The Hate U Give: A Printz Honor Winner

I know I’m a little late to the program with this one as I’ve been hearing people gush about this book for quite a while already — and rightly so! I just finished it and what an amazing story! Though The Hate U Give is marketed as a Young Adult book, I feel that this inspiring book that should be on everyone’s TBR list — regardless of age, gender or race.--The Setting --The story revolves around and is told from the point of view of Star Carter, a 16 year old black girl who is trying to live in two different worlds: one being Garden Heights, the all black crime-ridden neighborhood where she lives and grew up in — and the other being Williamson Prep, the predominately white upper middle-class high school to which her parents send her and her two brothers.While at school, she carefully measures her behavior, limits her slang and generally portrays an easy-going attitude as she tries to fit in with her rich white schoolmates. She even has a white boyfriend, Chris, whose existence she’s not yet told her father about because she’s worried he’ll judge her for dating a boy who isn’t black.Though it can be challenging at times, Staar is always careful to keep her two worlds separate.
--Her Family --Staar has a great relationship with her family and it’s evident that she loves them. Her mother works at the hospital and is an excellent role model of a strong, no-nonsense woman. Her father, a former gang member, is now a respected member of the community having left his gang life behind and now works hard to provide for his children and be a positive role model for them. He owns the neighborhood grocery store at which Staar helps out from time to time.But things aren’t easy for Staar and her family. She lives in a neighborhood where drive-by shootings, drug lords, gang leaders, and turf wars are a part of everyday life.
--The Incident --But one night her world is shattered when she and her childhood best friend Khalil are pulled over by a policeman for a routine traffic stop. The officer pulls Khalil out of the car and, even though Khalil was unarmed and made no threatening moves toward the officer, the policeman shoots him in the back three times, killing him.
So Staar ends up being the only witness to what actually happened — and her life and the life of those around her entirely change as a result. Though traumatized and enraged, Staar is faced with a choice: stay silent or accept who she truly is in order to obtain justice for Khalil.Now I will say that the scene of Khalil’s murder is horrifying and gut-wrenching, and regretfully, not uncommon, as many of us have seen on the news far too often in recent times. Still, that didn’t make it this part of the book any easier — or less heartbreaking — to read.
The young man’s funeral was equally heart-hurting, as we saw firsthand how destroyed his family and friends were. Instead of reading a byline in a newspaper or hearing a brief clip on the television, we are fully immersed in the situation in this story and are placed in the shoes of those who are directly involved. In this way, the story was so raw and so real that at times, I forgot that I was reading fiction.
The author did an excellent job of bringing this story to life, allowing us to empathize with everyone involved. We read about the challenging issues facing the black community in the news, but this novel brought them to life for the reader, allowing us to see the lives behind the new bylines. In this way, we can’t help but realize that things are often a lot more complicated and multilayered than portrayed by the media.--The Aftermath --Still grieving Khalil’s death, Staar is put in an extremely tough position given that she’s the only witness to the incident. Though it may seem clear to an outsider of what the best course of action is for her to take, things are not always as easy and clear-cut as they may seem — and it’s uncertain how we would react or not react if we found ourselves in a similar situation.
Following the aftermath of the shooting, I felt the author did an excellent job of portraying the fear, confusion, rage, and mistrust that Staar experiences as she processes her friend’s brutal murder and through it all, tries to find herself and her voice in the middle of the fallout. But not only that, we see firsthand how such a violent, tragic and senseless loss can shake a community to its core.--The Police --Though the officer clearly was at fault here, I felt that the author didn’t demonize the police or place all of the blame on them. Yes, there are definitely some bad police officers out there, but there are also good ones.In fact, Staar’s uncle was a police officer who, on more than one occasion, let her know that not all of the officers at his precinct are trigger-happy racists and that many of his fellow officers vehemently disagreed with the action of their corrupt colleague and those like him.--My Verdict --The Hate U Give is phenomenal. This is the brutally honest kind of book that will stay with you for a long time after having read it and perhaps may cause you to look at life differently after having read it. At the very least, it may cause us to question that which we’ve come to accept as “normal”. This was a gripping story that not only packed an emotional punch but was also an excellent fictional treatment of real-life racial issues facing America today. Though Ms. Thomas openly treats the issue of police brutality, she also demonstrates in a very real way the day to day violence plaguing inner-city neighborhoods. This is a timely book whose importance cannot be overstated.
Though the book deals with heavy issues and is not always comfortable to read, there are plenty of light and fun parts as well — especially the often amusing scenes in which Staar interacts with her friends and family. While the book will make you cry, it will, in places, make you laugh with joy as well.Throughout the book, the author weaves in themes of police brutality, racial profiling, hard choices, injustice, white privilege how young black men get pressured into dealing drugs, the challenges of living in gang-ridden neighborhoods, the everyday violence and danger that people living inner-city neighborhoods face — and does it with expert storytelling.This is an honest and compelling book that I hope will be around and in people’s minds for many years to come. Definitely a 5-star read for me. Recommended!!!This review was originally posted on my blog at rogerhyttinen.com.

