From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)

Angie Thomas

Discussion: 2017 Read Harder Challenge

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 44 topics — 5,607 comments total

2017 Read Harder Challenge

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Complete 2017 RHC Task List
By Book Riot · 1 post · 6015 views

last updated Dec 15, 2016 05:50AM

* 2017 Read Harder Challenge
By Book Riot · 1 post · 3503 views

last updated Dec 15, 2016 05:44AM

showing 10 of 10 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Nov 27, 2018 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club, ya-fiction, audiobook, coming-of-age

*Reread for a book club and the audio narration is perfection!
Khalil and Starr are leaving a party in their Garden Heights neighborhood when a white police officer pulls them over. Khalil is asked to step out of the car and when he leans in to check on Starr, he is shot in the back multiple times. The neighborhood erupts and the news cycle hits the ground running. Starr struggles as the witness to both Khalil's life but also his death.
This is told in first person narration and Starr's voice is ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 04, 2018 Laura Vultaggio rated it really liked it

This book is wonderfully accessible and rings true. It is an important read for all young people, especially those who are not exposed to many people who come from different backgrounds than their own. It is definitely YA Lit so the unpacking is less literary and more cultural. I would highly recommend it!

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 01, 2017 Molly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-lit, on-the-classroom-shelf, recommended, 5-stars, realistic-fiction, read-in-2017

This is fantastic, as expected. It took me an embarrassingly long time to read this book, considering I bought it back in June! But anytime a book is this hyped and buzzed about, there's always the risk that it won't live up to the buzz. I think I was more worried about not liking this book, and not being able to explain why. Thankfully that's not the case, as I loved it, and in spite of the language I will be adding it to The Shelf, because dammit kids swear and this is a story they need to hea This is fantastic, as expected. It took me an embarrassingly long time to read this book, considering I bought it back in June! But anytime a book is this hyped and buzzed about, there's always the risk that it won't live up to the buzz. I think I was more worried about not liking this book, and not being able to explain why. Thankfully that's not the case, as I loved it, and in spite of the language I will be adding it to The Shelf, because dammit kids swear and this is a story they need to hear. It's realistic, which means it's messy - things don't work out perfectly even though you may want them to. But Thomas ends on a message of hope (that had me crying into my desk and trying to blink away tears before my students noticed!).

The plot has been explained a million times, but here goes anyway. Starr is the only witness when her friend Khalil is killed by a police officer. The two of them had actually been fleeing a party where shots were fired, and weren't doing anything wrong except being black teenagers. After Khalil's murder, Starr is faced with some tough decisions - she's the only witness, and she knows the cop was in the wrong, but she's afraid of the consequences of speaking up. Starr also faces issues at her private school, where she's one of the only black kids - she's kept that part of her life pretty much hidden from her white friends, so she's trapped between two worlds when news of Khalil's murder and the protests surrounding it start to bleed into her Williamson life.

I love the way Thomas describes how Starr moves between her two worlds. She's very careful and calculated - can't be too "hood" at Williamson, can't get too angry (lest she be labeled "angry black girl"), but she also has automatic cool points just by being black (so she can make a fool of herself on the dance floor and everyone thinks she's amazing). It all felt very real - I'm sure there are girls out there like Starr who have to do the same sort of navigating on a daily basis. I can't even imagine how exhausting that must be.

Also, shout out to Starr's amazing parents. I am a sucker for great parents in YA (it's sad how few and far between they are - apparently shitty parents are great shorthand for under developed characters). But I loved Starr's parents. They're tough but fair and they allow themselves to be goofy, and even Starr enjoys how cute they are together ("I know they're my parents, but they're my OTP" Adorbs). Just nice to finally see some YA parents who are both fully present and behave like actual humans.

In all, loved it. Can't wait to see what Angie Thomas writes next. ...more

Like · see review

Aug 08, 2021 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow! What a powerful book.

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 12, 2018 Aleetha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2018, ireadthesebookswithyou, piles-and-piles-of-my-books

This book made me feel so uneasy after reading its first few chapters. I was so worried something worse happened to Starr and her family.

Brutality or any kind of violence must be stopped.

Like · see review