The Hate U Give

Starr's life is split in two. Her home, family and old friends in Garden Heights and the private school where most her class is white. She doesn't want to appear too ghetto at school, or be labelled as the angry black girl, so she changes who she is. When her friend Khalil is shot by a cop, she is the only witness. She doesn't want to put herself in danger but how will her friend ever get justice if she doesn't speak up? How does staying quiet stop this happening again and again...

The title comes from what Tupac Shakur said THUG LIFE stood for, The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everyone, which refers to the generational problems causing poverty and crime in black neighbourhoods. Hate begets hate. The cycle of fear and poverty doesn't give kids a chance to do anything else, to be better. Riots and drugs damage the very neighbourhood the victims live in, which is seen in The Hate U Give.

When Khalil is shot, he is doing nothing wrong and he is unarmed. The media focuses on the fact he did deal drugs, but even if that were true, it doesn’t carry the death penalty, it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have a fair trial. Starr starts to truly fear the police, worrying that she or her family could be the next ones killed.

Guns scare me. The idea that the police aren't there to protect you is terrifying. I am privileged by my skin colour but also the country where I live has its head screwed on when it comes to guns. The right to bear arms is a ridiculous right, one which implies you have the right to maim another human being. America, why is this right held so dearly?

In the UK, scared kids carry knives. In the US, they are carrying guns. In a country where so many people are carrying lethal weapons, it’s hardly surprising that innocent people are being killed. If you are scared someone's going to kill you, you will react, with all your prejudices firing on instinct. The story briefly touches on the fact it that it is years and years of problems coalescing into that moment where a police officer makes a decision. It's not designed to make you side with the cop, but I think it's important it is included. The problem is never one racist cop, it’s something ingrained in the country's psyche.

Starr is a bit of an outsider and its reflected in her narrative. It's just not raw enough. I understand the desire to put a high-achieving, middle class kid in this situation, it makes it oh so clear she is beyond reproach. But she always feels safe, looked after by her family and school. Imagine if part the narrative was DeVante's? Someone who carries a gun, whose parents aren't there for them, to whom drugs and gangs seem like the only option?

It will be an eye-opening book for many and that's why it deserves to be a bestseller. On the positive side, it does show how wonderful close-knit community can be even in the worst conditions. Her parents work hard to give their kids a better chance in life, even if that feels them feeling guilty that they are turning their back on the place they came from.

This was one of the most anticipated books of the year.  I preordered it and started reading as soon as it downloaded.  It is worth all the hype.I think a large part of the effectiveness of this novel is the complexity of the characters.  No one is a stock character with only one relevant character attribute or motivation.  This allows a lot of discussion among the characters on a huge range of topics.Starr - She is 16 and lives in a neighborhood that she thinks of as the ghetto but she doesn't want anyone else to call it that.  She witness her best friend Natasha get killed in a drive by shooting when they were 10.  After that her mother sent her to a private school in a safer neighborhood.  She feels like she is living a double life at home and at school.  She's not sure she fits into either place.  She has a white boyfriend that she's too afraid to tell her father about.Khalil - He grew up with Starr but they don't talk much any more.  His mother is a drug addict.  After he is killed, he is described as a drug dealer and a gang member but the truth is harder to come by.Maverick - He's Starr's father.  He was a gang member but is out of it now.  He was in jail for three years when Starr was young.  He owns a grocery store in the neighborhood.  He is adamant that they are not going to move to a safer neighborhood because they need to help remake the one they live in.  He's drilled Black Panther quotes into his children to teach them to survive.Uncle Carlos - He is a policeman who grew up in the neighborhood.  He helped raise Maverick's kids when he was in jail and there is still some tension between them.Add in Starr's mom and her brothers and the rest of the extended family in addition to the friends from the neighborhood and her school and this is a rich cast of characters with multiple points of view.Khalil is driving Starr home from a party when they are pulled over.  He is pulled out of the car and then shot while standing beside the car.  The police and the officer's family describe it as a shooting of a thug who was going for a gun.  Starr knows there was no gun.  Khalil looked into the car to ask if she was ok.  Now she's dealing with the grief and trauma of witnessing his murder.At first no one knows that she was the witness.  She wasn't named because she is a minor.  She is unable to talk about it to her friends at school even though it is a major news story.  There is even a walkout supposedly in protest of his killing but mostly was just as an excuse to get out of class.  As she sees people around her react to the story of Khalil's death she is forced to face racism in her friends that she had been ignoring before.Should she break her silence and talk about what happened?  She talks to the grand jury but should she go public?  What will the repercussions be for her family and her neighborhood?  Talking publicly will bring up issues like gang violence that no one talks about for fear of retaliation.This is a vibrant and layered story about life in a poor community in an inner city.  It shows an intact African-American family with open love and affection between the parents.  That's rare to find in books.  I'll leave all the analysis of black representation to others but I thought it was amazing.I would love to hand this book to any white person who has ever thought All Lives Matter was an appropriate response to Black Lives Matter or who thought that a police killing was justified because the person was probably up to no good.  I doubt they would read it but this book needs to be out in the world being read by everyone.The title comes from Tupac.  This clip was referenced in the book.  He explains what THUG LIFE means to him.





























 

This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story