The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

 

Review: The Hate U Give aka THUG - Angie Thomas - April 2017

This book was as powerful and insightful as I thought it would be. Starr was raised in a poor neighborhood, but she also went to a wealthy school and was stuck between the two worlds. Starr was ten years old when she first saw her best friend shot and that was when her parents decided the neighborhood was a dangerous place. Fast forward and Starr is now sixteen and goes to a local party with her friend. During the party, Starr catches up with her childhood friend Khali. He offers her a ride home, and they are pulled over by a police officer. Her friend Khali is innocent but is murdered by the police officer. This sparks a riot of sorts and with Starr the only witness, she believes it is time to stand up for what is right and tell the truth. As someone who is white but who has grown up knowing gang members, this book was amazing as I could easily see both sides and this novel though fiction reminded me of the case of Oscar Grant who was a young black man who was unarmed and shot by a white officer in Oakland. Reading this opened my eyes more to the Black Lives Matter movement and also showed that racism and judgment still exist so strongly and that we can easily be judged by the color of our skin and where we grow up. Reading THUG not only opened my eyes up to the racism , but also pulled at my heartstrings as I wanted to stand by the Black Lives in this novel and I wanted the Police officer punished as I realised after reading this book that I am not racist , I believe in justice and killing an unarmed person no matter what colour their skin is , is not on at all. Killing someone is murder and all who murder should be found guilty regardless of color and race. THUG is a book that everyone in 2017 should read as it is an issue that is happening all around the world, not just in America but in our backyards at schools and around our cities.