Series: None
Author: Angie Thomas
Published April 6th 2017 by Walker Books
Goodreads Synopsis
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.
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
Unless you have been living under a rock since the New Year, you will have heard about this book. From the day it was announced, it was on everyone's lists, and it's already been bought for a major movie. Because of the current political climate, in America, the Black Lives Matter campaign has been on the forefront of most people's understanding of race relations. In recent years, the number of fatal shootings of black people by police in America has risen dramatically, and it's a situation that needs to be known, and talked about, in order to try and stop it completely. This book is one of the first YA novels to discuss something similar, and it's extremely important for people living in today's world to read, and to learn, about the prejudices that still exist.
I so wanted to love this book. As soon as I heard about the book, I immediately requested the book, and dove right in. If you look at my dates read, you'll see I had this book on my currently reading shelf for over 2 months, and I only got to page 167 (38%). Every time I picked up the book, I felt like I was forcing myself to get through a page at a time. That's not to say it wasn't good. I definitely saw the positives of the story, but it just wasn't working for me. After fantasy books, contemporary fiction is a favourite of mine, but I prefer to read books that allow me to escape to a different place, that sometimes deal with important things, but that don't seem too real to me, if you know what I mean. Because I watch the news often, and try and keep up with what's happening political across the world, this book just felt a bit too real for me, and it made my reading experience not as enjoyable.
Maybe I'll attempt to read the book again in the future. I know I'll at least go and see the movie when it's released, and I would never tell anyone not to read the book, because even though I didn't enjoy it, there was nothing wrong with the book, it just didn't mesh with me right now.
Dates Read:
Rating
0 Stars/Did Not Finish