This book was written a while ago and I'm surprised I'm so late in reading it. I mean, the movie has already come out. But I finally read it and it was perfect timing.I'm an older white woman reading about a teenage black girl. I say this because we seem to be far apart in age and race, so how could I grasp how she felt and what she lived through? Huh? However, I was easily able to connect with her. I could feel her (Starr) in my head. I could hear her talking and laughing and crying. And that's what's important. To be able to identify with the main character in a story is critical. The author was very skilled at being able to make this happen. I'm sure others felt the same way.Everybody else has said wonderful things about the book, I'm sure. I haven't read any of the other reviews yet. But by the amount of 5 stars here, I'm positive the reviews are equally high in praise. So I'm not going to say a whole heck of a lot because it will just be a repeat of what others have said before me.What I do want to say is that I wish everyone my age and my race and my sex, would feel compelled to read this book. In fact, if everybody just read it - that would be perfect.It's important that we white people need to try extra hard to understand how black people live in our country and why they feel the way they do on certain subjects. Why? Because if we want them to care about us, we have to show that we have an interest in them and an appreciation of their struggle. They've had to live lives in a way that few white people have had to live. It's not about money. Not enough money does make life worse for whoever has that problem. It complicates things. But it's more about attitudes and treatment. These are the things that white folk don't get. But we can get it, if we are willing to really think about it and take the time to listen to real life stories. To compare our lives with their lives. To walk a mile in their shoes. If we can do that and they can do the same with us. Then we'd be at a place to sit down and discuss how to go into the future. It starts with respect and compassion and understanding first. Getting there will take work. And time.Older women need to be able to read about teen girls and recall what it was like to be that age. We all were at that stage at one time. But we forget about that. However, we all had boyfriends (like Star did) and parents who may not have approved of said boyfriend. We hung out with our friends, went to school and we lived in a neighborhood, either in the city or out in the country. If we want to understand young people of today and what they go through...we have to come from a place of when we were their age.I liked the fact that the author had Starr going to a mostly all white school. Because where she lived was nearly an all black neighborhood, it was great to see the contrast. It was good to see how some of her white friends acted compared to other friends, who were different. It showed how some folks don't see themselves as racist when in fact, they are.This book addresses so many subjects. Here is one spoiler. (ALERT). Starr's long time childhood friend is shot and killed....murdered in the street, while she watched, by a white police officer. How many times do we read about this is the newspapers or on the Internet? It's every week.I hear people saying, 'We're tired of the rioting and the protests'. Well, hey, what might you suggest people do who are not being heard? Year after year. Decade after decade? If nobody was listening or caring about anything you had to say, maybe you'd get frustrated and angry finally. I'm not saying looting and hurting cops or innocent store owners is the right thing. I don't believe that solves anything. But I'm not living their life. Am I? No.The protagonist and heroine of this story is Starr Carter, with many supporting characters. They feel real and alive. Their pain and grief seems real and alive as well. Maybe one day when we see enough 'real life' on the TV and when we read enough books like this, maybe we'll get it. I hope so. It seems like in 2020, we'd be well past all this hate and prejudice. It pains me greatly that we have not advanced as much as I had hoped. At least this year we have learned the truth of what our country really is. We've seen the good and the bad. It's all out there open.Ms Thomas has my vote, as a writer. I love how she crafted her characters. I got pulled into the dialog and the interactions between the characters. The story ended....but the fight goes on in the real world.Update: I did also finally see the film and even though it's not quite the same as the book, I did enjoy it as well. The young lady that played Star (Amandla Stenberg) was prefection.

一気に読める傑作です。アメリカ社会に関するある程度の知識がないと分かりづらい部分もありますが、トータルでは理解できると思います。f**k や s**t などのスラングはほとんど見開きごとに出てきますね（笑）。この本はアメリカの人種差別問題 Black Lives Matter を知るには格好の材料ですが、Young Adult Novel の分野で、よくここまでリアルな内容にしたものだと思います。若い人向けと言うことで、最後はいくらかの希望を持たせる終わり方になっていますが、決してご都合主義の予定調和的な結末にはせず、読者に対する問題提起がされています。映画化もされていて、そちらも素晴らしい。映画と原作ではいくつかの違いがありますが、それぞれの表現の特徴を生かして作っています。黒人コミュニティーの日常生活が丁寧に描かれている点も、この本から学んだことの一つですが、私個人は、主人公が外界と自己の内面との間にズレを抱きながら葛藤して生きていく姿に共感を覚え、そこがこの小説の大きな魅力でした。母親が主人公に語る素敵な言葉があります。“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

