfriend) is white. All at varying degrees, of course. Carlos and Khalil are suspicious and overprotective. Iesha is straight up judgmental and mean. Maverick is blatantly not okay with Chris, all on the grounds that he’s white. He doesn’t know anything about Chris at all, except that he’s white, but that makes him not good enough for his daughter. Even Starr wonders if it’s even right to date him, because he’s white. And then when her family starts getting to know him better, he has to prove how “black” he is. Honestly, all those things come across kind of racist to me and are signals that the epidemic needs healing in multiple ways, across multiple cultures.

This is also a story that is ultimately about speaking up and speaking out. Starr learned the importance, very personally, of Martin Luther King’s famous quote: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”

The story is phenomenal. The characters develop very well and the details are spot on. The writing is good. So why not a higher rating? I hate to say it, but the language in this book is so bad it knocked my rating down quite a bit. I have literally never read a book with more f-bombs, not to mention every other swear word under the sun used so frequently. I had the book on audio CD (the reader is fantastic, by the way) and only have my computer as an option to listen to it. I could not, however, listen to it during the day when my children were awake. The language is such a dominant part of the narrative that they certainly would have begun using all the words themselves. I know it is kind of the life, but it really felt like overkill and lowered my rating. I could not recommend this book to most of my friends just because the language is so bad.

Amazing

Powerful story. Excellent characters and exploration of timely topics. A wonderful examination of racism and its effects. Must read.

The Hate U Give

by Angie Thomas

I first found this book when I was researching book trailers last year. The trailer was so compelling that I immediately jumped over to Goodreads and put it on my to read list. Sadly, I forgot about it and never picked it up, until now.

(Fan made book trailer can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuCNYnt–sA )

There is a trailer for a movie as well. I have not seen the movie, but the review of it sounded to me like there was quite a lot of divergence between the book and the movie. Honestly, if you’ve seen the movie, PLEASE give the book a chance. You’ll get so much more out of it, I’m willing to bet.

Recent events made me start looking for a book to read that would take me inside the perspective of a contemporary black woman. I saw this one and remembered how much I had wanted to read it.

The wonderful thing about fiction is the way it can take you inside someone else’s head and help you not only see what they see but feel what they feel. You can be inside their existence and experience a level of empathy that you may not be able to experience any other way. It makes the information and feelings more accessible.

Starr is a high school girl at a party where she doesn’t feel comfortable. She comes across an old friend, Khalil.

“I feel like I’m ten again, standing in the basement of Christ Temple Church, having my first kiss with him at Vacation Bible School.”

They are just chatting and catching up when a fight breaks out and a gun is fired. They don’t stop to find out what is going on, they run with everyone else.

“I don’t try to see who got shot or who did it. You can’t snitch if you don’t know anything.”

They escape, and are headed home, listening to some music, when they get pulled over by the police. Khalil is annoyed and Starr is scared. He tries to reassure her that it’s going to be alright, but when he opens the car door to check on Starr, the cop shoots him. (The cop later claims he thought the hairbrush in the pocket of the door was a gun.) Starr watches Khalil die. Then the cop holds the gun on her until back up arrives.

Her parents come and get her. She is sick and numb.

“I’m lying in bed. Khalil is lying in the county morgue. That’s where Natasha ended up too. It happened six years ago, but I still remember everything from that day.”

Starr had watched another friend die. Natasha was killed in a drive by shooting by a gang member as the two of them played in the water from a fire hydrant on a hot day. The three of them had been friends. “Tighter than the inside of Voldemort’s nose.”

“I always said that if I saw it happen to somebody, I would have the loudest voice, making sure the world knew what went down. Now I am that person, and I’m too afraid to speak.”

At first they try to keep it quiet that Starr is the witness, she doesn’t even tell her friends at school, but as situations and events pile up, she steps forward.

We see the warmth of a close-knit family, and the traditions echoed in communities everywhere, taking food to the home of the bereaved grandmother after she loses her beloved grandson.

“Cameron holds his grandma’s hand as he leads her into the living room like she’s the queen of the world in a housecoat. She looks thinner, but strong for somebody going through chemo and all of this. A scarf wrapped around her head adds to her majesty – an African queen, and we’re blessed to be in her presence. The rest of us stand.”

