8 starred reviews ∙ Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best ∙ William C. Morris Award Winner ∙ National Book Award Longlist ∙ Printz Honor Book ∙ Coretta Scott King Honor Book ∙ #1 New York Times Bestseller!
“Absolutely riveting!” —Jason Reynolds
“Stunning.” —John Green
“This story is necessary. This story is important.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Heartbreakingly topical.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A marvel of verisimilitude.” —Booklist (starred review)
“A powerful, in-your-face novel.” —Horn Book (starred review)
The Hate U Give – 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.
And don’t miss On the Come Up, Angie Thomas’s powerful follow-up to The Hate U Give.
Book Review by Ashley Elliott
I had originally said I was not going to read this book, I didn’t know how well I would like it, and I don’t tend to get involved with things that can make life at work harder for me. I literally work with the police, I am a dispatcher, so it is a huge part of my life. I knew going in it was revolved around the BLM movement, and police brutality and I made the decision to read it anyways. I had heard so many good things about it and I just needed to see for myself. First I want to say, it does not at any point in this book bash police officers. It talks about some of the problems in the world and how things happen but it never attacks or sets out to make them out to monsters. I really liked that because most aren’t, they just aren’t, they are humans. Now, Starr is the main character who is involved in a horrible tragedy that leaves her friend from child hood Khalil dead by an officer involved shooting. It was horrible and it was really sad. I hated reading it, I cried my eyes out, Thomas did such an amazing job of making a horrible action into beautiful fiction that made you feel like you were right there. I was so broken by this part of the story. Then reading later on into Starr’s grief was just hard. I don’t know any other way to describe it but there will be tears, so very many tears.
That isn’t it though, you see her as they have to fight the system basically, and you are with them through all those emotions. Going to the funeral and seeing his family, destroyed, his mother broken, knowing this isn’t just something that happens in fiction, you cannot help but be moved. Now there was some real good in this book too, like some parts that I laughed until I cried. The scene when her parents are arguing in the middle of a prayer I have read an thousand times since finishing the book because it is the funnies thing I have ever read. Her parents were amazing by the way, her dad was an ex-con but he loved her, he admitted his mistakes but he was there for her. Their relationship was really touching to read because I have always been really close to my own dad. Then there was her mom, and her Uncle Carlos, who was actually a cop and lived in a really good neighborhood too. This was really refreshing to read because so many books, YA especially make parents out to be monsters that don’t care, that aren’t there for their kids.
I mean it is like a troupe or something for these stories and it isn’t actually the norm and gets annoying to read, so this book did an amazing job with the parents and family. All around though this story just floored me, it gave me a perspective I have never considered before, offered insights into a world I am not a part of, and I loved every minute of it. I don’t know what it is to watch one friend die by violence of any sort, much less two in the time of my life and I am 26, she is a teenager. It is jarring to see that as someones existence when it is not your own. It taught me to open my eyes… I love it… Honestly I just wanted to pick it right back up and read it again.
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up—After Starr and her childhood friend Khalil, both black, leave a party together, they are pulled over by a white police officer, who kills Khalil. The sole witness to the homicide, Starr must testify before a grand jury that will decide whether to indict the cop, and she’s terrified, especially as emotions run high. By turns frightened, discouraged, enraged, and impassioned, Starr is authentically adolescent in her reactions. Inhabiting two vastly different spheres—her poor, predominantly black neighborhood, Garden Heights, where gangs are a fact of life, and her rich, mostly white private school—causes strain, and Thomas perceptively illustrates how the personal is political: Starr is disturbed by the racism of her white friend Hailey, who writes Khalil off as a drug dealer, and Starr’s father is torn between his desire to support Garden Heights and his need to move his family to a safer environment.
The first-person, present-tense narrative is immediate and intense, and the pacing is strong, with Thomas balancing dramatic scenes of violence and protest with moments of reflection. The characterization is slightly uneven; at times, Starr’s friends at school feel thinly fleshed out. However, Starr, her family, and the individuals in their neighborhood are achingly real and lovingly crafted. VERDICT Pair this powerful debut with Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely’s All American Boys to start a conversation on racism, police brutality, and the Black Lives Matter movement.—Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal
Review
“As we continue to fight the battle against police brutality and systemic racism in America, THE HATE U GIVE serves as a much needed literary ramrod. Absolutely riveting!” (Jason Reynolds, bestselling coauthor of ALL AMERICAN BOYS)
“Angie Thomas has written a stunning, brilliant, gut-wrenching novel that will be remembered as a classic of our time.” (John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars)
“Fearlessly honest and heartbreakingly human. Everyone should read this book.” (Becky Albertalli, William C. Morris Award-winning author of SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA)
“This is tragically timely, hard-hitting, and an ultimate prayer for change. Don’t look away from this searing battle for justice. Rally with Starr.” (Adam Silvera, New York Times bestselling author of MORE HAPPY THAN NOT)
“With smooth but powerful prose delivered in Starr’s natural, emphatic voice, finely nuanced characters, and intricate and realistic relationship dynamics, this novel will have readers rooting for Starr and opening their hearts to her friends and family. This story is necessary. This story is important.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))
“Though Thomas’s story is heartbreakingly topical, its greatest strength is in its authentic depiction of a teenage girl, her loving family, and her attempts to reconcile what she knows to be true about their lives with the way those lives are depicted—and completely undervalued—by society at large.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))
“The Hate U Give is an important and timely novel that reflects the world today’s teens inhabit. Starr’s struggles create a complex character, and Thomas boldly tackles topics like racism, gangs, police violence, and interracial dating. This topical, necessary story is highly recommended for all libraries.” (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) (starred review))
Originally published: 28 February 2017
Page count: 464
Genre: Young adult fiction
Awards: Goodreads Choice Awards Best Debut Goodreads Author, MORE