Scott reviewed The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
.
4 stars
Great characters
Hardcover, 464 pages
English language
Published Feb. 28, 2017 by Balzer + Bray.
The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
5 stars
(4 reviews)
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.
Aaron reviewed The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Hate U Give
5 stars
Absolutely stunning novel that has lost none of its power or urgency this many years after publication. Thomas has crafted a tale that completely holds the reader's attention, and the characters are fully three-dimensional and still manage to surprise the reader. The main character, Starr, goes through some heart-wrenching and painful experiences, and wanting to know how she would handle all that life was throwing at her kept me turning the pages. She demonstrates incredible bravery, and is open and honest about the code-switching dictated by the different parts of her life. The book is bracing and direct about the impact of police brutality on families, witnesses, and neighborhoods like. An astonishing work; the people trying to ban this book should be ashamed of themselves.
