The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Series: Standalone

Publisher: Walker Books

First published February 28th, 2017

Genres: Contemporary, YA, Realistic Fiction

Pages: 438

Format: Paperback

Buy: Book Depository | Amazon

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl’s struggle for justice.

 

Holy… Now I understand the hype. This book is incredible! It’s realistic, it’s important, it’s emotional, it’s timeless, it’s amazingly written and it’s extremely gripping.

This is one of those books everybody should read no matter what! I can’t even believe it took me so long to read it!

If you’re like me, and your mother tongue isn’t English, this book starts with a lot of street language, and I wasn’t sure I was going to understand the book because of that. It was taking me a bit to read it, and sometimes I even had to read a sentence twice. But a fellow blogger told me that I would get used to it in no time, and so I continued to read it. She was definitely right! After some pages, you can’t even notice it anymore! You will get used to it and you will get completely hooked on the book!

As for the story, Starr has had some difficult moments in her life. One of them being the death of her best friend where she was a solo witness. In her neighborhood, there’s a lot of bad things going on, from shootings, to drugs, to poverty, … And they have a very different teaching from the one, for example, I had, for preparations to the outside world. Starr was taught to be very careful around police officers, where I was taught to trust in them.

This book shows a reality that happens more than it should. And that is Injustice. The book develops around Starr after her friend Khalil died. She is afraid, she is sad, but she still tries to fight for justice. But in a world like ours, a black person that lives in a ghetto is unfortunately seen as guilty no matter what. And sometimes proof is not even enough where it should be. We see the reality of racism, we see Starr’s life shattering into a million pieces, we see the unfairness of the world. But we also see family love and friendship.

I loved how this book had a slightly soft and humorous side to all the seriousness. It contains a lot of important messages, and it’s written in a very realistic way.

The soft side of this book are the characters. We see Starr’s relationship with herself, with her family, her white and black friends and her white boyfriend. But for me, the best part was the family. That’s family goals right there! I love how Starr also sees that and how much she cares for, respects and loves her family.

 

There’s a lot to love about this book, and the characters are purely amazing. And more than that is how this book is both heartbreaking and lovely at the same time!

And a thing I found really interesting is how amazingly written it is and it’s the first book from the author. Like, how the hell?! I never expected that! I loved the writing and how it really made me feel the story. It was so clear and emotional! If this is the first book and it’s already this good, I am for sure picking up the next book she writes!

To conclude, the biggest thing about this book is that once you read it, you will never forget it! It’s an amazing book that NEEDS to be read by everyone. Like John Green said… “STUNNING”.

 

Some Quotes:

There are so many good quotes in this book!! Here are just a tiny amount of them:

“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”

“Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you go on even though you’re scared.”

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

“…I don’t give a flying monkey’s ass what your problem is…” 

   

Have you read this book already? If so, let’s discuss it in the comments! If not, what are you waiting for?!

 

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