The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

                                                              Publication Date: February 28th, 2017
Genre: Young Adult,
My Goodreads Rating: 5/5
Source: Own Copy

Starr Carter attends a fancy suburban prep school. She has friends who live in suburbia and spend hundreds of dollars on clothes and makeup. Starr can't afford that. Starr goes home to a poor neighborhood, where tragedy seems to be the norm.

The balance she's managed to strike between her two worlds is shattered when tragedy befalls her community again. Starr witnesses a policeman shoot her childhood friend, Khalil. He was unarmed.

Now his death is making headlines around the country. People are calling him a drug dealer, a gangbanger and so many other things. The cops try to intimidate Starr. The local drug lord tries to intimidate Starr's family. All the while, she's the only one who can attest to what really happened.



This is perhaps one of the best debut novels I've ever read. Angie Thomas has created a story that not only questions official authority, but challenges the rule of local tyrants as well. She pierces her characters soul with every sentence and reveals a struggle that too many of us have never heard about. Sure, we've heard about the police shootings and the injustice. But how many of us have ever understood the story of a young witness? A story that not only deals with the shooting, but with an embarrassment of one's culture? A story that tells us clearly, that those in uniform are not always right?

Angie Thomas takes on racism at a whole new level, questioning not only the media's perspective of who she is, but also her own. Why does she hide herself at school? Why won't she tell her friends how well she knew Khalil? How come Starr can flip a switch and pretend to be someone she isn't?

Thomas' characterization in this novel is flawless. She exposes all of Starr's raw emotions as she writes, holding back nothing. These emotions run from a deep trepidation to anger, from distrust to loyalty from grief to victory and back again. With the turn of each page, you will embody Starr's turmoil.

The diction used in this novel is perfect for the situation. Thomas hasn't hidden anything with her words, instead, she reveals layer by layer the functioning of Garden Heights and similar communities. The stark contrast between Starr's school and home life is also accentuated by her change in tone and diction, which Starr often points out to herself.


I can easily say that this is the best book that I've read so far this year, and I've read some pretty good ones. Anyone who enjoys YA should pick this up- I guarantee you will not be disappointed.