As I said in my video, if you haven’t heard about The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, please crawl out from wherever you might be hiding. If you’re hiding.
If you want background on The Hate U Give, I did a Friday 56 a few weeks ago. You can find that here.
I also decided I was going to live comment my reading of the book. I thought about Twitter, but I didn’t want to blow up anyone’s feed, so I took to Instagram. Here are the two photos with comments. Reading during class was not conducive to making comments, so I only have through Chapter 18.
The thing I forgot to talk about in the video is how the questioning of police and the stories put together by the media engage in victim blaming. Victim blaming dehumanizes the victim of a crime, whatever crime that may be. This is an important part of the conversation about how Thomas serves to humanize all of the characters – from the police officer who is humanized by his father in the media, and the other characters who are humanized through Starr’s commentary about her lived experiences.
Okay. Now the review. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
Video Description Box
Mostly Lit Podcast https://soundcloud.com/mostly-lit
NPR Interview http://www.npr.org/2017/02/26/517305270/the-hate-u-give-explores-racism-and-police-violence
the (book) supplier 
I could probably talk about this book all day long so I’ll stick to answering the question at the end (because that’s complicated enough as it is).
I feel like The Hate U Give is both timely and timeless in different ways. I know this is a hopeful way of thinking but that’s what I’m hoping for anyway. I think it’s definitely timely because, like you said, the media dehumanizes people and this book goes far in humanizing every single character.
I think it’s also timeless because even if we can move past a place where people are dehumanized and victims are blamed for the crime that victimized them, it will still be relevant in that it shows so accurately how things are now. Historically, such books remain relevant if only to remind us where we were as a society.
Also, unrelated to the theme, the writing is so incredibly good that it’s hard to imagine it not being read still in the future, even after we progress to the point where the Black Lives Matter movement is no longer needed.
As Oh says in the film Home, “I haves hope.”
LikeLike
I haven’t read this book yet! I have it on hold at the library and I might be waiting a while.
LikeLike
[…] 10. Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson 9. My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal — I was lucky enough to get this on both audio and ebook, so I could go back and forth. The storytelling was just amazing. (My Review) 8. Bluescreen (Mirador #1) by Dan Wells (My Review) 7. Listen Slowly by Thanhha Lai (My Review) 6. Show and Prove by Sophia Quintero (My Review) 5. Booked by Kwame Alexander (My Review) 4. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankin 3. Scythe by Neal Shusterman — I’m a huge Shusterman fan, and while I couldn’t get T to read Unwind, I did get her to read this one, and she loved it. Not only do I wish I could have read it in one sitting, I wish there was an audiobook for it (if you’ve seen one, please let me know). (My Review) 2. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (My Review) 1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas — I read this over the course of several days, binging the ending while my student teacher was teaching. Then I had to sit in stunned silence for a moment. Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t do this one in one sitting. (My Review) […]
LikeLike
[…] this goes. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Review (plus some extras) @ the (book) supplier https://thebooksupplier.com/2017/03/16/the-hate-u-give-review/ Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris Recommended by Allyn […]
LikeLike
[…] read-in-2017 The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Review (plus some extras) @ the (book) supplier https://thebooksupplier.com/2017/03/16/the-hate-u-give-review/ tagged: read-in-2017 Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris […]
LikeLike
[…] to include in my data set for my dissertation. In that context, like with All American Boys and The Hate U Give, it doesn’t matter whether or not I liked it, or whether or not the writing evoked a visceral […]
LikeLike
[…] The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. There is a part of me that wants to submit this title without comment, and there’s another part of me that wants to gently urge those who haven’t read this one yet to go pick it up. Much of what I’m reading about the lens I’m using to write my dissertation talks about how counter-narratives are used to build community around those who are marginalized, as well as offer an alternative narrative to those who aren’t and sometimes forget about others’ humanity. That’s what The Hate U Give does – it reminds us that, despite what the news says and despite how lawyers frame things, black and brown people are human and possess humanity. […]
LikeLike
[…] The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas […]
LikeLike