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Tuesday, January 23, 2018

THE HATE U GIVE - By Angie Thomas REVIEW!!



Girls wear their hair coloured, curled, laid, and slayed. Got me feeling basic as hell with my ponytail. Guys in their freshest kicks and sagging pants grind so close to girls they just about need condoms ...”

This is part of the opening chapter of THE HATE U GIVE. The story begins at a party before gunshots shatter the music. Fleeing, 16-year-old Starr is led to safety by her friend Khalil. Shortly after that, the car they are travelling in is pulled over by police. The unarmed Khalil is murdered – shot at point blank range by the man Starr refers to as “Officer One-Fifteen”. She is the only witness to the crime and her 16-year-old shoulders bear the ferocious repercussions.

What makes this novel so compelling is partly its insights, and the way harsh issues are dealt with. There were times the story chilled me to the bone, and at other times, I had to laugh aloud.  I got to know a host of characters, each brought to life so well on the page that I felt I was a fly on the wall witnessing events as they unfolded.

The Hate U Give is an outstanding debut, offering untold insights into contemporary life for black Americans. The first-person narrative is a joy to read. Rarely has a book captured my interest so much, refusing to let ne go until the very last line.  READ IT! YOU WON'T REGRET IT FOR A SECOND.



MORE ABOUT THE NOVEL

One week after it was published, Angie Thomas’s thrilling debut young-adult novel, The Hate U Give, shot to the top of the New York Times best-seller list for young-adult books. The story follows 16-year-old Starr Carter, who lives in a poor, predominantly black neighbourhood and attends a rich, predominantly white school. After she witnesses her childhood best friend fatally shot by a police officer, Starr confronts the reality of racial injustice in America, grapples with how she can continue to straddle two completely different worlds, and is drawn into activism.

Since the book came out, The Hate U Give (named for a Tupac song) has reportedly sold more than 100,000 copies, been widely praised by critics and been optioned for a film, with Amandla Stenberg attached to play Starr.

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