100 Books in 2018

13/ the hate u give by angie thomas

read: 12.02.18 - 14.02.18

book: The Hate U Give

author: Angie Thomas

blurb: 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: I bought this after giving in slightly to the hype that surrounds this book, and I don't think I've ever been so in love with a spontaneous book buy ever. As I've said before, YA isn't a genre that I am a huge fan of because the storylines always feel too artificial and fake. This was not the case with the book.

It's possibly one of the most real things I've ever read.

The way that Thomas reflects real life events made it feel like I was reading a memoir at times, and to me Starr felt like a real person. I was entirely transfixed and absorbed by this book, and for the first time in while I sat down for two hours one day and just read.

The characters were all beautifully done, and I cared about each and every one of them - DeVante had a special place in my heart. This book was powerful, it made me feel things that books never usually do. I choked up, I laughed, I smiled, I felt angry. It had a power over me to unlock these intense emotions.

It felt fresh, relevant, and like it was making an impact. Giving a voice to those who have been silenced for too long. I loved it, to put it simply.

rating: 10/10