With the world currently in the state it is in I thought now is the best time to review honestly one of my favourite books, and one I have been recommending to people over the last few days.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is one of the more moving books I have read. I managed to watch the film on a plane and definitely cried my eyeballs out. I would say rather embarrassingly but my friend who had already watched it just looked at me and understood EXACTLY what I felt!
The story goes: Star is from a black family with a history of involvement with gangs. Her parents have worked hard to separate themselves from this world and for her to go to school in the suburbs. At a party one night close to her home, a fight breaks out and she is reunited with her childhood friend, who then becomes involved in a devastating encounter with police. Star then has a struggle as to whether she should fight for her friends rights, and indeed all POC, and risk getting involved in a racist backlash, or let it slide as ‘these things happen a lot’.
Given the current state of the world, and I am not talking Covid, I am sure you can all imagine the struggles Star is facing within this book. It could not resonate with me any more than it currently does when I am on Twitter or any other social media seeing what I see, and this is absolutely why I have been recommending everyone to read this book.
As a white person there is so much I do not see. I have friends of various backgrounds/ races etc. but there is so much I underestimate in my day to day life compared to theirs. This book taught me so much, and showed me how children as young as Star and younger face a terrible fight every day just because of the colour of their skin. This book opens your eyes to a side that potentially I never noticed before, the injustice of these situations, and the cruelty that unfortunately is very much alive today.
I cannot lie and say I know the right words to say, I don’t. But I can say this book meant a lot to me at the time of reading it, and even more so now that a similar story is reaching the news across the world. It is heart breaking how incredibly current this book is. But seeing people come together to fight for justice is beautiful. I would love to know if anyone read this book and did not feel the emotional connection as I did. And if you cannot find the time to read the book then watch the film instead, it was a fantastic adaptation and included all the key points it needs.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Pages - 464
Goodreads rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
