The title is from a lyric of Tupac: “The Hate U Give Little Infants F-s Everyone”. The acronym makes that line significantly more profound: THUG-LIFE.
High-schoolm girl 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. Before the event, she always said that if she ever witnessed any incident, her voice would be the loudest. Now, she is at the epicentre of it all, she is scared for her life, and for the safety of her family.
Sometimes, a book transcends the typical criteria for a rating or review. It’s not the plot, or prose, or characters that count, but the story itself. The sheer significance of the work negates any need to dwell on the details that tend to make a book what it is.
An absolute must read.