In January, uber popular author, John Green, tweeted that The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas would become a classic. I believe him.I can see this book in decades being required reading in schools. I can see multiple editions—special editions, anniversary editions, movie tie-in editions, and hell, maybe even a graphic novel—being released. I can see this book being read by my generation and passed on to the next generation, and then the next. I can see this book lasting, not because it’s timeless (hopefully the struggles addressed in THUG will be no more, as Starr prophesied), but because it’s a flashpoint in American history that shouldn’t be forgotten even if it’s rectified. Angie Thomas’ debut is the kind of transformative and accessible novel that can touch a variety of readers and have long-lasting effects.Why do I feel this way? What do I love about this book? Every f***ing thing. But let me try to be more specific. I love the writing, which is brilliant and absolutely genuine. I love the characters, who are phenomenal and so real. I love the characters’ dynamics as well, which I think is the shining point of the novel. They’re vigorous and honest, Angie Thomas’ words giving them breath, blood, and life.If you’ve read the blurb, then you know the Black Lives Matter movement inspires this novel. But, The Hate U Give isn’t about a movement. It’s about black lives living, and about black lives loving, and about black lives pursuing happiness and deserving freedom—just like everyone. This novel’s protagonist is sixteen years old, and she lives without an ulterior motive or agenda. Starr is just a girl who experienced a horrific tragedy, and the novel follows her journey through her grief and self-actualizations. I love Starr. I love this book.It begins with the shooting of Khalil on chapter two. It’s harrowing and devastating, but not shocking for anyone who has been paying attention. Experiencing the effects of that moment from Starr’s perspective is gut wrenching, although, I can foresee some readers feeling numb. Starr goes trough all the stages in a visceral outpouring of grief. Her rage over her friend’s murder is the emotion that steals the show, never leading to traditional acceptance.Angie Thomas is so damn talented and smart, I’m jealous.I had so many expectations going into this book, but mainly, I was nervous. I mean, with all the hype it’s impossible not to go into this book with some expectation and my greatest fear regarding THUG was that it would piss me off. I expected the subject matter would be intense and that there would be some moments when I’d want to punch a wall. There were those moments when I was heated–intensely emotional, very angry and also immensely sad.But, what surprised me most about this book, and why I love it so much, and why I am going to recommend it to all the people, is that it is beyond multidimensional and multifaceted. Honestly, I experienced the gamut of emotions; I mean every single one. Let’s get all the clichés out there: There were moments when I cried, obviously, and there were moments when I raged also obviously. Also there were so many times when I felt light and joyful, and not just hopeful, but plain happy.There are a lot of scenes, especially the ones with Starr’s family that made me feel practically effervescent, which was made more memorable because they were just so alive in the midst of all the harshness of their reality. As I said, Angie Thomas is so f***ing talented that I can’t stand it. She layered this book with every feeling. I know I’m going on, ad nauseam, but this novel moved me.If you’re planning on reading this then move it up your list! If you’re hesitant about it, for whatever reason, then please take a chance on this book. I am urging you, no, begging you to give Starr a chance, because her story deserves to be told.

Wow, what a great book! This book is so timely in the wake of all the shootings of young black men and the inability of law enforcement to train their personnel to respond differently when making routine stops and for the anger members in the community feel when charges are not brought up against the officers.This is also a coming of age book about the protagonist in the story: Starr, a 16 year old African American girl who is trying to straddle two worlds: the working class, tight knit, all black neighborhood where literally "everybody knows your name" and the upper middle class, predominantly white high school her parents send her and her two brothers to.Boy, did this book ring a bell, park itself in my psyche and stayed awhile to visit! I could relate to all of the characters: in some ways Starr's family is my family: as black parents how do we insure our kids have a good education and yet keep them in touch with their cultural heritage, and why, as black parents do we have to make these kind of choices? I too have made the speech to our kids about what to do if you're stopped by the police, we too are tired and frustrated with the needless deaths of young African American men.The story very realistically depicts how Starr struggles with the death of her close friend Khalil, what it means to her and her community that she is the only eye witness. The author fully captures what DuBois called the double consciousness that many blacks still have to live in America. She has Starr deal with micro aggression from friends, navigating having a white boyfriend, internalized negative stereotypes about blacks, are you betraying your family and/or your community when you move out of the "hood"? and then the everyday, "regular" messiness of family life.Great fantastic debut novel with awesome characters, lots and lots of depths and nuances of the complexity of what it means to grow up black in 21st century America. I look forward to reading books by this author in the future.

