The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas [Book review]

"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."

Content

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.


My opinion

Finally I got to read this book after it has been hyped on social media and I have to say that I really loved reading this book. Even though I read the book in German, I had to write an English review too, because I just need to share my opinion with everyone and English is the best language to do so.
"The Hate U Give" made me thinking about our society again. While reading I remembered all the stuff we used to talk about in our English lessons and especially it reminded me of the movie "LA Crash". In that movie a black man gets shot too and he - like Khalil - was unarmed too. I remembered all the cases we talked about in class where people were discriminated or even shot because they just have a different skin tone. This book shows the truth. Even though we live in the 21st century our thoughts are stuck way back. 
While reading I had the same feelings as Starr did. There were some situations I recognised from my own everyday life. My parents are from India and that's why I have a darker skin tone and I also grew up with a different cultutre. I got to hear and still get to hear a lot of racist comments and when I read those racist comments Starr mentioned she was told it just felt like I was her. Also it was heartbreaking to read about a young girl who watched how her friend died. (And yes, I do know it's fiction.) In my eyes Starr is a beautiful strong character. She kept fighting troughout the whole book. Someone like me would have spend the whole time crying but she kept on going like nothing happened.
Something I also like about the book is how the two different "worlds" of Starr are described. There's the poor neighboorhood she lives in and this fancy school. I could imagine both perfectly because Angie Thomas used the right words to describe them. But it kind of made me sad too because you realise that no one really cares about neighbourhoods like the one Starr lives in. It's just so heartbreaking. Also hat I want to mention: the cover perfectly fits the Story because the front is white and the back is black. Maybe it's there to show that Starr has two different worlds she lives in and in each world she's different to fit in. 
What made me sad is that this book shows that we change ourselves and accept things we normally wouldn't just to fit in. But I really liked how Starr changed within in the book. It was a great change and I must say that I really loved the ending (which is unusual for me because I actually always hate most endings). It was satisfying and made me happy even though some things that happened weren't that great.
And some last words before I let you my rating for the book: in my eyes everyone should read this book because it shows us the truth even though it's a fictional novel. It deals with very important topics that not only can be applied to the Situation in the US but also other countries where people of other nations or religion are discriminated. I really can understand why this book got to be a #1 New York Bestseller!

Rating

As you just read I really love this book and I totally recommend it. So, if you haven't read it yet then please do me the favour and go to the next book shop and buy and read this book immideatly. I rate it with 5 out of 5 stars!
Yours szebra

About the Book

Title: The Hate U Give 
Author: Angie Thomas
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Price: $17.99 (Hardcover); $10.99 (E-book);$25.99 (Digital Audiobook)
Pages: 464
Age recommendation: 14 and up

The Author

Angie Thomas was born, raised, and still resides in Jackson, Mississippi. She is a former teen rapper whose greatest accomplishment was having an article about her in Right On! magazine. She holds a BFA in creative writing. The Hate U Give is her first novel. You can find her online at www.angiethomas.com. 

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