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Jessica (Odd and Bookish)'s Reviews > The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)
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Jessica (Odd and Bookish)'s review
bookshelves: african-american-black, favorites, teen-novels
Jan 12, 2018
bookshelves: african-american-black, favorites, teen-novels
Wow. This book was phenomenal. it completely lived up to the hype.
I have a lot of thoughts on this so here they are (keep in mind this is coming from an Asian American from the Bay Area):
I loved how educational it was. It really made you understand the Black Lives Matter movement and the reality of it. It hit every single point and put you right in the middle of it.
I also liked how Angie Thomas made brought up big points in really subtle ways. For example, “Funny how it works with white kids though. It’s dope to be black until it’s hard to be black” (11). That is so true. People only like black culture when it’s cool , but the minute something bad happens to the black community, they distance themselves from it. But the quote that really hit hard was, “Funny. Slave masters thought they were making a difference in black people’s lives too. Saving them from their ‘wild African ways.’ Same Shit, different century. I wish people them would stop thinking that people like me need saving” (246). I read that quote and was like, damn, preach it girl!
The minority alliance between Starr and Maya made me so happy. It was so good to see a black girl and her Asian best friend team up. Angie Thomas could have done a bit more with it, but it was still nice to see it included. Personally, I think we need more minority alliances because there is more that unites us than divides us and together we can make a big impact. #Asians4BlackLives
I also liked that this tackled interracial dating. It added an extra layer to the complexity of this novel.
The pop culture references were a really nice and unexpected touch. I was definitely not expecting High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers to be mentioned in this book.
Overall, this book was everything. It should be taught in schools because despite being fiction, it was so informative, thought provoking, and leaves the door open for a lot of discussion.
I have a lot of thoughts on this so here they are (keep in mind this is coming from an Asian American from the Bay Area):
I loved how educational it was. It really made you understand the Black Lives Matter movement and the reality of it. It hit every single point and put you right in the middle of it.
I also liked how Angie Thomas made brought up big points in really subtle ways. For example, “Funny how it works with white kids though. It’s dope to be black until it’s hard to be black” (11). That is so true. People only like black culture when it’s cool , but the minute something bad happens to the black community, they distance themselves from it. But the quote that really hit hard was, “Funny. Slave masters thought they were making a difference in black people’s lives too. Saving them from their ‘wild African ways.’ Same Shit, different century. I wish people them would stop thinking that people like me need saving” (246). I read that quote and was like, damn, preach it girl!
The minority alliance between Starr and Maya made me so happy. It was so good to see a black girl and her Asian best friend team up. Angie Thomas could have done a bit more with it, but it was still nice to see it included. Personally, I think we need more minority alliances because there is more that unites us than divides us and together we can make a big impact. #Asians4BlackLives
I also liked that this tackled interracial dating. It added an extra layer to the complexity of this novel.
The pop culture references were a really nice and unexpected touch. I was definitely not expecting High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers to be mentioned in this book.
Overall, this book was everything. It should be taught in schools because despite being fiction, it was so informative, thought provoking, and leaves the door open for a lot of discussion.
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Reading Progress
March 24, 2017
– Shelved
March 24, 2017
– Shelved as:
to-read
January 9, 2018
–
Started Reading
January 12, 2018
– Shelved as:
african-american-black
January 12, 2018
– Shelved as:
favorites
January 12, 2018
– Shelved as:
teen-novels
January 12, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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Erica Hughes | ericasbookshelves
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Jan 12, 2018 10:11PM
I can't wait to read this one! So many good things are being said about it
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Can't wait to read this one!
Happy to see you loved this! Personally I thought the pop culture references made it drag a little- besides the ones about Tupac. I loved the minority alliance too- their other friend made me so mad! I would have liked to see more done with that too. Great review, Jessica!
Maya wrote: "There's someone named Maya in this?!?!? I am so reading it."Yup. Her Asian friend is named Maya.
Diane wrote: "Fantastic review, Jessica!"Thank you, Diane! This is one of my favorite reviews that I've written.
This is a great review! I know I struggled writing my own but yours turned out really good.
Matty wrote: "Great review!"Thank you so much!
Erin wrote: "This is a great review! I know I struggled writing my own but yours turned out really good."Thank you!! I totally feel you. It's hard enough to write a review, but it can be exceptionally difficult to write one for a book this heavy and impactful.
I read that but It wasn't that good . The subject was clichè and the book wasn't something specific . If your expectations are high don't read that book . I read but It isn't worth opening that book again.
Narges wrote: "I read that but It wasn't that good . The subject was clichè and the book wasn't something specific . If your expectations are high don't read that book . I read but It isn't worth opening that boo..."I totally respect your opinion and everything but what's the point of your comment? It doesn't seem like you are commenting on anything specific from my review so I'm confused. It sounds like you are just stating your own opinion, on which I advise you to write your own review.
I utterly agree with your opinion. I am from Korea, that makes me an Asian, who also lived in America for 6 years. (However, I was too young at that time. Just notifying that I might have a poor grammar or vocabularies in my text.) I think that was why I could be engrossed in this book more than I thought.As you mentioned, I, too, felt that I was in the story. The scenes were drawn while reading, like a movie in a theater. Whenever an aggressive phrase comes out which is related to discrimination, I felt the urge of anger inside me. So I could totally understand what you point out in the first start; 'This book is phenomenal'
For me, I was very impressive with the author showing up the two different sides of Starr. I think that this could also be seen as a big point throughout the story. By showing these two aspects of Starr; Starr from the Garden Heights and another Starr from the Williamson, it first show how she divided white and black apparently. But after times past and as she opens her heart to her other friends like Maya or her boyfriend, Chris, we could see that these two aspects of Starr were combining and making a new aspect of Starr; the 'true-self Starr'
I liked your expressions during your talks in the review. Especially when you mentioned about the friends part. I also agree that the minorities alliance should have shown much more, but I could also see how hard the author tried to contain race problems in friend relationship, too. Particularly the character, Maya, being a half Asian.
My words got longer than I thought. Sorry about the long comment I made. To sum up, I just want to tell that I really liked your powerful review!
Yuna wrote: "I utterly agree with your opinion. I am from Korea, that makes me an Asian, who also lived in America for 6 years. (However, I was too young at that time. Just notifying that I might have a poor gr..."Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment, Yuna! I'm happy that you enjoyed my review.
"I wish people them would stop thinking that people like me need saving” I liked this quote too. Who can "save" a person even don't need it? I am korean, and I am actually learning this book in my school!! We have each presentations with this book's chapters in English and every students read this book and think their own topic with each chapter. There are some serious topics, like humanity and #BlackLivesMatter movements, but also many light topics like the history of "Fried chiken". I am glad to let you know that there is a school teaching this amazing book, "THUG" in South Korea. We are happy to have this opportunity with The Hate U give to think about racism and the power of making voice. Thank you!!
10904 김 wrote: ""I wish people them would stop thinking that people like me need saving” I liked this quote too. Who can "save" a person even don't need it? I am korean, and I am actually learning this book in my ..."Omg that is amazing to hear!!! Thank you for sharing that. It's incredible to see how far this book has reached. It truly is a remarkable book and I'm glad to hear that your school is teaching it.
