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.

Rating: 3.5/5.0First, let me say that when a book is highly rated and very much hyped I tend to pass it under my own microscope! This might sound unfair because I don't do the same with other books that are averagely rated, but again I don't do that with them because I get into them with no expectations. The Hate U Give is one of those books that became so popular and so much talked about and very highly rated. So have I jumped on the hype train as well?Hmm, I have to say the book is good, it discusses some very important issues that might not have been tackled before in the YA genre (This is what I think caused the hype) but this definitely not the only book that talks about such issues if you look into the adult books too.What I liked about this book is the format. Where there is more dialogue going on between the different characters. The only person we get to know more about is the protagonist Starr as the whole story is told from her perspective so we get to know what goes on inside her head and what actions she is going to take. The book addresses several problems we have in different societies like racism, brutality by police, dealing with drugs and also gang wars. Not all of these were much elaborated though. Some dialogues I really liked too and think they were well written but I would not say all of it!Things I did not like: I feel there were many big opportunities that were missed here and there. The book does not have much tension as I expected a serious subject like that needed. Yes, there is some tension in certain scenes but where I expected the book to shine it failed. For example, the questions and answers in the police station that ended very fast, then the TV interview was such a big disappointment it was about two pages only from the whole book. Starr being questioned in front of the Grand Jury was almost non-existent, that was just a page and half! In These three situations, the author could've made the best parts of the book but she decided to completely ignore them and give bigger scenes to situations that were not important. I feel the priorities for the author was to cater the book more to the young audiences by making the subject somehow lighter than what it is.Another thing I did not like was certain aspects of the main character. I rolled my eyes and cringed when she kept making references to Taylor Swift or Beyonce. I also feel the main character was over critical about certain things. Although she was dealing with racism issue she has fallen into the same trap herself when she rejected to be honest with her white boyfriend and when she was asked about it she said: "because you are white, white, white"!! But is it not a racist thing to label a whole race with something just because one person did that?As I said the book is good and tackles important issues but I don't feel it is an extraordinary one as many reviews and ratings made me feel. I don't feel this book has gone deep enough in dealing with these subjects as I expected it would. I would have to go with a good 3.5 stars out of 5 stars here.

I have heard a lot about this book, I really wanted to buy the book but at the time I didn't have the money and it was a bit more than I was really to pay for an ebook. So I figured I would borrow from the library got on the waiting list and I was like maybe 3rd in line to get it. That for me was too long. Then I saw that a school district banned this book and that sent up the flags that I needed to get my hands on this book. Why would a school district ban a book called The Hate U Give? I jumped to Amazon and ordered it that same day when I got the book in I was so flipping happy. I totally wished I would have bought the signed copy on the author's website.Thanks Katy ISD because of you making the news about banning this book I had to have it!Now when I started the book I knew I was hooked but knew I would not have been able to finish it in one sitting, it was going to take me a couple of days. I didn't know how deep this book was until I was a few pages in. This author hit so much truth that I would recommend people read it.I felt this book was real in so many ways! You have friends who are fake and do not truly understand what you stand for or believe in. You have to wear two faces sometimes because you do have to worry if people would like the "real" you. Death; impacts all those who knew the person and yet when justice is not served properly it becomes a bigger impact. This is just a few of those real things.We are introduced to Starr who lives in a so called bad neighborhood yet her momma wanted better for her and her brothers as far as schooling went and moved her to a prep school. Yet Starr knows that she can't act like people would think she would act if they knew where she lived.We see how Starr has to act different and you can really tell that the author did a good job with the characters feelings and how she handled problems that came her way.When Starr ends up in a car with her best friend Khalil and sees him die her whole world changes. She can truly see how the justice system works and how people truly act in a tragedy. She will lose friends and gain closer to a friend. Her eyes are way opened to it all, though her mother and father tried to protect her.Starr ends up fighting for Khalil and letting the truth come to light, she doesn't want his name dragged through the streets as a thug because he was not one. This book was on point in more than one way. I felt the author did a damn good job with it ALL! When I do my top ten books for the month this book will be number 1. This book was raw, it was heartbreaking, it was real, it had the truth in it.Characters were flipping amazing, the situations that were in the book were on point, the plot was a steady and went at a decent pace. I liked all the characters but I will say this I loved Starr's mom and dad. The way she could read them and how real her parents were was awesome!I want to say more but I just know I will be giving it all away. PICK UP THIS BOOK, OWN THIS BOOK!

