BOOK REVIEW - The Hate U Give

One of my biggest goals for the new year is to re-ignite my lost, loved habit of reading - specifically fiction!

I always feel as though I never get the chance to read, either I'm too busy, or I have 'school-books' to be reading instead - college life can be hectic. 

But I've realised that if there is something you want to do, if you yearn for that, then you must make time for it! Turn it into a priority for yourself!

This month I started reading and got hooked; I finished the novel by the end of the month, which for me is a challenge seeing as I can never seem to get to the ned of a novel because 'life always get's in the way'.

This is my December book review!

THUG

How would I describe this book?

I read this book in December 2020, after the events of George Floyd's murder shook the world and sparked yet another, albeit this time huge, rise in the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020. This time, everyone was talking about it. The whole world was watching {literally, as the murder as well as the killer cop Devin Chauvin's face was recorded on video for the world to see}.

Bookstores had made sections in their stores for further reading upon race, displaying books such as 'why I don't talk to white people about Race' and other titles labelled as bestsellers; documentaries on slavery were now in the top 10 on Netflix; protests were happening up and down countries all over the world.

Events were now coming to light and in particular, were reaching the screens of white people, and of those who were previously ignorant, or had no interest/knowledge on how dire the race situation had and has been. Although performative activism was an issue to be discussed at the time, the topic was still being widely discussed and was incredibly sensitive - people were finally able to raise their voices no matter how small their platforms were - they were now given one.

When I found this book on my shelf the following winter, although it had been on my reading list for a while, I suddenly felt a compelling urge to just pick it up and start reading.

Over the quarantine period I found myself wanting to read for pleasure once more, as I felt that was a habit I'd drifted from albeit sorely missed. I had a lot of work and studying during the course of the summer, and hadn't found a book I stuck with just yet.

This story was just the right pick-me-up. It's a fictional story, yet very realistic and the writing was so casually yet carefully detailed, I felt like I belonged in the story. As though I was experiencing the novel through Starr. This book opened doors for me to enter a world in which I thought I understood - but knew nothing about.

As a British-Pakistani, I thought I knew and understood racism well enough through my own lens, my own experience, and from what I'd witnessed from black people around me. But America and their relationship with black people is a whole different story - which I evidently understood none of, until I read this book.

Not only does Angie Thomas make this a read suitable for young readers, who can relate to Starr and call her their friend, or even see parts of themselves within her, Thomas manages to incorporate the most important lessons and figures of speech that we need to take away from this novel and carry with us at all times. For those readers more privileged, it gives an insight and understanding to the system and how it affects those less privileged. Those with colour. Why those people are in difficult neighbourhoods, in struggling communities, can't get 'good' jobs. Why those people end up being targets to police. Why the police absolutely do not protect them, why fear is instilled in these communities and their people and why riots are a thing, why, when it's time to fight back, people are on the breaking edge of staying quiet like they've always been taught to be, or finally breaking loose and creating enough noise to be heard.

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- QUOTES -

"It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black".

"Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right." - Momma

"Faith isn't just believing, but taking steps toward that belief." - Pastor Eldridge

"What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?" - Starr

"But this isn't about him or his coworkers who do their jobs right. This is about One-Fifteen, those detectives with their bullshit questions, and those cops who made Daddy lie on the ground. Fuck them."

"Brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you go on even though you're scared."