“I shouldn’t have come to this party” (The Hate U Give, Pg. 1, Sentence 1).
“Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed” (Goodreads Synopsis).
Krystal’s Review:
This book starts off like the Alessia Cara song “Here”. Starr is at a party she doesn’t want to be at–and it changes her life forever. Starr, Khalil, and Natasha were childhood best friends “Tighter than the inside of Voldemort’s nose”, and Natasha was shot and killed during a drive by when they were ten. Then Khalil gets killed when a police officer pulls them over and mistakes a hair brush for a gun. As the last of the trio, and the sole witness to Khalil’s shooting, Starr has to make a lot of choices about what’s more important– speaking out, or staying quiet and keeping herself and her family safe.
This is probably the best YA book of 2017… this book is like the Hamilton of YA books. Angie Thomas covers themes of police shootings, systemic racism, and interracial relationships– and still manages to make you laugh. This is possibly the hardest book I’ve ever had to try to review because there are so many aspects to the book that demand attention. As such, and because I couldn’t possibly write a better review, take a look at this review of the book by The Atlantic.
I recommend (times a thousand) that EVERYBODY read this book–no matter your personal preference.
Title read-a-likes include: The Truth of Right Now by Kara Corthron, All American Boys by Jason Reynolds, and Dear Martin by Nic Stone.
Read this book.
Krystal
