Whenever a book leaves me thinking it was one of the best things I've ever read, I usually seek out negative reviews to bring it back down to earth. Considering others' perspectives and opinions helps me to take off the rose-colored glasses and view the story from a more critical point of view. Some books go from 5 stars to 4, or 4 to 3, or very rarely, 5 to 2 (The Secret Project). There are a few special books that stand the "negative review test" and keep my 5-star rating. This is one of those books. 
 (To be fair, there weren't many negative reviews to go through for The Hate U Give. I imagine this will change over time as more people read it, but the initial universal love for this book is an awesome thing to see. Even those who didn't love the writing or disagreed with the way some of the issues were approached still acknowledged the fact that this was an incredibly powerful and important story.) 
 I will always be a white girl - there is no changing that. I doubt I'll ever fully understand the injustices that the black community faces every day, no matter how hard I try to. But reading The Hate U Give made me feel the closest I've ever felt to knowing what it's like growing up black in America. Readers are submerged not only in the chaos surrounding the officer-involved shooting of Starr's friend Khalil, but also in Starr's own life. We meet her family and her friends, go with her to her predominately white private school, sit with her while she hears gunshots in her neighborhood at night, and stand with her as she finds her voice amidst the police interviews and protests and death threats and riots. Scattered throughout all of the heavy stuff are plenty of laughs (side note: Bahni Turpin's narration for the audiobook is perfection. She brings all of the characters to life, and I particularly appreciated the funny moments of dialogue between Starr and her family). 
 The Hate U Give is quite an exhausting roller-coaster of a story. As others have said, believe the hype. Go read it!