ARC Review: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Title: The Hate U Give
Author: Angie Thomas
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: April 6th 2017
Page Number: 438
Rating: 5/5

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighbourhood 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, Khalil’s death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Starr’s best friend at school suggests he may have had it coming. When it becomes clear the police have little interest in investigating the incident, protesters take to the streets and Starr’s neighbourhood becomes a war zone. 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 destroy her community. It could also endanger her life.

 

REVIEW

The Hate U Give may just be the best book I'll read this year.

The hype has been well alive since the announcement of the book and with each and every review that came in - including those 8 starred reviews - I wasn't sure if it was going to live up to it. However, Angie Thomas really delivered a raw, poignant novel with a relevant narrative that showcases the harsh lives of Black people.

Starr lives one of two lives: Her life in Garden Heights filled with shootings and Drug Lords and then her life at Williamson Prep, a boarding school for the white and rich. Tying between two complete opposite communities leaves her feeling restless and after the murder of her childhood friends takes place in front of her she has to choose which side to take: Remaining silent or getting justice for Khalil.

Starting the novel I wasn't too sure what I really thought of the writing as I've never experienced a book in the narrative of a black character from what I would call the 'Hood'. It's ratchet talk to me, however, it was needed for it to be fresh and honest. Every character interaction only showed me just how difficult black people have it, but also how narrow minded some of their older generation could be in regards to interracial relationships.

I can't pretend to understand how people in these circumstances feel but we can all be empathetic and sympathetic in times of needs and learn to understand what they're going through, which Angie Thomas did well for me. The Hate U Give was a learning curve for me, an education I never saw coming but ended up being thankful for.

It's books like this one that deserve to be Number 1 New York Times Bestsellers. It's books like this one that everyone deserves to read because it's impactful, important. A story that needs to be told because otherwise we'll just continue being ignorant. Sometimes your voice is more powerful than words but words were enough in this case. The Hate U Give is imprinted in my heart, soul and mind. It's constantly with me in my every day life and that's why I think it'll be hard to knock this from my number 1 spot this year.

 

 

 

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A copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher, Walker Books UK for an honest opinion.

Review: If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Title: If I Was Your Girl
Author: Meredith Russo
Genre: YA Contemporary / LGBT
Publisher: Usbourne Publishing
Published: June 1st 2016
Page Number: 304
Rating: 2/5

Summary:

Amanda Hardy is the new girl at school. Like everyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is holding back. Even from Grant, the guy she's falling in love with.

Amanda has a secret.

At her old school, she used to be called Andrew. And secrets always have a way of getting out.

 

REVIEW

 

If I Was Your Girl was on the list for one of my most anticipated releases of this year because it was a book about a Transgender girl who's making her way through school and finding love. And since I've not read much LGBT fiction, I was really looking forward to this. Especially since the US edition has a Transgender model on the cover.

 

However. My expectations were way to high for the book and I ended up disliking mostly everything about If I Was Your Girl. I can say honestly that it is an important novel. Meredith Russo is a transgender woman so all the important facts about being transgender (Hormones, etc) were all factually correct. But sadly, Meredith Russo doesn't have the storytelling skills to have show cased the story in the way it needed to be done.

 

Amanda has only recently come out as Transgender and yet she's already passing as a normal teenage girl. Is this realistic? No. According to the author's note in the back of the book the reason this was done is so that people could just see Amanda as a girl. But that kinds of subtracts from the book when the only interesting thing about Amanda is that bold fact she's Transgender. Amanda has no personality, she's very two dimensional. We see snippets into her past but we only just got a little taste and nothing else. It felt forced and almost as if Meredith was lazy and didn't want to add any depth into the story.

 

And that's not the only thing that was so far fetched. Grant - who's Amanda's love interest - seems to accept her for who she is so quickly after her secret is exposed. And I'm not saying that there won't be people who accept Transgender people, there's tons of them, however. The trust between them was broken and trust takes ages to rebuild but it almost seemed like nothing had been affected between them.

 

I understand that acceptance. We all sort of crave it in a way that makes us seem pathetic, but I just wish that Meredith Russo wrote a book about a Transgender girl who's life was realistic and not fictionalised. I wanted the truth - stripped back, raw honesty that showcases the life of a transgender girl.

 

 

 

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