The Hate You Give

Thomas, Angie. The Hate You Give. 2017. 444p. ISBN 978-0-06-249855-7. Available at FIC THO on the library shelves and as an eBook on Overdrive.

Starr Carter lives in Garden Heights, a neighborhood now considered a Black ghetto, where drug dealers and gangbangers rule. Her father served time in prison and missed the first part of her life. Her mother works at a clinic. Her older half-brother, herself, and her younger brother attend a suburban prep school half hour from Garden Heights, but every night they return to a life where they must lock all doors and shelter in the den when gunfire is heard outside. Starr is dating Chris, a rich White boy who also attends her school. She saw her best friend being shot in a drive-by when she was ten. To say that she has to function in two completely different worlds would be an understatement.

Attending a party in Garden Heights with her friends, Starr hears gunshots and departs with her childhood friend, Khalil. As they drive away, she questions him about his new shoes, and though he doesn’t admit to be dealing, he doesn’t deny it either. Pulled over by a White police officer, the encounter quickly escalates and Khalil is fatally shot in the back while leaning in through his car door to reassure Starr. Becoming national news, Khalil’s death sparks riots in Garden Heights. As the only witness on the scene aside from the police officer, Starr can contradict the police statements, but doing so can put her family, her entire neighborhood and herself in danger.

With one world exploding in violence, and with the other world not comprehending the experience of living in Garden Heights, can Starr reconcile these two parts of her life?

Inspired by the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the shootings of unarmed Black across the United States, The Hate You Give does not hold back and puts the reader straight in the middle of a social and racial conflict. Realistically written and heart-wrenching, Starr’s story will sadden but ultimately inspire.