Reviewed by A. Klink, August 2020
The book The Hate U Give, written by Angie Thomas is a very inspiring book that can end up changing outlooks on life. It is set during the present time in Garden Heights, an area of Jackson Mississippi.
The book starts out with introducing Starr, a high schooler who lives in Garden Heights. Starr feels that she is constantly switching between two worlds, rich and poor. She lives in a neighborhood where two different gangs are set, and to help her escape this life, her parents work to send her to a private school in the next town over. Starr manages to balance these two worlds by having two different personalities; Williamson Starr, and Garden Heights Starr. One night, Starr is at a party that she doesn’t even want to be at when she runs into someone from her past, Kahleil. Starr and Kahleil basically grew up together, their relationship as close as siblings. Kahleil and Starr are talking when suddenly gunshots ring out at the party. Kahleil offers to take Starr home in this situation. While they are on their way home, a police car stops them, for Kahleil’s headlight is burnt out. Starr stays quiet, remembering all the times that her parents educated on how to talk to law enforcement. Kahleil, not so much. He is mad because the cops didn’t have a valid reason to be treating them the way that they were. As Kahleil bends down to make sure Starr is okay, he is shot by the police. Now Starr has to go through this trauma and faces the pressure of her whole community as this event unfolds. As the events unfold, Starr’s two worlds collide, and she has to reveal what she is made of and who she really is.
This book is an amazing book, and I loved it. It is so eye opening about the world around that we don’t really ever experience. The book also makes the reader end up pondering about how they treat people as an event takes place at Starr’s school. This book really makes you stop and reflect on what is happening, and I would recommend that everyone should read it.