Angie Thomas touches on a lot of different subjects in her book ‘The Hate U Give’, and she does it so very effectively. This book is frustrating and painful, but also funny and moving. It’s frustrating and heart breaking to read, because you are reading about these situations in which there is blatant discrimination and such a lack of justice. What amplifies this frustration is the fact the story is barely even fiction. It is highly reflective of real life, and that is the message of this book. We should be aware that racism is not dead. In my opinion, the most remarkable thing about this book is the fact that it is basically a response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In this first novel of Angie Thomas there is an excellent discussion on race and socio-economic background. Starr lives in an underprivileged, predominantly black neighborhood, but goes to a private school in a different neighborhood where most of the students are predominantly wealthy and white. She struggles with portraying two different versions of herself depending on the two different audiences, and she talks about how she does not want those two spheres to interfere with each other. Another thing that Angie Thomas did well is her depiction of a specific subculture. She incorporates slang, songs, gangs in a way that feels very real and very immersive.
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This book has a very heavy subject matter, but I think it balances out really well with the light-hearted bits and the funny parts. This book is painful, but it is not hopeless, and I really liked that. I think I knew from the beginning that Officer One-Fifteen was not going to be convicted, because they never are. But still, I was hoping. I was hoping that there would be justice, and so did the characters. Angie Thomas stayed true to how these trials always go. It was heart breaking to read, but also an eye-opener.
I think ‘The Hate U Give’ has a really powerful ending by Starr listing all these victims who lost their lives to police brutality. It was remarkably effective and a really strong conclusion.
A thing I did not liked about the book was the writing style. In my opinion, the writing style is too explicit. Everything is spelled out for the reader so clearly. There is nothing left for the reader to infer, because we are told everything. The writing is so explicative, it can be a little exhausting to read.
I also did not really liked the pacing. For example, a main event in the book is the trial hearing. The trial hearing is a really big deal for both Starr and also for this movement. However, it appeared and then disappeared in the storyline, which made me want a better structured timeline and a more consistent frame of reference. This book is a long book. Long books do not necessarily have to feel long, but this one did. And I feel that would have been fixed with a better structured timeline and a more consistent frame of reference.
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