The Hate U Give

I don't have words for how it made me feel, just noises. This is a tragedy/coming-of-age story (it is both, I'll try to explain how) about a girl who witnesses a close childhood friend of hers killed by a cop during a traffic stop. It examines so many themes skillfully and deftly. Not for a second did I believe I was reading a book written by someone who had to think about it, or outline or whatever. The book flowed too naturally for that; it genuinely was a girl narrating events as they happened. I kept having to set the book down so I could breathe. The author did a phenomenal job of getting inside the mind of a teenager, and discussing the feeling of not fitting in--the girl goes to a fancy prep school because she is so smart, and she is one of the few Black students there, but her home is forty-five minutes away driving, and is in a poor Black neighborhood. The book talks about her white boyfriend and how she is nervous to bring him home, and flat-out addresses "he has a type" (aka Black girls). She has a wonderful relationship with both her parents, is a big Harry Potter fan, helps out with her dad's store and has two annoying brothers. Such detail and characterization seem rare nowadays, so I appreciated. I got to know who she -is-, not about solely what she wanted or whining about a boy she was interested in (common in other YA novels). She talks about music a fair amount, which I thought was interesting.
Twitter is also constantly mentioned and references to it are weaved throughout the book. Some authors say this dates your work badly, and, yeah, but oh, in this book it works incredibly well. It's less "this book will be dated in ten years" and more "this is exactly what it was like to live in the late 2010s, this is what teenagers had, this is what everybody was concerned with." Really well done.

The mature subject matter is given the respect it deserves, and so many things are looked at critically--nearly all the white kids at her school walk out "to protest her friend's death," but even before that happens, it's quickly established by themselves that they just wanted a free day. White students who didn't walk out explain why, and she is grateful to have someone on her side. Gang violence and dynamics are also addressed, and made humdrum and frustrating, as opposed to um, white authors describing it uh, a little differently (stupid movie about white kids wanting to join a gang and then being assaulted by men of color, I am looking at you. I don't remember what it was called but it was super-racist, gross and probably unrealistic). I learned things that would have never occurred to me, from this book.

I laughed a lot when she was describing family moments. The family has a swear jar, so when her dad gets frustrated, he says, "They can kiss my...roses," as he looks at his well-tended, luxurious garden. At another time, she says "My parents are my OTP!" and I erupted into laughter. A person's One True Pairing is the romantic fanfiction couple they read the most about. Later, when she is squeamish about the possibility that her parents might have a sex life, I teased her a little, out loud, in my apartment because I was so into the book, "But you said they were your OTP!" and kept laughing. Nobody wants to think of their parents like that, but, c'mon, you -said- OTP. The laughter this book gave me didn't balance out the tears, but it was appreciated. ( )

"The Hate U Give” is a moving novelization of an all-too familiar headline: a young black girl witnesses the police shooting of her unarmed friend. The book has one of the strongest, most loving depictions of family dynamics that I have ever encountered in the YA genre – I found each of the family members to be multi-faceted and deeply endearing. “The Hate U Give” also approaches a difficult topic with a lot of heart. But, it’s not perfect. The book is absurdly lengthy – coming in at 464 pages – and full of brief vignettes attempting to tackle a variety of serious subjects: casual racism, grief, street justice, gang violence, poverty, addiction, and interracial relationships, just to list a few. And, the main thesis (speaking your truth in the face of adversity and systemic racism) feels weak and out of focus for a majority of the book. Still, “The Hate U Give” is timely, necessary and adds much-needed complexity to the YA genre. ( )

These awards speak for themselves! Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best · William C. Morris Award Winner · National Book Award Longlist · Printz Honor Book · Coretta Scott King Honor Book · #1 New York Times Bestseller ( )

Dieses Buch gibt einen interessanten Einblick in das Leben schwarzer Teenager in den USA, eine Lebenswirklichkeit, die von unserer nicht weiter entfernt sein könnte. Die Protagonistin bemüht sich, einen Spagat zwischen dem Leben in ihrem Stadtteil und der Person, die sie in der vornehmlich von Weißen besuchten Schule vorzugeben scheint.

Angenehm ist mir aufgefallen, dass zwar nichts beschönigt wird, aber gleichzeitig kein erhobener Zeigefinger zu spüren ist.
( )

YA book. It was a very good, very sad, very real book. A girl living in two worlds dealing with issues of race, violence, and hatred. I cried several times throughout the book. I followed the author on Goodreads before getting the halfway mark, which I never do. I am looking forward to reading more by Ms. Thomas. ( )