I read "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas. Starr Carter, who is the protagonist of the book lives two different worlds metaphorically. The one who goes to Williamson, a private school for wealthier people than what she grew up with. And the shy and intimidated girl who grew up in a poor neighborhood of Garden Heights. At first Starr really would speak up and was too shy to detached herself from Kenya; her friend who is technically related to her because of their half brother named Seven, when they were at a party within the first chapter of the book. It is very clear that early on in the book Starr cares an awful lot about what others think about her. Khalil; her childhood friend, becomes a victim of what seems to be an unprovoked police shooting. This happened after Starr and him had fled from a party that busted out in gunshots. Khalil got pulled over for driving with a broken tail light and was quickly padded down. When returning to check on Starr that is when Khalil was shot and killed in front of Starr. Starr being traumatized after witnessing the death of her childhood friend decides that she needs to speak up to make a difference. Even if that means losing everything. Not trying to spoil anything while writing this review, but the rising actions leading up to the climax of this story is a heartfelt one. Starr, after being felt that she needed to speak up and make her voice heard decides that she needs to testify against the police officer who shot Khalil. A decision was made that upsetted the neighborhood. This caused protests and riots and gang members took advantage of this opportunity. In the end Big Mav; Starr’s father, store gets caught on fire by someone in the story. Not going to say. While Starr and others are trapped inside. The neighborhood decides turns on what is eventually considered the negative that is the person who set fire to the store. Devonte testifies and ends that person’s drug and gang activity that he has influenced on the neighborhood. Starr makes a promise with herself to stand for injustice and to have a voice. This story I feel like would be great to teach to high schoolers. Hopefully in the future society in the real world will be better in order to teach this heart heavy content to students and have them understand why things happened and how we progressed since then. This novel went by super fast for me simply because the chapters were not SUPER long and I was more inclined to tell myself, “Okay one more chapter.”. I highly recommend this book for anyone who either wants a good story with strong driven characters. Or for someone who is afraid to voice their opinion like Starr.
Khalil; her childhood friend, becomes a victim of what seems to be an unprovoked police shooting. This happened after Starr and him had fled from a party that busted out in gunshots. Khalil got pulled over for driving with a broken tail light and was quickly padded down. When returning to check on Starr that is when Khalil was shot and killed in front of Starr. Starr being traumatized after witnessing the death of her childhood friend decides that she needs to speak up to make a difference. Even if that means losing everything.
Not trying to spoil anything while writing this review, but the rising actions leading up to the climax of this story is a heartfelt one. Starr, after being felt that she needed to speak up and make her voice heard decides that she needs to testify against the police officer who shot Khalil. A decision was made that upsetted the neighborhood. This caused protests and riots and gang members took advantage of this opportunity.
In the end Big Mav; Starr’s father, store gets caught on fire by someone in the story. Not going to say. While Starr and others are trapped inside. The neighborhood decides turns on what is eventually considered the negative that is the person who set fire to the store. Devonte testifies and ends that person’s drug and gang activity that he has influenced on the neighborhood. Starr makes a promise with herself to stand for injustice and to have a voice.
This story I feel like would be great to teach to high schoolers. Hopefully in the future society in the real world will be better in order to teach this heart heavy content to students and have them understand why things happened and how we progressed since then. This novel went by super fast for me simply because the chapters were not SUPER long and I was more inclined to tell myself, “Okay one more chapter.”. I highly recommend this book for anyone who either wants a good story with strong driven characters. Or for someone who is afraid to voice their opinion like Starr.