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

Angie Thomas

Start date: July 1, 2018

Finish date: September 30, 2018

Discussion: Books We Read Together

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What Members Thought

Feb 13, 2018 Kimberly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: top-favorites-2018

Speechless. Utterly Speechless.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is a must read. period. exclamation point.

I am struggling to write a review that is befitting of the emotions, themes, topics, development, pace.. just everything.

I highly recommend adding this story to your TBR list.

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Jul 08, 2018 Megan rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-lit

I don’t normally read contemporary realistic fiction because usually I find it boring. However, I like books that have an important message, and I like books that are different from the “norm.” According to what I had heard, The Hate U Give does both of these things, so of course I had to pick it up.

The Hate U Give touches on a few major problems in modern American society: police brutality and racism. And it does this through a teenage narrator named Starr. I love that The Hate U Give does this I don’t normally read contemporary realistic fiction because usually I find it boring. However, I like books that have an important message, and I like books that are different from the “norm.” According to what I had heard, The Hate U Give does both of these things, so of course I had to pick it up.

The Hate U Give touches on a few major problems in modern American society: police brutality and racism. And it does this through a teenage narrator named Starr. I love that The Hate U Give does this. I think it’s SO important for everyone to have a voice, and I think it’s so important for everyone to be able to find themselves in what they read.

Starr felt like a realistic protagonist. She felt like a real teenager who is trying to live in two completely different worlds, and because of this, experiences much internal conflict. But she also witnesses something horrible: the death of her unarmed friend, Khalil, by a cop. Unfortunately, this is a familiar narrative. Through Starr’s narrative, Thomas points out the problems circulating the deaths of many unarmed black men. Like in the book, the media tends to portray these men as criminals. But what Starr points out is that at the time Khalil was unarmed, at the time Khalil wasn’t doing anything wrong. So why does his past justify his murder?

I also liked the presence of parental figures in the book. It feels like in so many young adult books, the parents are ignored. They aren’t paying attention and for whatever reason, they aren’t really around. But Starr’s parents are an integral part of the novel, and that added to the realism.

Besides that, there were so many different kinds of people represented. There was Chris, Starr’s white boyfriend. Maya, Starr’s best friend. There were students who supported Starr and Khalil, and there students who used a tragedy for their own agenda. There were people who were blatantly racist, and there were people who didn’t realize they were being racist. Even though some may have found some representations offensive, they were representations of real people and real experiences.

However, there were a few things that I didn’t like about the book.

Even though I liked the message, I felt like the book was too preachy. There were scenes upon scenes of political discussions, of discussions of what is right and what was wrong, etc., etc. Instead of letting the characters (and the reader) learn things organically, I felt like Thomas used dialogue to force it on us. Because of this, I don’t think the message was as effective as it could be. I think this book is a step in the right direction and because I don’t have much to compare it to, I gave it four stars. But I think that as more books are published that address the same issues, the less brilliant this book will seem.

This “preachy-ness” is what made this book challenging to read. At least, it did for me. This is a major pet peeve of mine, and honestly, I’m not crazy about realistic fiction to begin with. Anytime I read a scene that’s too heavy on the lessons, I tend to stop reading. It is because of this that it took me over a week to finish The Hate U Give.

And I HATED all the slang. I get why it’s there. It’s supposed to feel real. Starr is supposed to feel like a real teenage girl. However, in the real world, teenagers don’t consistently use slang 24/7. It felt like Thomas was trying too hard to “get it right”.

Furthermore, slang changes fairly quickly. In fact, much of the slang used in the book is already starting to disappear and it has only been a year after publication. Slang dates your novel, especially in the young adult genre.

But ultimately, The Hate U Give is an important book that offers representation. It shows an experience that people need to read, and it makes you think. ...more

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Feb 22, 2018 Captain Nemo (The Demigod Slytherin Who Drives A Jeep) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018-books-a-z-alphabetical-readin, stand-alones-to-buy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 19, 2018 Lee Dawna rated it really liked it

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is yet another book you’ll wish was larger! The author walks you through the mind of a young black female as she navigates high school and the day to day trials of her life. It was great to see each angle represented: youth, gender, and color. We are all complex individuals and the heroine of this story shows her many layers, even the ones she’s unsure of. Hers is a world I could have spent more time exploring. Her mind one I would have loved to stay inside. Which ...more

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May 29, 2020 Molly Porter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

IF I COULD GIVE THIS BOOK MORE THAN 5 STARS I WOULD!!!!!
Let me start by saying this is my absolutely FAVORITE book I have ever read. This is about a 16 year old girl named Starr who lives in the "hood". Although she lives in the hood she goes to a private, white school where she acts like the most civilized, white girl ever. She has a boyfriend named Chris who is white and very rich. One day her black friend Kenya drags her to a party in the hood where she meets up again with a long lost childho ...more

