"The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

Titled from a Tupac Shakur quote, this novel has been the talk of the town with it's ripped-from-the-headlines tale of a black teen shot and killed by a white police officer.  SPOILER ALERT.  Told from the viewpoint of Starr, a friend of the boy and the only witness, the book is ... complicated.  The essence is excellent.  The characters and setting are tremendously real.  Starr's inner monologue and struggles are engaging and enlightening.  Structurally, however, there are significant issues.  It is clear this is a first novel, is somewhat biographical and could seriously have used a much better editor.  There isn't a lot of flow to the writing, and, from a literary standpoint, the build of the book is at times awkward.  Important parts of the tale (such as the actual shooting) are covered with light strokes while other parts (Starr's interactions with friends and her obsession with sneakers) are drawn out.  For the shooting, covered in a scant four pages, it is like snapshots.  Starr is in the car, her friend is shot, she is outside by his side, she is sitting in an ambulance.  It went by so fast I had to backtrack and re-read it.  Throughout the book, there is a tendency to present a situation which is somewhat unclear and then reveal the details many (many many) pages later.  It gives the whole thing a fuzzy feel.  The lengthy chapters also created some reader fatigue.  In many ways, "All American Boys" felt more organic to me but that book was designed to bring outside readers in.  This story is about Starr -- her choices, her role, her voice.  (I do have to admit that, as a middle-aged white woman, a great number of references were not clear to me.  Yes, I did have to look up "do the Nae-Nae" and the slang term "bougie".)


So it's not a perfect book, but I don't want to downgrade the importance of this story.  We are at a point right now when a novel like this can spur some real discussions -- discussions we don't know how to have, conversations we are afraid to have.  It is an uncomfortable book in some ways, challenging ideas that may or may not reside with those who live outside of this culture.  The book is strong enough to start us down a path of understanding and speaks to the teen world well enough (replete with lots of F words) to allow teen readers to get it.  Worth the attention and worth a read.