Summary

Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give opens with the main character, Starr Carter, at a party in the Garden Heights neighborhood. She feels she does not fit in at the party, and the feeling becomes stronger when her friend Kenya leaves her alone there. 

Then Starr runs into her childhood friend Khalil, and they start talking. Suddenly, gunshots are fired and Starr and Khalil escape to Khalil’s car. They drive along chatting about their lives, and Khalil sings along to a Tupac song. He explains that Tupac said that Thug Life is short for “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody”. 

Khalil’s car is pulled over by a white police officer, who asks Khalil to get out of the car. Starr notices that his badge number is One-Fifteen. When Khalil goes to check if Starr is ok, the police officer shoots him and he dies in front of her. Starr is in shock. Later that night, she remembers how her and Khalil’s friend Natasha was killed in a drive-by shooting when Starr was ten years old. We also learn that the Garden Heights neighborhood is fought over by gangs such as the King Lords, which Starr’s father used to belong to. 

On Monday, Starr has to go to school. She attends a school in a wealthy neighborhood where she is one of the only black students and where she feels like she has to be another version of herself. At school, she spends time with her friends Maya and Hailey and her boyfriend Chris, who is white.

At the police station, Starr answers questions about Khalil’s death. Starr thinks the detectives are trying to find an excuse for the officer who shot Khalil by focusing on Khalil’s negative traits while asking no questions about the police officer. 

Khalil’s funera...