The Hate U Give

by: Angie Thomas

G: Contemporary, Fiction, Realistic Fiction

Start: 11.July.2018

Finish: 15.July.2018

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 37 out of 50

So, fifty pages in I’m tearing up. I knew that there was a death early on, it’s what the book is partially about, but I wasn’t ready. The imagery of this scene…I have to share it so you feel it too.

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My parents haven’t raised me to fear the police, just to be smart around them. They told me it’s not smart to move while a cop has his back to you.

Khalil does. He comes to his door.

It’s not smart to make a sudden move.

Khalil does. He opens the driver’s door.

“You okay, Starr—”

Pow!

One. Khalil’s body jerks. Blood splatters from his back. He holds on to the door to keep himself upright.

Pow!

Two. Khalil gasps.

Pow!

Three. Khalil looks at me, stunned.

He falls to the ground.

[…]

An earsplitting scream emerges from my gut, […]

Khalil stares at the sky as if he hopes to see God. His mouth is open like he wants to scream. I scream loud enough for both of us.

[…]

Someone else screams.

I blink through my tears, Officer One-Fifteen yells at me, pointing the same gun he killed my friend with.

I put my hands up.

Thomas, Angie. The Hate You Give, Blazer + Bray, 2017, pp. 23-24.

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That hit me like a ton of bricks and that was only page twenty-three/twenty-four?!?! The book is over four hundred pages and, I repeat, wasn’t ready.

To see someone you love die is hard enough, belive me I know. I can’t imagine seeing someone I loved murdered. That’s a whole different feeling. It’s incomprehensible for me.

Starr had a decision to make in the wake of Khalil’s death. Does she stay silent? or Will she fight?

Fight for Khalil…

Who can’t fight for himself

Speak for Khalil…

Who can no longer speak

And live…

Because Khalil is no longer breathe because he is no longer alive

Thomas’ novel hits home hard. Growing up a POC life is different and Thomas lays that struggle bear in her novel for all to see. It is beautifully written and it encompasses the struggle of all the lives lost to similar situations. This novel isn’t fiction, its real life.

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️