Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

131 reviews

snipinfool's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Starr Carter witnessed the fatal shooting of a childhood friend, Khalil, when they were stopped by the police. Khalil was unarmed and neither he nor Starr had any idea why the car he was driving was pulled over. It was not right that Khalil was dead. The police, after conducting their investigation, found that the officer was doing his job and would not be arrested or sanctioned. It contradicted what Starr saw that night and she wanted to tell in detail what she witnessed. She hoped to stay anonymous, but the story soon made local and national news. People started to protest. Starr and her family received some pressure from the police and some members of a local gang to stay silent. Starr was caught between helping her friend receive justice for his murder and keeping herself and her family safe. It was going to be very difficult for her to do either and almost impossible for her to accomplish both.

Sometimes, when books affect me deeply, I have the most trouble putting my thoughts into words. The Hate U Give was one such book. This was a powerful story. This could have been a story seen in the news many times in real life. Angie Thomas did an excellent job of writing this book. Her words brought the story to life. The scene where Starr and her group were trying to get through the blocked neighborhood roads to her house effectively described the chaos, panic, desperation, and fear they were feeling. My heart was racing as I read of their struggles. Starr was a great main character. She was well written, and her actions reflected what one would expect of a sixteen-year-old. Starr had a great strength of character deciding to push for a detailed statement on the events of the night Khalil was murdered. Her parents, Lisa and Maverick, were very supportive and were two of my favorite characters after Starr. This story reflects the real life for a lot of people. That needs to change.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse and Domestic abuse

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Blood, Murder, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Grief, Violence, Cursing, Child death, Toxic friendship, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Addiction, Classism, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

kriskelly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

bookdragonkatie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Bullying, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Domestic abuse

pacifickat's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense 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? No

4.75

The audio version of this book narrated by Bahni Turpin is masterful. I only wish I had read it sooner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Racism, Toxic relationship, Classism, Child abuse, Blood, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Confinement and Alcoholism

PTSD, guilt, shame, fear, gang violence, threats of violence

trashgobby's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Grief, Murder, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Police brutality

Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Sexism, Misogyny, Classism, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Violence, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse

a_novi's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective tense 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? No

4.0

This book is emotional and extremely relevant. As someone who has PTSD and personal trauma regarding violent trauma and police I found this book extremely relatable in many ways. The way the author describes grief and trauma and how flashbacks of traumatic events can sneak into your thoughts during normal life, the way that

the funeral for Khalil and the visions of him bleeding in the street, visions of Natasha’s body dropping after being shot, the nightmares, all of it

is all very accurate and can definitely be very triggering. I recommend this book for people who have trauma with police but please just be aware that it can be very triggering, I also recommend this book for anyone that has trouble understanding why people don’t trust the police, fear them, or even hate them, because this book could be very eye opening for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Vomit, Child death, Cursing, Violence, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Addiction, Classism, Blood, and Hate crime

Moderate: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

7_nicole_7's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I can definitely say that this book has had an enormous impact on me. It talks about police violence against black people, which I was always aware of and which I always found to be malicious, cruel and simply not acceptable (like any other human being). But I have realised,  thanks to this book, that being aware of it and actually knowing what it is and what it causes is something fundamentally different. 
Losing loved ones, them being killed even though they did nothing wrong, rasicm in all kinds of forms, the stories of black people who have to endure all of that and more, it is simply astonishing how Angie Thomas brought all of that together in one book. It is so informativ yet emotional at the same time and it expands your horizon.
Besides that, Angie Thomas provides us with various different perspectives on this important topic whilst developing these characters in such a good way (especially the main protagonist,  Starr).  I also loved the way that all names had some special meaning behind it. 
All in all a great book about a topic which we have to talk about. I definitely recommend it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Addiction, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Drug use, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Blood and Bullying

heathermcc54321's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I decided to read this one when the local school board took it out of the curriculum. Really powerful stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Physical abuse, Classism, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Vomit, and Child death

sannesbooks's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book has been one of my oldest books on my physical TBR. Glad I finally picked it up, because it was better than I expected. Since this is such a popular book and also a movie, I read and saw a lot about this book already, also it is a YA book (which I tend to enjoy less than adult books) and I therefore thought it might be unnessecary to read the book.

Even though I already knew a lot about the book it was not boring. The book is divided in clear parts and the dialogue is really realistic. I also think the characters are written appropriately for their age, sometimes authots portray characters a lot younger or older than the character is. 
I also was scared that the book would be too dark and heavy for me to read. It was still dark and emotional, but it was not too heavy because of the mant funny and lighthearted moments. I think this was done in such a great way!

This is such an important book, especially very reflective and informative for young readers. But, as someone who does not live in the US it was informative as well. In my opionion, this book is also very appropriate for adults, even though this book is meant for a more YA audience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Police brutality, and Racism

Moderate: Drug abuse and Vomit