“I can’t change where I come from or what I’ve been through, so why should I be ashamed of what makes me, me?”- Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give is a powerfully moving story set in the 21 century that follows teenage girl Starr Carter as she navigates daily life after witnessing the police murder her childhood friend. Starr Carter is a typical teenage girl who resides in Garden Heights with her parents and two brothers. When Starr was young, her parents decided to send her and her siblings to a private school in a wealthy white neighborhood to give them more opportunities and keep them from the everyday turmoil in Garden Heights. Unfortunately, one night after a party, Starr was no longer shielded from misfortune, and she witnessed the murder of Kahlil.
Before Kahlils death, Starr separated her Garden Heights self from her private school self, keeping both in their worlds. After Kahlil, something shifted. Starr no longer wanted to hide her true self at school, and the incident ignited a fire inside of her that would not be put out. Now Starr is forced to deal with the backlash of the event, with everybody having an opinion on what she should do.
I loved reading The Hate U Give because, as a reader, you can tell how passionate Angie Thomas is about the issues surrounding cops and minorities. Thomas wrote The Hate U Give first as a short story in college after the police shooting of Oscar Grant and later turned the short story into a novel. The fact that actual events inspire the book gives the novel so much more power. Thomas was able to develop the main character Starr so well that, as a reader, I could put myself into her situation and feel her emotions. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in injustices in the world or looking for a great book.