Summary:
Sixteen-year-old
Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives
and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between
these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her
childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was
unarmed.
Soon
afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe
even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in
Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and
her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down
that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But
what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also
endanger her life.
Review:
When
you're reading books like The Hate U Give, you're truly reading someone's brave
decision against silence.
This book has made me feel every single possible emotion at the same time. It was truly incredible and I have SO MUCH to say about it I wish I could actually just send everyone a howler containing the entire script of this book instead.
This book has made me feel every single possible emotion at the same time. It was truly incredible and I have SO MUCH to say about it I wish I could actually just send everyone a howler containing the entire script of this book instead.
“What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those
moments you shouldn't be?”
In all honesty, The Hate U Give has
made me realize just how simply clueless I was as to the continuing day-to-day
actuality of systemic racism in America. A reality in which on any given day,
some innocent person like Tommy Le can
get shot hours before his high-school graduation because he was carrying a
pen, or another innocent person like Sandra Bland can
get into a car, and then three days later she is going to end up dead in jail,
or a five years
old child can get shot and wounded after the police kills his
mother. A reality in which justice is dead and the police kills black youth
with impunity.
And so many other real stories I read about that
truly made the atoms making up my body have enough of being anchored to this
awful reality in this human form and wish to move on, become a light wave or
something.
See, I don’t know what it's like
to be black in America, but I have 18 years of experience in being a brown
Muslim woman and I can tell you this: being in the minority is like being stuck
behind a glass wall and whenever an injustice occurs, you breathe onto it and
you write it in HUGE letters in the condensation...but nobody seems to really see
it. Nobody seems to really seeyou. You’re completely and utterly alone.
This
was such a heartbreakingly honest account of what is happening in America right
now. As a white reader, the experience this story affords its readers cannot be
taken for granted. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this book takes
you into the heart of Garden Heights after the main character has witnessed the
wrongful murder of her best friend Khalil by a police officers. Being Canadian,
as well as being white, I have the privilege of not having to deal with any of
the things Starr deals with on a day to day basis but the experience of being
alongside her as she grappled with the injustice of it all gave me a completely
new understanding of what is going on in America. I obviously am not ignorant
to it all, but this just felt like an honest firsthand account. It really is
indescribable. This is such an important read and I highly encourage you to
pick it up.
Chapter 1:
I should not have come to this party. There are just some places
whre it’s not enough to be me. I squeeze through sweaty bodies and folloe
Kenya. “Stop following me and go dance, Starr,” Kenya says. Kenya is about the only person I hang out with
in Garden heights. It’s hard to make friends when you go to a school that’s
forty five minutes away and you’re a latchey kid who isonly seen at her family’s
store………………….
Chapter 2:
“License, registration and proof of insurance.” “Khalil,”I plead. “Do
what he said.” Khalil groans and takes his wallet out. The officer follows his
movements with the flashlight. My parents told me it’s not smart to move while
a cop has his back to you. Khalil does. He comes to his door. It’s not smart to
make a sudden move. Pow! One. Khalil’s body jerks. Blood splatters from his
back……….
Chapter 3:
They leave Khalil’s body in the street like it’s an exhibition.
People stand off to the side, trying to see what happened. Brown eyes with long
eyelashes appear in front of me. They’re like mine. “Hey,” Daddy says. “C,mon,
let’s go.” I open my mouth to respon. A sob comes out……..
Chapter 4:
That night, Natasha tries to convince me to follow her to the fire
hydrant, and Khalil begs me to go for a ride with him. I force a smile, my lips trembling, and tell them I
can’t hang out. They keep asking, and I keep saying no. Darkness crawls towards
them. I try to warn them, but my voices doesn’t work. The shadow swallows them
up in an instant. Now it creeps towards me. I back away, only to find it behind
me………
Chapter 5 :
On Monday, the day I’m supposed to talk to the detectives, I’m
crying out of nowhere, hunced over my bed as the iron in my hand spits out the
steam. Momma takes it before I burn the Williamson crest on my polo. She rubs
my shoulder. “Let it out, Munch.”
Chapter 6 :
My mom and I arrive at the police
station at four thirty on the dot. A handful of cops talk on phones, type on
computers, or stand around. Normal stuff, like on Law & Order, but my
breath catches.
Chapter 7 :
Khalil’s funeral is Friday.
Tomorrow. Exactly one week since he died. I’m at school, trying not to think
about what he’ll look like in the coffin, how many people will be there, what
he’ll look like in the coffin, if other people will know I was with him when he
died……………
Chapter 8 :
Funerals aren’t for dead people.
They’re for the living. I doubt Khalil cares what songs are sung or what the
preacher says about him. He’s in a casket. Nothing can change that. My family
and I leave thirty minutes before the funeral starts, but the parking lot at
Christ Temple Church is already full………….
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