The Hate U Give Review

Target Audience: Young Adult/Teens

Opinion: Do Not Recommend (Sadly)

Synopsis: Starr Carter witnesses the murder of her friend Khalil at the hands of the police during a traffic stop. She grapples with the aftermath both with the trauma of what she witnesses and how to seek justice for Khalil in an unjust system. She ultimately finds the courage to come forward as a witness of the murder, only to learn that the officer involved would not be indicted. Readers will gain perspective on systemic racism and social inequality, important in an ever-polarized world. 

Advisories: profanity***, kissing/making out/groping, dating, unwed pregnancy, prostitution inferences, drug references, gang violence, police brutality, drug addiction, domestic violence, LGBT+ inference

Details:

As I sit here trying to write this review, I want to be able to say ‘undecided’, or give the book a “neutral” rating, because there is so much to be gained in reading this multi-award winning novel. Perspective. Social (in)Justice awareness. Activism. Speaking truth to power. And so much more. It is an unfortunate reality that in wanting to shelter our children from many of the inappropriate elements in this book, we also shelter them from the harsh realities of racism, social inequality, income disparities, and so many more of the very lived challenges that a significant proportion of our ummah deal with.

At the end of the day, readers will have benefited greatly from reading this book and likely, despite its inappropriate content, I can honestly say that they will be a better person for having read it. And it is for those reasons that I so desperately want to be able to recommend this book and to add it to the high school section of our Islamic school library, but alas, I cannot. I just can’t look a parent in the eye and justify shelving a book that contains nearly 100 F-bombs, over 200 uses of the word sh**, and nearly every form of profanity you can think of.

It’s not just the profanity though, although that would be the first thing a reader would notice–you can’t hardly read through a single page without coming across at least one curse word. The novel is written from the perspective of Starr Carter, a young Black woman growing up in Garden Heights (“the hood”) and attending a predominately white high school in the suburbs. Starr is a courageous, compassionate young woman who finds it within herself not just to stick up to her so-called ‘friend’ and their racist comments, but to an entire system that regularly oppresses people of color.

At the same time, being that Starr is a teenager living in a community that grapples with many morally complex social issues, her life is portrayed complete with profanity, normalization of alcohol and drug use, gang activity, teenage dating and sex, and crude humor. Truth be told, there were gang and drug references that I was not even familiar with as an adult reader. While I want young Muslim readers to gain insight into the realities of racism, injustice, social inequality, and more, it is not my wish that they become initiated into the inner workings of drug lords and gangbangers. My mission now is to try to find more literature that addresses the social justice themes and would be appropriate for our young readers.