Right, yet so wrong: The Hate U Give

{spoilers}

As is often the case with dramatic realism, I couldn’t find my words for The Hate U Give. How does one judge reality? How can I comment on a situation that could be any headline in a current newspaper?

Because of its “ripped from the headlines” timeliness, the book’s popularity is understandable. People unfamiliar with this struggle are drawn to the well-written that builds empathy and understanding for black men and women’s struggles with police shootings. It is a well-written book—preferable to the movie—that effectively tells the story that Angie Thomas wanted to share. But determining how I feel and what I think of the story is tricky because the plot and characters feel authentic, yet not.

So much of Starr and the Carter family is believable. I understand the precarious balance of Starr’s at-home life and her school persona. Her ability to fit into both lifestyles and struggle to maintain her identity without falling into the stereotypes that black girls fall victim to. (Yeah, I’ve seen that.) She has a friend who likes her but is also a bit racist. (Okay, sure.) I enjoy the former gang member father’s determination to model a good life and respectful, intellectual behavior. I love his “Harry Potter’s about gangs” perspective. And Khalil seemed an interesting character with potential. Starr overlooking the discrimination of other minorities is a common habit among minorities. (yep, a common bad habit that must be corrected).

Yet, I cannot believe Starr. She is the model minority stereotype with her great grades, athleticism, empathy, and fashionable. She even has the anxiety about positively representing her race. So, she does the “right thing” when she doesn’t want to. She speaks out about the incident despite her fear. She never acts selfishly—not really. And her emotional responses are quickly tempered, mostly (I just remembered the school fight. OMG, she’s a girly girl who can fight.  Was her middle name MaryJane?)  Sure, Starr can embody all these positive traits, but the character and the situation need to be flawed too. And her flaws seem like out-of-character onetime actions one might see in a tv show rather than embedded behaviors that make her who she is. Thus, she becomes a flat character despite her complex situation.

Yeah, and that situation is a bit flawed too.

I believe Starr Carter when she says she infers her neighborhood is dangerous. The details reinforce this impression—the drug dealers, the gangs, the lessons about how to interact with police. Considering the depicted neighborhood, Starr’s friends murdered by gun violence is believable as well. The tension is palpable. Any moment, a volcano of neighborhood gangs could erupt at any minute.

Yet, they never quite erupt.

The community riots, but the gang leader threatens. The gang confrontations are quickly resolved. They beat the kid who stole from the gang, but he's okay. And the one time the gang leader acts on his threats, an old man stands up as a witness against the scary thug saving everyone from the gang leader’s “wrath.” (Well, that was easy and anti-climactic. And how many times did the Tupac THUG thing come up? I get it.)

The situation is too convoluted. When Starr sneaks off to the riots with her boyfriend and her brother to hurt the poor decisionmaking gangbanger, the car breaks down a few blocks from a riot. She goes to the riot and makes a speech that incites both sides—the rioters and the police. Her group hides in a store that is set on fire, but they escape. She isn’t hurt; she does nothing wrong although she is angry and frustrated by everything. Her boyfriend doesn’t see Starr differently after a harrowing night and undiluted look at where she lives.

Then the ending wraps up the story in a too simple, happy bow. The riots hurt no one except the business owners, but they clean up and continue. One old man stands up to a gang leader. There’s no retribution, no punishment, no more struggle. Instead, the family gets a better job and a better house.

Her father, who resisted leaving the neighborhood, magically resolves his internal struggles. The police harassment is mild.

The ending and the main character are a little too sculpted for a palatable resolution rather than the reality it promised me. Thus, the authentic story deteriorates into a funhouse delusion that just leaves me numb.