Book Review: The Hate U Give

Book Review: The Hate U Give displays powerful messages through injustice and racism

By: Fredua Agyeman 

Angie Thomas is an American Writer and is known for writing many books but she is mostly known for her bestselling book The Hate U Give. This book has won many awards like the Coretta Scott King Award, New York Times #1 BestSeller, and the William C. Morris Award.

This book is about a young girl named Starr who was at a party with her friend Khalil. A fight broke out at the party and the two of them ran to Khalil's car. As they are driving they get pulled over by a cop. (One-Fifteen) and One-Fifteen takes Khalil out of the car to search him. As Khalil is outside he goes back to the car to check on Starr then the cop shoots him. After the death challenges get thrown at her. Can she find a way out before it's too late?

Starr's neighborhood which is called Garden Heights, is a neighborhood with a lot of gang violence. Gangs take over the neighborhood such as King Lords and Garden Disciples. This area is very poor and people struggle to get around. Meanwhile, Starr's school Williamson Prep is full of rich kids who live in rich neighborhoods. Starr has two identities, one at school and one at home. At school she doesn't curse ands acts civilized so she doesn't get seen as "ghetto". At home she is herself and doesn't hold back.

As this story goes on Starr makes some heavy-hearted statements such as "One-Fifteen killed him,” I say. “And he wasn’t doing anything wrong. How much of a bigger picture do you need?" Another strong quote in the book is "Everybody wants to talk about how Khalil died,’ I say. ‘But this isn’t about how Khalil died. It’s about the fact that he lived. His life mattered. Khalil lived!’ I look at the cops again. ‘You hear me? Khalil lived!" These quotes have tenacious meanings because it shows how she feels about her friend and in her eyes he got killed and there needs to be justice.

One thing that I really liked about this book was the robust messages it displayed but one thing that they should add on in the book is more backstory on the mom (Lisa). For example, in the book they talk a lot about Maverick and his past with his father and how he got where he was unlike Lisa.

All in all, I recommended that you should read this book because it has a lot of themes that relate to Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a movement that is against racism and black violence. This is related to The Hate U Give because people are against Khalil's death because they thought it was racism.

Other Information: https://angiethomas.com/

• Angie Thomas has made other books such as Concrete Rose which tells the story of Starr’s Dad (Maverick) and On The Come Up which tells the story of a girl named Bri who wants to be a hip-hop legend
• The book The Hate U Give was banned in a lot of places because parents and school board members say that it uses too much cursing and promotes an anti-police message.