Wow. This book was phenomenal. it completely lived up to the hype.I have a lot of thoughts on this so here they are (keep in mind this is coming from an Asian American from the Bay Area):I loved how educational it was. It really made you understand the Black Lives Matter movement and the reality of it. It hit every single point and put you right in the middle of it.I also liked how Angie Thomas made brought up big points in really subtle ways. For example, “Funny how it works with white kids though. It’s dope to be black until it’s hard to be black” (11). That is so true. People only like black culture when it’s cool , but the minute something bad happens to the black community, they distance themselves from it. But the quote that really hit hard was, “Funny. Slave masters thought they were making a difference in black people’s lives too. Saving them from their ‘wild African ways.’ Same Shit, different century. I wish people them would stop thinking that people like me need saving” (246). I read that quote and was like, damn, preach it girl!The minority alliance between Starr and Maya made me so happy. It was so good to see a black girl and her Asian best friend team up. Angie Thomas could have done a bit more with it, but it was still nice to see it included. Personally, I think we need more minority alliances because there is more that unites us than divides us and together we can make a big impact. #Asians4BlackLivesI also liked that this tackled interracial dating. It added an extra layer to the complexity of this novel.The pop culture references were a really nice and unexpected touch. I was definitely not expecting High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers to be mentioned in this book.Overall, this book was everything. It should be taught in schools because despite being fiction, it was so informative, thought provoking, and leaves the door open for a lot of discussion.

I had originally said I was not going to read this book, I didn't know how well I would like it, and I don't tend to get involved with things that can make life at work harder for me. I literally work with the police, I am a dispatcher, so it is a huge part of my life. I knew going in it was revolved around the BLM movement, and police brutality and I made the decision to read it anyways. I had heard so many good things about it and I just needed to see for myself. First I want to say, it does not at any point in this book bash police officers. It talks about some of the problems in the world and how things happen but it never attacks or sets out to make them out to monsters. I really liked that because most aren't, they just aren't, they are humans. Now, Starr is the main character who is involved in a horrible tragedy that leaves her friend from child hood Khalil dead by an officer involved shooting. It was horrible and it was really sad. I hated reading it, I cried my eyes out, Thomas did such an amazing job of making a horrible action into beautiful fiction that made you feel like you were right there. I was so broken by this part of the story. Then reading later on into Starr's grief was just hard. I don't know any other way to describe it but there will be tears, so very many tears. That isn't it though, you see her as they have to fight the system basically, and you are with them through all those emotions. Going to the funeral and seeing his family, destroyed, his mother broken, knowing this isn't just something that happens in fiction, you cannot help but be moved. Now there was some real good in this book too, like some parts that I laughed until I cried. The scene when her parents are arguing in the middle of a prayer I have read an thousand times since finishing the book because it is the funnies thing I have ever read. Her parents were amazing by the way, her dad was an ex-con but he loved her, he admitted his mistakes but he was there for her. Their relationship was really touching to read because I have always been really close to my own dad. Then there was her mom, and her Uncle Carlos, who was actually a cop and lived in a really good neighborhood too. This was really refreshing to read because so many books, YA especially make parents out to be monsters that don't care, that aren't there for their kids. I mean it is like a troupe or something for these stories and it isn't actually the norm and gets annoying to read, so this book did an amazing job with the parents and family. All around though this story just floored me, it gave me a perspective I have never considered before, offered insights into a world I am not a part of, and I loved every minute of it. I don't know what it is to watch one friend die by violence of any sort, much less two in the time of my life and I am 26, she is a teenager. It is jarring to see that as someones existence when it is not your own. It taught me to open my eyes... I love it... Honestly I just wanted to pick it right back up and read it again.