The Hate U Give Angie Thomas’s book The Hate U Give was published in 2017. It’s Thomas’s first novel, based on a short tale she wrote in college in response to Oscar Grant’s police shooting. Starr Carter, a 16-year-old black lady from a disadvantaged neighborhood who attends an exclusive private school in a primarily white, affluent city, is the book’s narrator.
The Hate U Give seeing a white police officer shoot and kill her childhood friend, Khalil, Starr becomes embroiled in a national news event. After a grand jury chooses not to indict the police officer for the shooting, she speaks out against it in increasingly public ways, and societal tensions explode into a riot.
HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray won a bidding war for the rights to The Hate U Give and released it on February 28, 2017. The novel was a financial triumph, debuting at number one on The New York Times young adult best-seller list for 50 weeks. It earned critical acclaim and won numerous accolades for Thomas’s writing and topical subject matter. Thomas aimed to broaden readers’ awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement and the challenges encountered by black Americans who use code-switching in the novel.
According to the American Library Association, these topics and the obscene language sparked debate, and the novel was called one of the most disputed books of 2017 and 2018.
In October 2018, Fox 2000 released a cinematic adaptation of the novel, which got favorable reviews. The book was also made into an audiobook, which received several honors and accolades for Bahni Turpin, the narrator.
Starr, on the other hand, becomes dissatisfied with the media’s portrayal of Khalil. As Starr gains agency, she can question this narrative, first for herself and then for others, realizing that Khalil was driven into these conditions by poverty, hunger, and a desire to care for his drug addict mother. She can demonstrate her bravery by testifying to the grand jury, and she knows that she must take part in the demonstrations that follow the grand jury’s ruling. Starr’s choice to join the protests is partly motivated by how and where Khalil and Starr may achieve justice.
This article is curated by Prittle Prattle News.
By Reporter
