From the Bookshelf of DMPL Book Chat…

The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)

Angie Thomas

Start date: December 18, 2023

Finish date: January 4, 2024

Why we're reading this: The Hate U Give is YA for Adults Book Club's January selection! This book club will be held in person at …more
[close] The Hate U Give is YA for Adults Book Club's January selection! This book club will be held in person at Central Library on Thursday, 1/4 at 6:00 PM. Visit our website or call 515-283-4152 to register or for more details. Registration is required for this program

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What Members Thought

Jun 23, 2017 Judy Diedrichs rated it it was amazing

Read it! I listened to the audiobook. Bahni Turpin does an amazing job as narrator.

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2017 Jeanine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, ya, black-history, police-brutality, social-issues, race, important

This is a really important book! I repeat...this is a really important book!!! Not only is it timely but it is well-written, the characters are fantastic, the dialogue is so authentic, there is a strong sense of family represented, it will make you cry and laugh all the way through, and it will make you think about the power of action, perception, words, race, and justice.

I am so happy to see this book has been so highly anticipated and is #1 on the NYT bestsellers list (Also, that it will beco This is a really important book! I repeat...this is a really important book!!! Not only is it timely but it is well-written, the characters are fantastic, the dialogue is so authentic, there is a strong sense of family represented, it will make you cry and laugh all the way through, and it will make you think about the power of action, perception, words, race, and justice.

I am so happy to see this book has been so highly anticipated and is #1 on the NYT bestsellers list (Also, that it will become a movie!). I hope it stays there for many weeks and gets to as many hands as possible. It is a must read for all ages and dare I say it, white people! I hope librarians and teachers put it into as many teens hands as they have access to and they gobble it up and tell their friends and talk about the hard issues of race and the politics of justice. I also hope this is one of many books to come exploring these topics. We have already seen Jason Reynolds/Brendan Kiely and Kekla Magoon present this type of story and if you haven't read those books go back and do so. I admit I have not read How it went down, have been meaning to and will.

Thomas so excellently tells the story of the life in the hood (for lack of a better word), in the midst of that thug life many of us only hear, read about and see from the outside. After watching the documentary 13th and trying to do a bit of reading on black history lately, I am realizing just how skewed that view in is. I have always known it but between that documentary and this book I am beginning to see how complicated and systematic the issue of race is. This story shows us the life of a real black family dealing with the very real and complicated issues of race. I love the cultural references like black Jesus, Huey Newton, kings, Tupac (how important his message always was) and to Black lives matter/rioting/activism...and ultimately how integral all of these things are to these characters and their family. I have been exploring those things also while reading this book, learning more. There is still more, so much more to learn. But this book could not have come at a better time, something is in the air calling for change.

"We gotta make a change
It's time for us as a people to start making some changes
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
you see the old way wasn't working
so its on us to do what we gotta do to survive." Tupac

I have so much more I could say about this book and topic (I need to find a book club asap)! And what I have already said is just jumbled together thoughts. But maybe the most important things are

1. This is a really fucking important book!!!
2. It is a must read for all ages.
3. Hopefully after reading this book, people can start to talk truthfully about these issues and consider the way someone else lives or grows up is not the way we live or grew up!!! ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Kyrstin rated it it was amazing

#dopeaf

1 like · Like · see review

May 26, 2018 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, ya, audiobook, lit-prize, diversiverse, ryodb, 2018, botm, scribd

I decided to do a re-read when I saw the book now had a movie release date attached, just to see if it still lived up to my high regard from last year.

Yep. Still though-provoking and uncomfortable in spots. Still completely of its time. Still a fantastic STORY, wrapped in the lens of an important issue of the day. This is good stuff, friends.

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Jan 28, 2018 Sondra rated it really liked it

I listened to this on audiobook and the reader was fantastic. I would give her five stars and the writing 3.5 for an overall of 4. I felt that it needed some editing (too many uses of stank eye and side eye results in a loss of impact), but it was a debut novel and I looked past it for that reason. It covered an important topic and I enjoyed the book overall.

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Apr 07, 2019 Andy rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya, recommendations

A phenomenal debut novel that challenges perceptions and opens minds. Thomas is a talented writer who elevated the YA genre with her realistic portrayals of teens in difficult circumstances.

You may think you know where the story will go, but it consistently surprised me with its sharp observations, difficult questions about race and the duality many people feel they must live to fit a mold.

It is still YA, so there are a few sections that veer into unneeded melodrama, but as a whole, this is a ...more

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