The Hate U Give is the debut novel of author Angie Thomas that is also known by the acronym THUG. Thomas crafts a contemporary odyssey for the reader, seen through the eyes of Starr Carter, its teen narrator.
Police violence and use of the n- and f-words have landed this book on the Banned Books List maintained by the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom after a Texas school district pulled The Hate U Give from its shelves in 2017.
Synopsis
The book opens at a spring break house party in Garden Heights, an inner-city section of an unnamed city. Starr and her friend Khalil flee the party after shots are fired. They are irritated and shaken by the turn of events, but apparently gunfire is an all too familiar occurrence in their community, so neither is surprised.
Even though the two were practically raised together, they are clearly fond of each other and playfully tease and flirt once they are safely a few blocks away in Khalil’s car. Starr infers that Khalil is involved in illegal activity and confronts Khalil. But Khalil defends his choices by pointing out to Starr that he feels he has very few options in light of the many hardships he faces. Khalil explains the origin of book’s title, comes from a decoding of a message of a THUG LIFE tattoo on the abdomen of late 90s rapper Tupac Shakur:
“The Hate U–the letter U–Give Little Infants F—s Everybody. Meaning what society gives us as youth, it bites them in the a– when we wild out.”
A few moments later Khalil, is gunned down by a police officer and dies, much to Starr’s horror. His death is reminiscent of the deaths of other African-Americans like Philando Castile and Michael Brown.
For much of the book, while grieving and traumatized, Starr tries to remain calm functional in her day-to-day life, while she frantically tries to keep her inner turmoil under control and keep the many parts of her world from intruding onto the others. For example, to her wealthy friends at the exclusive private school she attends, she denies even knowing Khalil. And she has not told her doting, fiercely self-reliant African-American father, who is one of the most loyal residents of their mostly-to-all-black community that not only does she have a boyfriend, but that her boyfriend is white.
And of course, the biggest issue Starr must face is whether to come forward publicly with her account of Khalil’s slaying. Should she defend the honor of her deceased friend? Can she handle the scrutiny? Is it safe to talk about what she knows?
Read It or Shelve It?
For the most part, Thomas has developed strong characters in The Hate U Give. Of course, there is Starr, a sneakerhead/tomboy. Both her mom Lisa, who has a great career and high expectations for her children, and Maverick her father are very well-developed and positive characters with histories of resilience. Along with them, many of the background characters, both minor and major are thoroughly fleshed out too.
This book has been popular with the teens in my community and it was a natural choice toward my year’s reading goal. Besides the timeliness of the book’s subject, Starr’s frustration by the failure of society to see humanity in her friend’s memory–to look beyond skin color and zip code–probably resonates strongly with young readers trying to make sense of the dispositions of the cases involving these deaths. As Starr struggles to make sense of her role in the aftermath of Khalil’s death, she makes the reader think. While it is a Young Adult novel and does have strong language, The Hate U Give is worth a read and I hope it at least inspires much discussion, if it doesn’t shift hearts and minds.
If you want to read my review of the 2018 movie inspired by the novel click here.