The Hate U Give

In May, the Fixed on Fiction book group met to discuss The Hate U Give  by Angie Thomas.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood 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, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. 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 upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

-Summary courtesy of Goodreads

Overall, the discussion group members enjoyed the read, while a couple members offered a so-so review. Many members of the group had also seen the movie and had positive things to say about the adaptation, with at least one member even preferring the movie to the book.

Here are some take-aways from the discussion:

• Some readers liked that this book was a more in-depth exploration of the topic of police shootings than the information we usually hear.
• A few readers discussed the title and how it was clever and very relevant to the book’s contents.
• There were a few characters who the group thought were less well-developed than the major characters and who seemed present to move along plot points.
• Group members discussed code-switching, how it appeared in the book, and personal experiences with code-switching.
• Some readers discussed how they liked the closeness of the family relationship presented in the book.