BOOK REVIEW: THE HATE U GIVE

BlackLivesMatter - Black Representation - Family - Friendship - Racial Injustice

Author: Angie Thomas

Genre: YA fiction

Page Count: 444 pages

Trigger Warnings: Gun violence, discrimination against black people, abusive families, fighting/violence

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

"What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”

Starr Carter lives between two worlds -- one in her own neighborhood, and the other in a fancy school, and with this transition, she is forced to be two different people. This, however, comes to an abrupt halt when she witnesses the death of her best friend, Kahil, and uses her voice for him when he can't. With the rise of Kahil's death becoming one of the most paramount situations in this country, Starr learns to fight for not only Kahil, but the many other black people who have been unfairly hurt. This proves to be harder than said as the investigation continues of Kahil's death, and Starr seems to be the person of interest with this mystery, being the only witness to his death. Following the death are many protests, making her community an even unsafer one as people fight for Kahil's justice, but police only reconcile with brutality, using guns and weapons to quiet their voices. In this book, we follow Starr as she battles her inner fears, doubt, and most importantly, learns to use her voice for those who cannot.

This book is exactly as many stated it would be -- impacting and powerful. With the Hate U Give, Angie Thomas crafts an intricate and relevant novel, that may be yet uncomfortable due to the sheer amount of truth presented. An eye-opening story about society and the power of one's voice.

In The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas presents a strong voice and a deep connection with the main character, Starr, in a mere amount of time that sums to be less than a chapter. With this connection, Angie places the inciting incident -- Kahil's death -- near the beginning of this book and, because stories are about how events affect the reader, she clearly presents Starr to be distraught and unmotivated after witnessing the death of her best friend, as expected. Though this event is predictable, as it is given to us in the book blurb, having already a connection with Starr makes us want to keep reading and makes us want to find out if Starr may get over this heartache. This book does not only present a strong plot at the beginning but throughout the entirety of it as well. As people fight for justice for Kahil, and the news becomes a national turmoil, we see how many of those of authority are quick to make cataclysmic assumptions preceding Kahil's death, saying he was a drug dealer and user, as if that is a reason to kill a person. Through this book, Thomas presents how one small-minded, stereotypical assumption, such as one that suggests Kahil was a drug addict due to the color of his skin, can negatively impact a whole community of people until the injust drown out their voice.

Angie Thomas can clearly craft intricated and unique characters that differ from many of the characters in books I've read, alluding to a strong and personified voice. One of the greatest traits I've seen in the book, presented strongly through the characters in The Hate U Give is their complexity and dimensions. Starr is a mix of funny and witty, yet at the same time serious and thoughtful, thought-provoking. Being prone to such misery and injust at a young age, she is constantly battling with her inner self and fighting for the community she's so well woven in, and though she puts on a tough facade, Starr was hurting inside. We could see it in the novel, fair as day, that the death of her friend took a toll on her, and the facade was getting harder and harder to put up. This ghosted feeling of Starr slowly losing her self only shows her as human, and the fact that Angie Thomas writes it flawlessly makes her more so, keeping the sensation toned and not overtly presented as many books seem to do. Walking inside Starr's brain is almost as if walking through her voice -- thinking as she does, acting as she does, feeling as she does -- and this connection with a character is the strongest I've felt. Angie Thomas presents flawlessly flawed characters, and knows how to keep the character real and raw.

As already repeatedly stated, The Hate U Give is powerful and leaves an everlasting impact on those who read it -- and this, of course, insinuates many lessons brought to the table. One of the key lessons weaved in this book, is one of the popular ones taken away from it, and for good reason too. Angie Thomas taught me that my voice matters as she takes me upon the journey of Starr Carter and her emotional rollercoaster while not only fighting for the injustice of Kahil, but for so many other black people hurt unwarranted. She's taught me that your voice can make a difference, for good or for bad, and that the only person you get to decide if you use it is you. In the book, Starr faces the question, "What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?", and this question has been eye-opening for me. Angie also taught me that fighting for what you believe in and fighting for a change is an ever continuous journey, and that so many people will breach your efforts in fighting for a cause to feed their own selfish thinking of this world. This book also said, among the vast number of significant quotes, "When you fight, you put yourself out there, not caring who you hurt or if you'll get hurt." To me, this says that fighting is stepping out to the world with a vulnerability, because you show people what you care about and what you, in the long term, want, and that will always leave room for people taking advantage of your beliefs -- to summarize, fighting means being vulnerable, but stepping back from fighting just because you're scared to get hurt is not a reason anyone should stop fighting, especially if they're fighting for more than themselves.

A raw and real novel that studies the retrospect of human nature, and has taught me more lessons to better myself and better my community.

Characters: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Pacing: 5/5

Overall: 15/15

Recommended for fans of Dear Martin, Darius The Great is Not Okay, and Brown Girl Dreaming.