何か根本的に大きく変わろうとしている今、きちんと一冊くらいこういう本を読むべきだと思いました今アメリカで起こっていることが、2017年には本になっていたようです本に描かれる底知れない恐怖は、私たちの日常には幸いありませんがだからと言って無知でいい訳もなく、ただ愕然としながら読み進めています

使用時の説明書がなく残念です。海外からの輸入品をそのままパッケージしたようで、再購入はしないと思います。

Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.IG pressure! Well, that is what made me buy The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Having seen it all over bookstagram for months and months and bookmarking it on GR, I only bought it last year as a part of my now much-mentioned birthday haul. Although I read it weeks ago, I just got round to writing this review because, well, let’s not go there. It’s a rant in itself. Anyway, just forgive me if I am not using all the names, because frankly, I have forgotten. I only remember the names of the lead and the other important character, so there you go.Starr is a regular girl. A teenager who disagrees with her mom, a sister who fights with her brothers, a daughter who defies her father, and a girl with a boyfriend. A black girl with a white boyfriend (if just the mention of this last line doesn’t make you feel nauseous at the state of the world we live in, I think you should stop and go back to whatever else that it is you were doing and not read my review) So Starr, our girl, reconnects with her once best friend Khalil at a party in their neighborhood, years after being out of touch. Reason? To begin with, she goes to a fancy white school while he is still doing classes at their community school, the breeding ground for all kinds of gangs. After an unfortunate accident the party creates chaos and Starr finds herself in Khalil’s car, speeding away from the scene. Just when she thinks they are now safe, they are flagged down by a cop and what happens next, changes Starr’s life and that of her family and her community.Khalil’s death was no accident, it was murder, a cold-blooded one at that. An unarmed boy is killed just because a cop felt threatened by a hairbrush? A gun was pointed at Starr’s head just because she cradled a dying Khalil? What is fair, what isn’t, Starr loses all of it. Her mind, her friends at her school which she tried way too hard to adjust to, and yet, she can’t speak. Her family comes at a risk. Her life is engulfed the same way her father’s store is gutted. She is the only one who could stop all of it, yet, she can’t speak.If you think racism didn’t exist anymore, just look sideways with open eyes and mind. If you think the world has come a long way from slavery, just look into your homes, and see if your help is being treated like a human. If you think people cry fake wolf, maybe they aren’t wrong, maybe the real wolf is you.Starr is the star of the book, and with her, her family, which is as real as it could get. I loved how the relationships are dealt with. Close but not overbearing, loving but not overprotective. Their disagreements are real and their fights with each other and for each other are real. Their fear is real. Their want to have a better life is real. Their problems are real. Their struggles are real. Their weaknesses are real and their strength is real. And their fight for justice real.With much praise of this book already being written, the next thing I am going to say might be offensive to some, but democracy, right? I have the right to speak my mind too. So while the author expertly brings into light the racism that black folks have to suffer and the consequences of that racism which only they have to suffer, I feel she forgot that the same aforementioned folks have their own prejudices against people not like them. Yes, their acceptance of others come easy as compared to their acceptance by the others, but I can’t seem to ignore that they too do what their tormentors do, albeit in lower degrees. The end can not justify the means. Having said all this, I must add that there is no specific gender, caste, creed, or race to be cruel and inhuman. It is all in the head. If you see people as people, you are good, man. If you see people as being defined by any of the above criteria, boss, you have to rethink your ideologies.Now tell me, have you ever faced racism/prejudice? Have you ever been made to feel less worthy by someone/something because you aren’t as white as the other? Have you ever fought against it? Or did you just feel not worthy of even fighting for yourself? If the answer to all the questions is yes, then this book is for you. If the answer to all the questions is no, then this is definitely the book for you.THUG is not just about America and its people. It is about every damn country in the world and every single citizen of those countries. It is an eye-opener, that the hate we give, comes back to whoop our own asses. THUG life will come to thug you one day.What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?

Wow, what a stunning and unforgettable read/listen. I have been through a number of emotions with this book and most of those emotions have been extreme. This is a book of intense situations with tension pulling at the seams of the characters and therefore, the reader.The protagonist, Starr, is as real as characters come, a black girl originally from The Projects, sent to a white, privledged school to try and protect her and her brother somewhat from danger. Her family and friends are more than background characters in this book and their connections are complicated. Starr finds herself in a situation that is heart-rending and there it all begins. The beginning of my tears, the beginning of my anger, the beginning of empathy so overwhelming. The emotional pain that Star experiences is utterly palpable; you cannot but help feel it.The storytelling was exceptional with the ability to move from the profound to the ordinary and back seamlessly.I don’t have eloquent words but I can recommend this to all and everyone, whatever genre you might normally read. This is for everyone. My daughter now has a copy, I am shoving it under my husband’s nose.I listened to this on audio and the narration was superb in every way, bringing emotions to life.Read it.