Introduction
The Hate U Give, written by Angie Thomas, was published on February 18, 2017, by HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Brey. I read this book for the first time my sophomore year of high school for my Humanities class, and it is by far one of my all-time favorite books. I can (and have) read it over and over again and love it every time. When I decided to celebrate Black History Month by reviewing books written by black authors, this was the first one that came to mind.
If you want to know more about Angie Thomas, visit her website, https://angiethomas.com. If you haven’t read this book yet, please do that before continuing with this review, it is one hundred and ten percent worth the read. If you are choosing to continue with this review, know that the Plot section will be spoiler-free, but the section containing my Thoughts will not be. I really hope you all enjoy this one, I know that I did.
Plot
This story is told in five parts from a first-person point of view through the eyes of Starr Amara Carter. She grew up with her parents, Maverick and Lisa, and two brothers, Seven and Sekani, in Garden Heights. Unfortunately, she has experienced more than her fair share of tragedy. Following the death of a young black man in her neighborhood, her life is turned upside-down as the community pushes for justice.
Part one of this book is by far the longest, taking up at least half of the length. It established the main and minor conflicts, and the characters we’ll be following. While it is the longest section, it only covers the first twelve days of the story. Part two jumps ahead to five weeks after the incident, part three picks up three weeks after part two and is the shortest section. Part four is set two weeks later, and part five takes us three weeks past that where we finally get a conclusion to this story.
Thoughts
One of the reasons I love this book so much is the writing style. Yes, she does an amazing job of balancing “show versus tell” when presenting us with new information, but it’s more than that. Thomas writes these characters with dialogue and internal monologues that feel REAL. There aren’t any phrases that I read and think “a real person would never say that” and it makes the story so much more engaging. That is especially important when trying to get across the themes and messages contained in this book. On that thought, this book is full of quotes that make me pause and think for a moment. Short lines that feel powerful. She is able to convey a lot with few words, and her writing often brings me to tears. I like how the plot breakdown separates the story in a way that feels much better than trying to make awkwardly long jumps or take too much time trying to fill empty space. Court cases take time, and focusing on the most important events and information between Khalil’s murder and the decision not to charge One-Fifteen ensures that the most important themes and events are highlighted.
The themes of race, police brutality, family, community, and activism are highlighted in Thomas’ book. She intentionally included several different family dynamics with the Carters, King’s family, Carlos’ family, and Khalil’s family. The Carters are a tight knit family that have a true and deep love and respect for one another. Starr has a fantastic relationship with her family, and I love reading all of her interactions with them. They aren’t perfect, they’re human, and that makes me love them that much more. Carlos’ family as well, and though he and Maverick disagree sometimes, they both just want their families to be safe and cared for. Khalil’s family was torn apart by drugs, and King’s family is run on fear and abuse. All of them have some sense of loyalty, but with very different agendas.
I wanted to talk about another recurring topic, Starr’s identity. All throughout the book, she struggles to decide who she should be in what company. She doesn’t want to be labeled as a stereotype, so she doesn’t do anything that would make the people at Williamson think of her that way. I found the cultural differences in the two neighborhoods to be explored in a very enlightening way. Though only a forty-five minute drive separates Williamson from Garden Heights, they seem to be different in almost every way. By the end of the book, Starr - with help from her parents and closest inner circle - discovered that having the right people in your life means having people who accept YOU, not a fabricated version of yourself, and she finds her voice. Another quick thing, Thomas’ naming scheme for the book and how it helps to define each character. I won’t spoil it all here, but she was very intentional in the naming of her characters, and this is an instance where names truly feel powerful. At the end of the book, all of the names are explained, and it goes without saying that the sheer level of attention given to the smallest detail in this book is astounding.
I love the balance of comedy and seriousness in this book. Characters like Sekani bring a levity to an otherwise heavy book. There are great, light moments throughout, but when it commits to being serious, it commits. The saddest scenes are absolutely gut wrenching - bringing me to tears no matter how often I read them - and the happiest ones often make me laugh out loud. This entire book is powerful, but the ending especially makes me feel so deeply moved that I cannot fully express the intensity of the bittersweet feeling I’m left with. Starr’s promise to not stay quiet and to fight for what is right is nothing short of inspiring, and it is genuinely one of my favorite parts of this book.
Tupac said THUG LIFE stood for The Hate U Give Little Infants Fs Everyone. I won’t provide too detailed an explanation here in part because it is deeply explored in the book, but also because I may have a theoretical understanding of it to a point, but I haven’t lived it, and I would never want to speak on something I have no personal understanding of. There is also a focus on gang and drug culture. These places are where the themes of community and activism are heavily explored, and on this, I am going to say please please please read this book to truly grasp these concepts in the way Thomas expressed them. I honestly feel like I can’t adequately explain it here.
All in all, I don’t have any complaints about this book, so I have to give it a 10/10. If you haven’t read it yet, and you are at all interested, give it a go. You will not be disappointed.
The Movie
This has to be one of the best movie adaptations I’ve ever seen. With a two hour and thirteen-minute runtime, The Hate U Give directed by George Tillman Jr. and starring Amandla Stenberg was released in 2018 by 20th Century Studios. This is obviously not a place for movie reviews, so I’ll keep this short, but I did want to point out some key differences between the book and its movie adaptation. First, the focus on gang culture is a lot stronger in the book. While watching the movie, I was able to see differences in bandana colors that clearly marked Garden Disciples from King Lords, but unless you had already read the book a time or two and were really paying attention to brief shots in the movie, you probably overlooked this. Second, we get to know who killed Natasha in the movie. This was kept a complete mystery in the book, but the addition of this in the movie seemed meant to strengthen Starr’s resolve.
Third, Chris intentionally meets Maverick directly after prom while he simultaneously gets his first look at Garden Heights. Meeting Maverick in the book was an accident and the fallout was more dramatic, but it had a much bigger payoff at the end when Chris finally begins to earn Maverick’s respect following the riot. Segue to fourth, Chris leaves to take Kenya and Lyric home from the riots instead of staying with Starr and Seven. This was one change I didn’t care much for because I did think it was more impactful in the book to have Chris stay, but he only left because Starr told him to, so I’m a bit more willing to let it slide. Finally, there was no DeVante. DeVante, while not officially part of the Carter family, does go to Maverick for help in a way the characters with Khalil would have. His character was important in the book, but I understand with an already lengthy runtime adding another character would be a lot to juggle for a movie. Other than these key differences, the movie did an absolutely phenomenal job adapting the book from the page to the screen, and the amazing performances given by the actors just sold it.
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