I haven't had the opportunity but forever I have been wanting to talk about The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I read this book in March and it etched it's way into my core scratch by scratch.This book was more than a now book. It was a now-and-always book to me. It seemed to reach back in the past to the days of Good Burger and Hey Arnold to the days where black people win at everything and the culture is constantly appropriated to the uncertain days ahead of us. This book seemed to preach the words and the thoughts and feelings of black people and women everywhere to me. I know that I cannot know if that is true because I cannot know all the experiences that black people everywhere have but something about Angie's writing was like a resounding voice. An echo into a cavern and it was like...there was a light answering back. This is a book that I wished I had before my official teenage years, even. This is a book that is THE book to point at when explaining what you mean when you say that those outside the black experience cannot write as authentically as those within. There is something that was so nuanced, so deeply bound within this book that I personally feel either cannot or is hard to be found in a book with a black MC written by a white individual. There is a soul within, a spirit within it that is so natural that I feel that even decades writing no other individual would be able to style it in a way that is similar enough to be satisfactory. This book was the torch held in the sky by Lady Liberty. So high that it would be difficult, almost impossible for any other light to reach or ever match that torch. That is how I felt and feel at this time.The Hate U Give is a beating heart with so much blood and love and realness inside of it that when you feel it inside of you, it is almost as if you might burst with the joy and the heartache that is this book. I loved how the characters were so fully developed. It was almost as if they were breathing and it pulled me out of wherever I was, fully into the book. I love how the writing is so honest. There were some lines that as soon as I read them, they seemed to bury themselves in my insides. This is a book that if I had the time, I would probably read over and over again.I love the humanity within this book and the rising awareness of complex characters within YA and sometimes morally ambiguous ones, too, because I feel though the majority of us (or so I would like to believe) strive to be good and honest people...The Hate U Give identifies the moral ambiguity within people. Within black people, without degrading the characters or making them out to be less than because of their flaws. The moral ambiguity makes the characters so vulnerable, there they are raw and ripped open for your love. Thank you, Angie Thomas, for writing The Hate U Give

Okay, this review is probably going to be short and sweet since it has been so long since I read this book.What I DO remember about this book is that it was SO good! It will make you angry, it will make you sad, it will open your eyes and enlighten you. Starr is such an amazing character. She has to go through things that no kid should have to go through. But she's so strong and handles it so well, despite the strong (likely) possibility of an unfavorable outcome.I loved the family dynamic in this book. I loved how much Starr's family all loved and cared for each other. It's so refreshing to see a full, functional family for a change.Another thing I really liked about this book was the sense of community in Garden Heights. I loved all the interactions between the different people and seeing how much they all loved their community. That's not something I recall seeing in really any books and I enjoyed it.A couple of things I remember wanting to talk about regarding this book:-While I was reading this book, I remember thinking that Sekani was an odd name. And I love that this was actually addressed in the book and that it totally put me in my place. I don't remember exactly what was said, but I remember I liked it. But I feel like I can't really say anything about anyone's name because I feel like Cyra is an odd name.-I was so so so glad when Starr stopped putting up with Hailey's crap. She was a really rotten friend and it made me sad to think that Starr had to be a different person around her white friends at school.Overall, this book was fantastic! I was a bit late to the party on reading this one, but I would definitely recommend it if you are also fashionably late to this party. It is powerful and deserves every single ounce of hype that it gets and MORE!

The author is from my city. She a native, me a transplant from another part of the state. We have friends in the same writer circles thought we haven't officially met each other. I say this not to to boast but to bring home that this story felt REAL to me because of that.But beyond geography, Thomas gets that black experience where you have to straddle multiple worlds. Not black enough and not enough of a model minority. Interracial dating. Racist white friends who insist they aren't racist. Having to cut those people loose. Dishonest and abusive law enforcement. How it feels to grow up in a less than safe area. Just regular culture in America. This town could be anywhere.Starr is a very authentic character with an authentic voice. The situation she is in can and has happened everywhere in the United States and in other countries. This story was hard for me to read at first because it was real. It isn't a fantasy. The ending is hopeful but not clean. It makes you think.While the book is about a serious and prevalent topic, it also has funny moments. I laughed hard at some parts. The Harry Potter gang theory, the catfish scene, just random dialogue.I'm glad I read this book. We need more black voices and other voices outside of the white lens. Stories written for us by us.Great job, Angie and I hope the movie captures this story well. Maybe one day the narrative in this unfair and unjust racist world will change.