#YA Review of 'The Hate You Give'

I just finished The Hate You Give (aka THUG) by Angie Thomas. It was a recommended by a friend who had read lots about it on the interwebs, thank you Cethan! You know they say that reading takes you out of your own experience and gives you the empathy to see life through someone else's eyes? This was exactly how I felt when reading this book, it brought me a lot closer to issues of American racial injustice than the media has. I can't believe that Angie Thomas is a first time author, she has such a fresh voice and the novel is really accomplished. I felt like I was in this world.

Starr, the main character, is leading a double life*.  She's a black girl from the ghetto, Garden Heights,  but her parents have sent her and her siblings to a private high school in a wealthy neighbourhood. She finds it hard to juggle both of her worlds and has friendship groups in both. Her parents have complex feelings about this too, they want their kids to do well but they don't want to abandon their neighbourhood, friends and family to the gangs and poverty that are rife in the ghetto.
(*The double school life reminds me of the native American protagonist in YA classic The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It works really well as it added another dimension to the story and makes Starr's character even more relatable. I have the feeling that THUG is going to become an American classic too and that can only be a good thing.)
This comes to a head when she reconnects with Khalil, a close friend from her childhood, at a party in Garden Heights. Starr witnesses Khalil's murder after they are pulled over by a police officer on their journey home. Suddenly Starr is confronted by the injustice of a brutal system that allows innocent people to be killed because of their skin colour.  She starts to find it hard to relate to her friends at school and her devastation affects her budding relationship with her boyfriend Chris.
This is a brilliant story, with a great heroine and interesting characters but it is also a really important story as sadly, we know that what happened to Khalil and the fallout from this is based on shocking, real life cases. This confrontation of serious social issues gives the book a gravitas that reminds me of really important books like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and Anne Frank's Diary.
I am grateful to Angie Thomas for this glimpse into Starr's world, it is a clever mix of the personal and the political.
What parents/guardians/librarians should know: 

• Starr is a strong female character and a great role model for teenagers. I wish I'd had her strength as a teenager

• Great introduction to modern race issues, particularly in the US

• However non US readers might potentially need a bit more context re:black history?

• There are bullying issues which are resolved really well

• This is a book for older teenagers. It depends on the child reading it but I would say that teenagers who are 14 and above ,dependent on their maturity level, will get more out of this novel.

• Starr and her boyfriend's relationship is about to become sexual, this aspect of the story is really sensitively handled

• A difficult part of this story maturity wise is King, his violent gang, drug selling and his abusive relationship with Iesha, it raises issues which teenagers might not be ready for, but it is a minor part of the story

• Starr's parents are really well written, they are strict, have overcome so many difficulties and are hilarious. I think they might be my favourite parents in YA at the moment:)