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A review by katsbooks
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
“What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?”
“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”
“Brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you go on even though you're scared.”
This has got to be a modern day classic. I feel like The Hate U Give will go down in history the way Uncle Tom's Cabin did. And by that, I mean that Uncle Tom's Cabin was one of the many causes of the Civil War. It cast enslaved people in a sympathetic light for white northerners. (There's also a host of issues with it. It should definitely be read with an understanding of the historical context it was written in.) In much the same way, The Hate U Give seems to be a book that a lot of white people have really clung to after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent uprisings. It's helped them make sense of the outrage. This novel was really timely in that way. As a white person, it made me equal parts hopeless and hopeful. I can't even express how outraged I was on Starr's behalf for most of the novel.
I've seen criticisms of this book that say it centers black trauma and that's entirely valid. It absolutely does. I would recommend this for literally every white person I know but give some caveats to people of color. This book is traumatic and emotional. It centers police brutality and racial violence. It also kind of falls into the exceptional minority trope. I had kind of forgotten this until I reread it but I was a bit disappointed by Khalil's character. Starr was really disappointed with him through a lot of the novel until some claims against him were refuted and made him into a more "model" or "upstanding" character. I think this was done to make him more sympathetic but, ultimately, no unarmed person, let alone an unarmed kid, deserves to be shot at the hands of police. Period.
I gave this book 5 stars the first time I read it and that rating absolutely holds up.
Previous review:
Wow. What an amazing novel. The writing was on point. The author had my heart breaking in one moment and then chuckling the next. The plot is equal parts hopeless and hopeful. I don't have the words to describe how good it was. Just read it.
“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”
“Brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you go on even though you're scared.”
This has got to be a modern day classic. I feel like The Hate U Give will go down in history the way Uncle Tom's Cabin did. And by that, I mean that Uncle Tom's Cabin was one of the many causes of the Civil War. It cast enslaved people in a sympathetic light for white northerners. (There's also a host of issues with it. It should definitely be read with an understanding of the historical context it was written in.) In much the same way, The Hate U Give seems to be a book that a lot of white people have really clung to after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent uprisings. It's helped them make sense of the outrage. This novel was really timely in that way. As a white person, it made me equal parts hopeless and hopeful. I can't even express how outraged I was on Starr's behalf for most of the novel.
I've seen criticisms of this book that say it centers black trauma and that's entirely valid. It absolutely does. I would recommend this for literally every white person I know but give some caveats to people of color. This book is traumatic and emotional. It centers police brutality and racial violence. It also kind of falls into the exceptional minority trope. I had kind of forgotten this until I reread it but I was a bit disappointed by Khalil's character. Starr was really disappointed with him through a lot of the novel until some claims against him were refuted and made him into a more "model" or "upstanding" character. I think this was done to make him more sympathetic but, ultimately, no unarmed person, let alone an unarmed kid, deserves to be shot at the hands of police. Period.
I gave this book 5 stars the first time I read it and that rating absolutely holds up.
Previous review:
Wow. What an amazing novel. The writing was on point. The author had my heart breaking in one moment and then chuckling the next. The plot is equal parts hopeless and hopeful. I don't have the words to describe how good it was. Just read it.