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A review by lawbooks600
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Representation: Black and Asian characters
Score: Nine points out of ten.
The Hate U Give succeeded where other novels failed. I've read books like this before, but none were as outstanding as this one. I wanted to read this story for a while after seeing it in my recommendations, so I picked it up from a library I went to. When I finally read and finished the narrative, it was spectacular. It's the first five-star read of the year.
It starts with the first person I see, Starr Carter, living as if she's split in two. One half lives in an impoverished neighbourhood while the other lives in a PWI. Everything looks typical until a person shoots and kills her best friend, Khalil, who is unarmed. The book is slow but I can understand since it's over 400 pages, yet it still feels like every page is necessary.
I liked that the author allowed me to connect to Starr more as she developed, and I appreciated all the other characters in the fictional composition. They're all realistic and complex. The author explores the themes of racism and injustice well as I could see how people can make subtle racist comments and how they can be in solidarity with each other. The climax is bittersweet as I see crowds protesting over Khalil's death, all while the police do nothing about the culprit. When I closed the final page, it never felt like I left The Hate U Give at all, since that world is, unfortunately, so similar to the one I live in, especially when there are people against injustice in real life. The sneak peek of On the Come Up immediately made me want to read it and other creations from Angie Thomas.
Score: Nine points out of ten.
The Hate U Give succeeded where other novels failed. I've read books like this before, but none were as outstanding as this one. I wanted to read this story for a while after seeing it in my recommendations, so I picked it up from a library I went to. When I finally read and finished the narrative, it was spectacular. It's the first five-star read of the year.
I liked that the author allowed me to connect to Starr more as she developed, and I appreciated all the other characters in the fictional composition. They're all realistic and complex. The author explores the themes of racism and injustice well as I could see how people can make subtle racist comments and how they can be in solidarity with each other. The climax is bittersweet as I see crowds protesting over Khalil's death, all while the police do nothing about the culprit. When I closed the final page, it never felt like I left The Hate U Give at all, since that world is, unfortunately, so similar to the one I live in, especially when there are people against injustice in real life. The sneak peek of On the Come Up immediately made me want to read it and other creations from Angie Thomas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Full trigger warnings: Death of a brother and a child in the past mentioned, murder, blood, grief and loss depiction, racism, racist slurs, gun and gang violence, physical assault and injury, hospitalisation of a person, fire, explosions, imprisonment, drug and alcohol abuse