The Hate U Give

What Our Readers Are Saying

Share your thoughts on this title!

Average customer rating 4.7 (4 comments)

---

`

This book is truly revolutionary! Every moment feels so real and intimate like you're you're walking through Starr's reality with her. I love the relationships and dialogue throughout the entire book. Every person is complex in their own way as reflected by how Starr sees them. It's truly amazing for that alone but add the issues of race, police brutality, and gang violence in to that and it becomes one of the best books of all time in my opinion. It's the type of book you'd finish in one day than reread because it's so addicting! People say that about books all the time I know but this book can truly change the way someone thinks and sees the world. Even if you're already 'woke' it gives you a broader look at things and really makes you think! For anyone who hasn't read it I suggest you do before the movie comes out because there is something so personal in the book that won't be easily captured in a screen adaptation.

`

Roger Ebert once described film as "a machine that generates empathy." If that's true for movies, it's doubly true for novels. "The Hate U Give," a young adult book inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, is the kind of empathy machine that needs to be fired up all over this country. Angie Thomas' novel gives readers a chance to see the world as it appears to a black teenager who witnesses her childhood friend's murder by a police officer. After the shooting, Starr, who's 16, wrestles with whether and how much to cooperate with law enforcement as they investigate and whether her friends at her mostly white school can ever understand what's going on. The novel takes on a lot (romance, family dynamics, racism, police violence and more) but never loses its focus on Starr. I'd recommend it without reservations for teenagers and their parents.

`

I have not decided whether I want to read this book or not. The title sounds promising, but I am often angry because having black or brown skin determines how a person is treated. I am a white person, but a few family members have color of varying shades. I am angry on their behalf. I hope there is a redeeming message in the book, for both the racist and the black person. I would like to know more about the content of this book; it sounds intriguing. ----------------------------------------------------------

`

James Baldwin once said that "to be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time." This book authentically and very deeply shows the struggle with that rage. There are three quotes from it that should make you want to read this book: "...people like us in situations like this become hashtags, but they rarely get justice. I think we all wait for that one time though, that one time when it ends right." "Fifteen minutes later, I leave the police station with my mom. Both of us know the same thing: This is gonna be some bullshit." "Daddy once told me there's a rage passed down to every black man from his ancestors, born the moment they couldn't stop the slave masters from hurting their families. Daddy also said there's nothing more dangerous than when that rage is activated." If those three quotes don't move you to read this book, then you're probably one of those people that say that "all lives matter". This is a powerful read and a MUST read if you wish to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem of the racial climate in this country.