Tiota Sram

Just finished "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas. In an unusual twist of fate, I had read "Concrete Rose" earlier, which gave me a rich backstory to relate things to. "The Hate U Give" is really good, but I found the resolution of King's arc slightly disappointing, even though the ending was strong. It's definitely not my place to judge Thomas' perspective here, but I do think that the book's broad popularity including among more liberal audiences probably stems at least in part from the way it allows a "the cops have issues but are ultimately-necessary/sometimes-positive" reading that undermines the strength of the core message.

In the end I like Concrete Rose better, but they're both great and I'll be putting Thomas' other books on my to-read list.

#AmReading #ReadingNow

Feb 28 at 8:35pmWeb
Show threadHtaggertFeb 28
@tiotasram my feeling about The Hate U Give is that it’s popular because it’s known in those liberal circles- of which I’m a part of. Also it’s pretty palatable. Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley- much less popular as the resolution is less palatable and shows that even when people “do the right thing” a whole lot of wrong still befalls them. I don’t see it popping up on lists as often.
Show threadTiota SramFeb 28

@Htaggert oh thanks for that recommendation!

Of what I've read, "Anger is A Gift" by Mark Oshiro, "Like Home" by Louisa Onomé, and, to a lesser degree, "This Book Won't Burn" by Samira Ahmed all feel like they cover some similar themes without being as contradictory in their message. And I don't mind a complicated message either: the whole uncle Carlos situation and "some cops are good" messaging I think is okay overall even if I disagree with it: this is Thomas' book, not mine, and I don't have nearly the depth of experience to say a message like that is totally invalid. But the way the resolution of King's arc is set up, there's a lot of unasked questions that really should be asked if we're trying to portray a lot of nuance around policing in Black neighborhoods and the carceral state's benefits and drawbacks.