Reviews with content warning for Cancer - The Hate U Give

This is such a powerful story.
When I started it I wasn’t in the right mindset for it and the guy wrenching events and retelling from a sixteen year old girl’s perspective tore at me so hard I had to put it down for a few days.

This is one of the first fictional novels I’ve read that deals with racism from an inside perspective. Over the past year I’ve picked up a few non fictional texts, but this one hit a lot harder. The writing is very accessible, even though it deals with some extremely heavy topics.

Everyone could benefit from reading this book, from being a great reading experience to educating oneself on what it’s like not to walk through life with white privilege. Angie Thomas’ voice is so important and I’m glad I got the chance to listen to it.

Content Warnings

vivilevesque_'s review

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dark emotional informative medium-paced

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

5.0

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zoe_archambault's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

3.5

Overall I really enjoyed this book, it had me in tears more than once. I think the YA and teenage point of view was kind of cringey at times and hard to get through.

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purrfectly's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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tinyd26's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative 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? Yes

4.5

I’ll say right off the bat that I’m one of those obnoxious people who’s always a little skeptical, or at
least a little nervous, about anything that’s gotten a lot of hype. Books, bands/albums, movies, restaurants... But a lot of the time, curiosity gets the better of me in the end. I am SO GLAD it did in this case.

I listened to The Hate U Give on audiobook, which can be very hit or miss. Narrators can really make or break the experience of a book, and Bahni Turpin’s narration is one of the hits for me here. Her narration conveyed emotion well without being over the top, and the different characters’ voices were well-done - distinct and not distracting.

YA is also really hit or miss for me. In all honesty, the fact the YA feel that this book DID have is probably the only reason it wasn’t a 5-star ready for me - and that’s obviously purely a matter of preference. That being said, Angie Thomas does an incredible job here of riding all the fine lines that can come with the genre (or my enjoyment of it). The Hate U Give explores numerous challenging topics: not only those behind the Black Lives Matter movement, but also loyalty, identity, violence, sexuality, duty, family, and friendship. These explorations are all hard-hitting and honest, and respectful of the emotional lives and intellectual development of teenagers. Despite the YA label, Angie Thomas does not condescend to a (theoretically - this work’s audience has expanded far beyond YA) her intended audience or shy away from difficult conversations. This made the book throughly enjoyable and impactful for me despite my natural inclination away from YA. I full-on cried several times.

I want to mention specifically that I ADORE our MC in this book. She is mature and wise beyond her years while still grappling with some of the more typical growing pains of the teen years. This made her incredibly “readable” for me. She isn’t perfect, as no fully-fleshed out character should be, in my opinion, but (as it also should be) we see tremendous growth in her throughout the book. Some of the supporting cast are not quite as fleshed out - and I wouldn’t necessarily expect them to be, as this book features a pretty large ensemble) - but neither are they mere caricatures. Impressively, there were no characters in this book whom I did not enjoy reading.

I won’t say a ton with a critical lens with respect to the Black Lives Matter theme, as I am reading about this issue as an outsider - I don’t have the experience of a black person in the US. I will say that I read this book hoping to gain some perspective and knowledge and given Thomas’s unflinching (as far as I can tell, and as far as is reasonable in a YA novel) of the theme, I absolutely feel that I did. I would recommend this book to just about anyone.

Content Warnings

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

Content Warnings

keenanmaree's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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