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Sep 18, 2019 Drema Deòraich rated it it was amazing

16-year-old Starr Carter lives in Garden Heights, a poor black neighborhood where gangs run the streets and drugs are ubiquitous. Between her mother’s job as a nurse and her father’s community grocery store in the Heights, Starr’s parents manage to send her and her young brother to a good school, a private one that’s safe and filled almost exclusively with rich white kids. Starr walks a delicate line between the two worlds, creating a separate “Starr” for each—“Williamson Starr,” who’s no one’s 16-year-old Starr Carter lives in Garden Heights, a poor black neighborhood where gangs run the streets and drugs are ubiquitous. Between her mother’s job as a nurse and her father’s community grocery store in the Heights, Starr’s parents manage to send her and her young brother to a good school, a private one that’s safe and filled almost exclusively with rich white kids. Starr walks a delicate line between the two worlds, creating a separate “Starr” for each—“Williamson Starr,” who’s no one’s typical ghetto black girl, and “Garden Heights Starr” who wears attitude like armor—so that she might fit into both without alienating anyone.

But the fragile boundary between the two comes crashing down on the way home from a party when childhood friend Khalil is shot and killed by a white police officer on a routine traffic stop. Starr watches, horrified, as Khalil bleeds out before her eyes and the policeman’s gun turns on her. As the only witness, Starr finds herself faced with an unwelcome choice: stay quiet, stay safe, and accept that some things will never change; or speak up, risk frightening consequences, and hope they will.

This multiple award-winning book captivated me from the very first page. Author Angie Thomas dragged me in with Starr at a party she should never have attended, and kept me riveted right through to the list of names at the end. I couldn’t put it down, and read the entire thing in an afternoon. The shock of Khalil’s murder wasn’t the only moment that had me in tears. But “Hate” isn’t just about tragedy. It’s also about family. Scenes with Starr’s family had me laughing out loud in some places and chewing a knuckle in others. It’s about community. While the reader has the impression Starr’s city is large, Garden Heights has a small-town feel where characters all know and, for the most part, look out for one another. It’s about faith. Starr’s father prays to Black Jesus on a regular basis, even when Starr’s mother interrupts his prayer to argue. It’s about the vast grey area of right vs. wrong. Starr not only struggles with recognizing the right thing to do, but comes to realize that her own assumptions about others based on outside observations are not always correct and that learning the truth changes one’s perspective entirely.

There are so many threads in this story it’s difficult to know which ones to highlight. Perhaps the most obvious is that of racism and the weight of responsibility for the violence that occurs in poor black neighborhoods. While Khalil’s death is the direct result of an officer-involved shooting, and tensions between the police and black residents of Garden Heights is certainly central to the plot, Thomas carefully avoids assigning blame. Instead, she crafts a masterful tapestry of settings and circumstances that helped me see there is more than one side to any story. She never implies that all police officers are racist. She does clearly illustrate the fact that racist assumptions lead to misunderstandings, which lead to fear, which leads to senseless deaths. There must be a better way.

The concept of one’s voice as a defensive weapon is common theme in “Hate.” Throughout the story, various characters confront the risk of “snitching” on gang members, calling out friends or family members for unacceptable behavior, standing up to those who would perpetrate abuse. But sometimes, being brave comes at a price. Several characters pay that piper, and learn the hard way that speaking the truth when one’s voice is shaking takes courage.

Starr’s own journey throughout the story follows the classic young-adult theme of evolving out of a place of insecurity into one of strength. Yet in this setting, given these circumstances, her transition feels relevant to any reader, of any age. The connection between Starr and the police shooting that not only kills her best friend but ultimately turns her community upside down makes this story timely in the extreme. I cannot personally relate to living in Garden Heights, dealing with gang violence, or having my dad give me explicit instructions on how to improve my chances of survival if the police ever stop me. Yet Thomas weaves this story so beautifully I could experience these things vicariously through Starr. “Hate” opened my eyes to the challenges of that reality in a new way, and I am forever changed.

Despite the ray of hope that shines through “Hate,” Thomas didn’t wrap up every loose thread. Real life isn’t neat and tidy, and I liked that the story had that kind of feel to it. Poor black neighborhoods aren’t going away any time soon. Nor is gang violence or officer-involved shootings. Nor, sad to say, is racism. Still, the book ends on a positive note with the people of Garden Heights—and others besides—working to effect meaningful change, both in the Heights and in themselves.

Starr’s story is not only relevant. It is essential. I highly recommend it for everyone, especially people like me who (before reading the book) couldn’t begin to relate to Starr’s life because we’d never been exposed to it. At the very least, The Hate U Give should be required reading in schools because empathy and compassion should be taught early and often.
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