Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.
I have a confession to make…I tried with this book before and stopped reading after the first chapter. And I’m not going to ignore this because I loved the book so much the second time round, I think it’s important you guys know. I’m going to be completely and utterly honest about this, and just say I struggled with reading someone from such a different background. I struggled with the language, and that’s why I couldn’t get into this book the first time.
But I knew I had to carry on again at some point, and now I’m meeting Angie Thomas in a couple of weeks time, I couldn’t put it off any longer. Luckily, I can’t even describe how happy and glad I am that I finally continued with this book. My second experience was so different, and made me realise that this book is just incredible.
“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong.”
This book just screams at you about how important it is. I cannot even describe the weight this book carries, the way it makes you sit back and realise that holy crap, this stuff still happens. And I know this, I’ve seen the horrific stories in the news etc etc, but experiencing it first-hard from Starr’s perspective brings everything to the forefront of your mind.
And not only is this book important, relevant and honestly refreshing, it’s also enjoyable in many aspects. We have a relatable teen, fighting for what she believes in with her strongest weapon – her voice. It’s also a great coming of age novel, in which Starr is struggling with relationships and friendships, all normal teenage girl things. The focus on family is so strong and beautiful. I valued the love between the family so much, and seeing them work so fiercely together meant the world.
“The key is to never stop doing right.”
I wish I could explain how important this book is, and how glad I am to have come across it and finally read it. I understand I’m not the only person who struggled with getting into this book, and if I have any advice to new readers it would be to push past the initial 100 pages, because it gets so much better.
★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars
-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽
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Good for you on actually getting a review out for this book. It is perhaps one of my most favorite books of all time, and I STILL cannot find the words to sit down and write out a review for it. You make some great points. I think this book really does SCREAM AT YOU about how important it is. It hold so much weight and I just. I am jealous you were able to put that into words. Thank you!
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Honestly i don’t know how I managed to put into words how important this book is! Thank you so much for reading my review and I’m so glad you enjoyed it❤️
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Great thoughtful review so glad you pushed through the second time round and turned your whole experience around 💕
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Thank you so much! I’m so glad I did too 🙂
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Wonderful review. I’m still really nervous to read this. I know it’s going to tear me apart. I just don’t know if I’m ready.
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Thank you so much! It is a very harrowing book, but I’m sure you’ll love it.
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About to start reading this book tomorrow and I am pleased to see such a good review of it. I will let you know what I think of it once I am done with it. 🙂
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Aww I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Happy reading, and I’d love to know your thoughts 🙂
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Glad you were able to enjoy it after picking it up a second time. I always wonder if I should give books I DNFed a second chance. It’s crazy how much our current mindset impacts our opinions of books and I always wonder if I’m unfairly criticizing books based on my current mood.
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I wouldn’t usually, but I didn’t put it down because of a real issue haha, more because I couldn’t focus on it at the time. Maybe if you feel like this too you should give some a go!
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I feel like that’s mostly why I put down books anyway 😛
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Absolutely loved this book as well, it took me a few pages to get used to the language but once I got settled I couldn’t put it down ❤
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I was exactly the same! It definitely takes a bit of adjustment but once I was used to the language I loved this book.
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