I love the way we get to know all different types of people in the book who are multi-dimensional. There’s Starr’s older brother, Seven, and her younger brother Sekani. Her father, Big Mav, and her mother, Lisa. There’s a list of characters too big to name in a little book review, it’s a whole neighborhood and then some, but it never gets unmanageable. Sometimes it gets confusing when authors introduce too many people, but not here. Thomas introduces them one by one into the action with situations and characteristics that make them stand on their own like real people.

There are so many facets to the story, I couldn’t possibly cover them all here, but she tackles it all beautifully. Starr’s uncle, Carlos, is a cop himself. Starr is dating a white boy from her school named Chris, and they care very much about each other. Music is a major strand, the dating life of teens, social interactions, being one of the few black kids in a mostly white school her mother enrolled her in, and PTSD. The fear that Starr lived with that something bad could happen when they were stopped by a cop. The guilt Starr feels for living and for not speaking up right away. Thomas clearly depicts how Starr gets to the point where she wants to riot, but also sees the damage that the rioting does to her neighbors and neighborhood.

The gang activity in the community is a large part of the story, as the head of one gang is married to Seven’s mother. The story is never simple, and yet it is clearly told and easy to follow. We see the good and the bad in the neighborhood. How belonging to gangs can provide for people even as it contributes to the decay. The way the gangs are part of the community, like it or not. Starr’s father is the former head of a gang and went to jail for three years to get out of the gang. Thomas touches on the system of drugs, addiction, selling, jails, and poverty.

It is a very rich story that brings these characters beautifully to life. You half expect you could start driving and eventually pull up in front of their house.

I don’t think I have a single negative to give about this book. It is wonderful – insightful, accessible, and expressive. I want everyone to read it. If I could give it more than five stars I would.

It is another solid example of why I say that some of the best authors out there are writing young adult literature and everyone should read some.

i loved this book so much

What I think about this book that is that this a really good book for african americans cause it is based on things that happens a whole lot in the black communities

YAS!!!!!! I’ve finally read this hyped book and I adored it very much. 5 stars obviously!!!!!! This book was more than what I had expected which I will delve deeper into it now.

I have a fair amount of knowledge regarding police brutality and the violence that black people are unfortunately facing even today, so I was a little hesitant that I won’t learn anything new, but oh my God was I very wrong!!!!! There is still much to learn in reading this book!!!!!

So basically, this book is about Starr, who is the only witness to her best friend, Khalil, get shot by a police officer, and you have to read the book to know what happens next.

Of course, the two major themes in this book is the discussion of police brutality and dealing with grief. I have been expecting that but it did not make it easier to see how harsh of the police was to not only Khalil, but to other black characters. My heart ached for them and I just wanted to get a baseball bat and hit those nasty police officers in the head.

There were also the topic about black people selling drugs and how it affects their reputation. This opens up a lot of discussion in my opinion. For example, let’s say a white person sells drugs: he will get shamed for it of course but not as badly as a black person. Also, media (and society) unfortunately even today justify killing a black person because they sell drugs and I think that’s ridiculous.

The author also opens up the discussion to gangs in the black community and how that even affects their reputation, and how that lets police act as they please. Gangs, drugs, and violence are all connected and it all leads to this question: Why does this happen? And the answer to that is: Lack of opportunity for black people.

I loved how raw and realistic the author wrote about grief and trauma in this book. We get to delve deeper into the psychology of Starr and her struggles on what she is going through and what she HAD gone through in the past as well. It impacted me in a very emotional way.

I also love the aspect of an interracial relationship in this book. Starr is black and Chris is white and oh my God they are just so cute together!!!!!! Their relationship is healthy which I appreciate and it was fun to read about them learning from each other and their different backgrounds (or worlds).

The family aspects in this book was my personal favorite. It was so sweet but also it’s not perfect, which made it more realistic. I did not expect comedy in this book and I was pleasantly surprised with it especially when it’s related to family. We all know the best comedy comes from family members. It sets a good balance with the hard topics being discussed in the book.

I really loved most of the characters in this book (there are some I hated) but I feel that you shouldn’t know anyone of them and go into the book and having fun getting to know them as the story moves on.

And finally, I have to discuss on what happened toward the end of the book, but I won’t give spoilers in case you haven’t read it. It was the most powerful scene(s) that I’ve read besides Internment by Samira Ahmed. My emotions were a mess. My heart break, I was cheering Starr on to let her VOICE be heard and get Khalil JUSTICE!!!!!!! It was a lot to take in and I loved every moment of it.

Love it