Book: The Hate U Give

 


Finally, a young adult novel not set in a dystopian future and is instead taking place in our dystopian present. Centre Stage of our Story is 16-year-old Starr, a black girl who lives in the hood in California while going to white school. Starr feels torn apart as she feels forced to divide herself in two as she interacts differently with her friends in one world or the other.

Summery:

Starr is at a party in her dangerous neighbourhood with her "friend", Kenya. When they get separated, she runs into a friend she hasn't seen in many months, Kalil. After talking a bit about shoes and basketball a gun is fired and suddenly everyone is running. Kalil grabs Starr and takes her to his car and begins the drive home. While in the car they are pulled over by a police officer (Badgenumber: 115), for illegitimate reasons which becomes evident when the officer looks for drugs on Kalil and finds none. The officer returns to his police car ordering Kalil to stay put but Kalil wants to make sure that Starr is alright but before he can finish his sentence, he is shot 3 times. Starr runs out the car and holds him to stop the bleeding but there is too much and now she has had to witness a second friend bleeding to death in the street. Starr is understandably traumatized and can't get the badge number of the cop out of her head or the torrent of blood that painted the street.

Well after this Starr becomes a vital witness but her need to keep her worlds separated as well as her fear of what her testimony could do for her community keep her from being honest with her family, friends and above all else herself. Honestly a lot happens in this book, so I won't spoil any more than this.

My thoughts:

I enjoy discussions of race especially when I get to see proper representation however I can't help but think that this book is supposed to represent "the Black experience". If that is the case, this reflects or describes many peoples experience but not all black people have this happen to them. I, being biracial, haven't had this level of hate and racism in my life. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, but to use one person's life as a spokesperson for all black people is to ignore the ones that don’t fit exactly in this mould, and I find that a shame.

But setting that aside I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Starr was relatable, sympathetic and had a great arc. The themes addressed were nuanced and well thought out. I especially enjoy one part of the book where her Asian friend admits to letting racist statements slide and Starr doesn't ignore it or say well blacks experience more racism than Asians so be quiet (which yes plenty of people do that). Just because one group experiences something differently doesn't make the hate, they experience less hurtful or harmful.

I enjoyed the writing style and the flow of the story there were parts that were a bit calmer, but it never really slowed down. However, there is a lot of cursing so if there is a censored version I would love to know. Overall this was a great read so I will rate this 4.5 out of 5 thoughtful cats.

Kat K out-


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