5 Reasons Why You Need to Read “T.H.U.G” Today

Editor in Chief, Often found reading a book, writing down…

Everyone’s talking about Angie Thomas‘ debut novel “The Hate U Give“, which follows the story of Starr Carter, a teen who witnesses the murder of her best friend by a police officer during a traffic stop.

Currently in its second week as a #1 New York Times bestseller, “T.H.U.G” is groundbreaking as the first of its kind, tackling today’s provocative topics including police brutality, activism and the criminalization of Black men in the media.

If you’ve been holding out against reading it here’s 5 reasons you should grab a copy today:

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement “T.H.U.G” is a timely story that introduces today’s volatile politics in a sensitive and easy to comprehend way.
Thomas weaves together a tale that realistically highlights two different worlds while capturing the nuances of characters readers from every community and age group can relate to.
Well crafted, the novel crosses cultures and language seamlessly throughout the narrative and within Starr herself who code-switches depending on whom she’s surrounded by.
“T.H.U.G” teaches readers many valuable lessons about finding your voice, microaggressions and bias, and criminalizing people for the choices they make without understanding their circumstances.
“T.H.U.G”, with its many themes, diverse characters and provocative topics is a literary novel that greatly encapsulates the Black-American experience in the United States during the 21st century. Years from now they’re going to be teaching this novel in schools.

For Thomas, creating a book that represents Black culture was an important goal for her. During a Q&A last night at Books of Wonder with bestselling author Adam Silvera (“More Happy Than Not”), Thomas shared that she felt the publishing industry failed her growing up.

“I did not see myself in books enough. I saw myself in hip-hop. Tupac Shakur spoke to me. Nas spoke to me–they told the stories where I saw myself…my neighborhood and community. They spoke to what I was going through more than books did and I couldn’t pick up ” Judy Blume” and see me. I could listen to Tupac’s “Keep Your Head Up”, that’s what I’m going through, where I saw myself.”

Thomas is already working on her next novel, which will be a feminist take on hip-hop, set in the same neighborhood as “T.H.U.G” and is expected to have appearances from Starr’s boyfriend Chris and other characters from her first novel.

Check out the full 45 minute talk below.