Powerfully Moving Novel: A Must Read - The Hate U Give Review

 

Title: The Hate U Give

Author: Angie Thomas

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Hardback

Rating: 5 out of 5

Starr is a 16 year old girl, smart, beautiful, funny, and finds herself running between two worlds: Her neighborhood and the prep school she attends. When she witnesses the unjustified shooting death of her childhood friend Khalil, her world is shattered.  His death makes headlines and he is labeled a thug, drug dealer, and the officer label a victim.  Soon Starr and her family are harassed by police offiers and a local drug lord, but rather than standing down, Starr finds the strength she needs to stand up and make a difference.

This book may be labeled as Young Adult, but EVERYONE needs to read this book, especially now with the Black Lives Matter movement and the rise of police brutality we are seeing.  Anything I say about this breathtaking book will not do it any justice.  From the very beginning I was drawn into the book, and could not put it down.  My mother in law even commented on how engrossed I was in this novel.  Part of me feels ashamed that I have not read this novel sooner, or reviewed it sooner.

The novel is an eye-opener.  Yes we hear things like this happening on the news all the time, but for some reason it doesn't full hit home until you read how the families and communities are in turn effected, down to the looting and rioting.  I would almost equate that action to the tearing of clothes and hair in grief discussed in the Bible.  There is an anger and grief that no amount of words can describe.  The things happening in our world today need to be discussed, and we cannot remain silent and Angie Thomas did just that.  She spoke out and man has she been heard.

The way she writes this story draws intense emotion, I cried a couple of times, got angry at characters and fell for others.  This is a book that I will forever think about and insist that my children read as they get older.  It needs to be talked about and addressed. Throughout this book we see a girl find her strength and acceptance of who she is deep inside.  She grows stronger as she speaks out about the injustices in her world, some as small as a so called friend making racist jokes to standing up for justice for Khalil. It makes readers aware of what they are saying and how they are saying it.  It makes readers want to stand up to the vast injustice in the world.

This is a book that demands to be read, and I recommend it above all others.

 

Branded (Fallen Angels #1)

For the longest time, Jessica had nightmares.  Nightmares where she was being judged for other people's sins, and branded by the angels for those sins.  When she awakes, she finds the brand is still on her skin, burning.  She hides it from her friends and family who think she has gone crazy because of these nightmares.  Suddenly two men come into her life, each completely different, but both compelling and alluring.  Jessica cannot help but be drawn to both of them.  She will do anything to be with one of them even if it means telling him everything about her nightmares and the mark.  The other, draws her into a downward spiral towards her own judgement.  Her worst nightmare could very possibly come true.  Will she be able to find her way out of the judgement and into the arms of a man she loves?

Very interesting plot and idea, unsure if it was executed right.  First off the repetition gets a little boring, for example almost every chapter until the men show up (even a bit afterwards) Jessica goes grocery shopping for her shut in neighbor Sally.  It would have been nice to see Jessica do something else for Sally other than grocery shop.  She comes off as a self-centered person despite her seemingly good deeds towards Sally.  She gets angry with Emily because she can't tell her how she made the dreams stop even though Emily revealed her traumatic abuse (there is a lot of abuse happening in this book, was there nothing else for the characters to have experienced?)  There isn't much dialogue, but a lot of internal monologue from Jessica.  At points it gets annoying.  The male love interests are less than believable.  Do we really want our girls to think it is acceptable behavior for a man she barely knowns to barge in on her shower just to ask her to dinner?  Couldn't that have waited?  Not only does he barge in her shower, but he barges in all the time.  Doesn't he have any respect for her privacy even after she asks for it?

Everything in this story is over-exaggerated, over described.  Nothing was left to the readers imagination.  It gets boring quickly and a little difficult to finish.  There's nothing that is memorable about the book and falls flat, very flat.  Jessica's character doesn't have depth and is confusing to me.  She is shy and highly guarded, afraid to let anyone close to her, but quickly falls in love with a man she barely knows after only about 5 minutes of knowing him (think Anna falling in love with Hans).  It was very hard to accept their romantic interest in each other, it didn't feel real.  There were a lot of things that were hard to accept with this novel.  The end felt too rushed as if the author didn't know what else to do but end the novel quickly.

I am on the fence on whether or not I would recommend this novel  While I think there are people who would enjoy it better than I would, I don't want to recommend a book and have then thoroughly dislike it as much as I did.  Unfortunately the rating I would give this is low, a 2 out of 5.

Sakura Hime by Arina Tanemura

This past weekend was Pittsburgh's anime convention: Tekkoshoken (Tekko for short).  It is a convention dedicated to the art and culture of Japan primarily anime and manga.  So in the spirit of the past weekend this post is one of my favorite manga series: Sakura Hime.  Sakura is the grandaughter of a moon princess who slayed demons with her blade: Blood Cherry Blossom.  The young woman has been forbidden from looking at the moon her entire life, one night she looks up and sees a demon attacking her thus beginning an epic battle for her life and those she loves.  There are 12 books in this series and each one is just as riveting as the last.  Each volume picks right back up where the last one left off, so it is easy to remember what happened in the previous volumes. 

Sakura is a strong female character as she develops into the person she is destined to be.  There is a lot of action packed into each short volume.  I would love to see this one in bigger volumes like I seen with Alice In The Country Hearts where each big volume has three smaller volumes inside. One it saves space on the book shelf and it curbs the anxiety while waiting for the next installment.  The artwork in this series is simply beautiful and well detailed.  No two characters look a like and they all have their own facial expressions which radiates their personalities.  I would love to see this series in an anime format and really see the characters come to life.

Since I began reading the series I fell instantly in love with Sakura.  I mean how can you not look at her beauty and grace that exudes from the page.  She is not a whiny character that complains about her destiny, but embraces it with dignity and grace of a true princess.  I unfortunately have not gotten the chance to complete the series, so I don't know what happens in the end, yet.  But I do know from my research on the series that it is heartbreaking and a series that evokes emotions from the readers.

I truly give this series a 5 out of 5, there isn't a thing I would change about Tanemura's work.  She created a beautiful character for girls to look up to and respect.  I would love to cosplay her at a convention one day, but that will come in time I guess.