The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1) in Our Shared Shelf

Apr 29, 2018 Jane rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-everyone-should-read

It is really refreshing to read a book like this and to have a picture of what happens on the personal side of a police shooting. Even though it’s a work of fiction, it’s important to keep in mind that the victims have lives and families. Like DeVante said, nobody wants to sell drugs, and when you’ve been taking care of your family, it’s a relief to have someone else take care of you. That’s the side of the story that we don’t always hear.

The biggest takeaway from the book were the strong bonds It is really refreshing to read a book like this and to have a picture of what happens on the personal side of a police shooting. Even though it’s a work of fiction, it’s important to keep in mind that the victims have lives and families. Like DeVante said, nobody wants to sell drugs, and when you’ve been taking care of your family, it’s a relief to have someone else take care of you. That’s the side of the story that we don’t always hear.

The biggest takeaway from the book were the strong bonds in the Garden Heights community. Yes there were drugs, shootings, and gangs. But there were also a lot of neighbors who grew up together and looked out for each other.

That was the same community that had Starr’s back when she testified to the grand jury. It was the same community that stood up to King when he burned Mav’s store down. It was the same community that helped the Carters clean up the wreckage. That strong community and those strong bonds are going to be their saving grace as much as using their voices is.

The second takeaway was how Starr felt she needed to be two different people, Garden Heights Starr and Williamson Starr. She hides Garden Heights Starr from her Williamson peers, because she doesn’t want them to think she’s “ghetto” or has “attitude”.

Some of the other reviews make the argument that Starr is racist, because she keeps trying to break up with Chris on account of he’s white and she’s black.

True, those scenes are hard to ignore. However, they don’t stand on their own, and there’s more to Chris than those reviews give him credit for.

After Kahlil’s death, Starr questions her relationship with her boyfriend, her friends, and her roles in her two communities. A big conflict for her is being the Garden Heights Starr versus the Williamson Starr, and she questions whether to break up with Chris, because she wonders if he is any different than One fifteen.

Chris proves her wrong time and again. He sticks by her side even when shit turns sideways, when she has a PTSD flip out on him and when he finds out she’s the witness. He really has balls of steel when he goes into Garden Heights with her at the end. He constantly challenges her to put aside Garden Heights Starr and Williamson Starr and just be Starr Carter.

It is Hailey, Starr discovers, who is the real problem. Hailey is every wrong thing that white people say about racism and police shootings. She was too one dimensional though, and I would have liked to see more depth. Absolutely this is Starr’s story, but you can give Hailey more complexity without taking anything away from Starr. She knew Hailey long enough to know where that thinking came from, and I would have like to known Starr’s perspective on this. If Hailey had that in her, then there must have been so much more than a few dog meat and fried chicken comments and her insensitive comments about Kahlil. And what was the story about their friendship dynamic? What made Starr and Maya follow Hailey’s lead? This relationship was significant to the story arc and the book’s themes, and there was more there.

Definitely a book everyone should read. Here’s to more voices.
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