Going to parties is not Starr's thing, and we soon find out why. Shots are fired, a teenager is killed, and in the mayhem that follows, she and a friend, Khalil, manage to escape, only to be pulled over by a cop a few streets away.
The premise of this story is that when Khalil leans back into his car to ask Starr if she is alright, (the cop having given no reason for stopping them), whether the cop felt he was a conceivable threat, or just shot him because he was black.
The shooting, the emotions that follow, the characters in general and Garden Heights, where Starr and her family live, are all very believable, but there’s other aspects of this book that are even better, more realistic.
When Starr's friends' find out she’s dating Chris, who’s white, there are all sorts of accusations, and when her father finds out - something she and her mother have deliberately kept from the dad - the shit hits the fan, albeit temporarily, and this I thought was very clever, because as we all know, the reality is that there is a fear in any ethnic group of outsiders, strangers, and although that fear can sometimes be overcome by being civil and wanting to learn, it quite often boil over into the hate that this book draws its name from, racism.
The protests, the verbal and physical threats that follow Starr through the book, are both edgy and believable, but the scene that created the most tension for me, that was genius in its simplicity, was when Starr's father is made to lie on the pavement by two cops in broad daylight, in front of his children and neighbours, for nothing more than a perceived argument. Again, as is so often the case, less is more.
So the author handles riots well, convinces us of the injustices of law enforcement, uses a subtlety around emotions, and has believable characters, so, why not five stars?
Two reasons: Firstly, this book has the story the characters and the trials and tribulations of a Y/A novel, but it's littered with far too much profanity. Call me old if you like but, The Hunger Games dealt with death, torture, maiming and worse, but never felt the need to use the F-word once, let alone the many times you see it here. Secondly, the 'N' word. We're told not to use it, that it is racist, defamatory, ugly, all sentiments I agree with, so why is it here? For an adult book, fine, go for it, knock yourself out, but for Y/A, I say no.
So, four stars then, for this tightly written rollercoaster book of emotion, fear, racism and understanding.
I hope the film is half as good.
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