00:00Hey Naturally Curly World!
00:01I'm Kiana.
00:02This is the series called Watch and Go where we wash our hair and review what we watched.
00:07However, today it's going to be a review of what we read, The Hate U Give.
00:12So my name is Alexandra and we will be reviewing this book and sharing what we thought about
00:17it and why everyone should read this book and see the movie when it comes out.
00:22So I will be using Design Essentials Almond and Avocado Shampoo and Conditioner.
00:26Then I'm going to use the Kinky Curly Not Today Leave-In, followed by Two Girls With
00:31Curls Hair Lotion which is great for adding some slip.
00:35And my go-to for these defined popping curls is the ORS Styling Smoothie.
00:42Okay, today I'm going to be washing my hair with Clairol Shimmer Lights Shampoo.
00:47I do dye my hair blonde, if you can't tell, so this will get rid of some of that brassiness.
00:53I will condition my hair with Curl Girl Unstress.
00:58It's actually a deep moisturizing mask.
01:00I use it as kind of an everyday conditioning treatment.
01:05Then I use Olaplex as a leave-in after I'm done shampooing and conditioning my hair.
01:09And then I scrunch my hair a little bit with Miss Jessie's Multicultural Curls.
01:13So we're going to go wash our hair and we'll be right back.
01:16So the Hate U Give, the main character is Star Carter.
01:24She's a 16-year-old high school student and she basically is code switching between two
01:32different environments which is the hood that she grew up in and a predominantly white private
01:36school that's kind of more in the suburbs.
01:40These two worlds kind of collide when she witnesses her best friend Khalil get shot by a white police
01:47officer and the remainder of the book, and by the way that's not a spoiler because it's
01:53on the back of the book, the rest of the book kind of follows the events that lead up to the
01:58verdict of the case, which I will not tell you.
02:01So Alexandra actually interviewed Angie Thomas so she's going to talk about that a little
02:05bit.
02:06She really shared the inspiration behind the book and the Hate U Give is actually from
02:12Tupac's Thug Life Tattoo.
02:15And also I really liked how she shared just the importance of the multidimensional characters
02:23that she created.
02:24You know I feel like sometimes, especially people of color, we are seeing the media and we're
02:30not accurately represented and we're definitely not seen in different, just seen in different
02:35lights and perspectives.
02:36This book really spoke to me because I study media representation at the University of Texas
02:42in graduate school.
02:44So when you're looking at things like police brutality and segregation that still exists
02:51in today's society, a lot of people, their only experience with people of color or with
02:56the hood or, you know, police brutality cases is through the media.
03:01So the representation that is shown in this book kind of really brings you through what
03:06a lot of Americans, you know, what their take is when they see police brutality in the media.
03:12They only get the media side of it.
03:14So when you read this book, when you really experience it, if you haven't first person.
03:19Now I'm going to apply my lead in by Pinky Curly Not Today.
03:23And after my Olaplex, I'm going to add Miss Jessie's multicultural curl cream.
03:28So there's a lot to talk about in this book, I could probably go on forever, but we are
03:32going to break it straight to our favorite characters.
03:35So what was your favorite character?
03:37So as I mentioned earlier, it was Starr's mom.
03:40I really just admired her resilience and everything that she went through.
03:47It was very just like brutally honest on like what happened when Big Mav, Starr's dad got
03:52out of jail.
03:53He actually had like a one night stand with this prostitute.
03:57And the lady ended up getting pregnant and having her child and, yeah, and you know, that
04:06was Starr's half brother.
04:07But, you know, it was just interesting on how the family still accepted him and the mom accepted
04:14him open arms and I thought that was just real because that is like a very tough situation.
04:19Yeah.
04:20I mean, I thought it was real, but then I also kind of have a problem with that whole ride
04:24or die situation type of like, oh, I'm with you through whatever.
04:27Yeah.
04:28Like I understand they have kids together.
04:29I understand they're married.
04:31And I understand that relationships are complicated, but I'm just letting you guys know that
04:36Everybody can get it.
04:38That romanticizing ride or die isn't like the best thing to do.
04:41Yeah.
04:41Who would you say your favorite character was?
04:44That's really hard.
04:46I might just be boring and say Starr Carter is because she is the main character.
04:50We get to know her the best.
04:51Yeah.
04:51But she's also just so complex.
04:54I related to her a lot, kind of being like one of the only black kids at my high school
05:00and those feelings of trying to assimilate and like being not black enough around kind
05:06of your black friends and being like the token black person with your white friends.
05:11Now I'm going to add the finishing touch, which is the always styled smoothie.
05:15And I'm going to use a touch more of Olaplex just on my bangs.
05:20So my biggest takeaway from The Hate U Give was definitely about using your voice.
05:27So towards the end it said, your voice is your weapon.
05:30And that really resonated with me because I feel like you can riot, you can burn down buildings,
05:38you know, you can be violent, but most importantly you have your voice and that's really more powerful
05:46than anything.
05:47My biggest takeaway is that all black lives matter, not just the college students, not
05:54just the ones with full-time jobs, not just the ones that have never done drugs.
05:58Black trans lives matter.
05:59Black disabled bodies matter.
06:02Black entrepreneur slash drug dealer.
06:05Their lives matter too.
06:07And I think she does a really good job of portraying that in this book.
06:10So what would you rate it?
06:11I think it's really timely and it's really important and it was really easy to read because it really
06:18took you there.
06:18But I'm going to have to give it a 4.5.
06:21So yeah, I give it a 5.
06:23Yes, because it's so timely, but also because of the storytelling.
06:28And I loved how just how vivid her imagination was and how well she really captured the whole
06:36atmosphere and the ambiance of what it's like to grow up black in America.
06:41So what's really cool too is they're also going to turn this into a movie, which I am really
06:44excited about because if the storytelling was this good for a book, I can only imagine how
06:48good it will look on a big screen.
06:51And they have casted Amalyn Steinberg and Regina King.
06:56So I'm even more excited to see how this will play out.
06:59And we just kind of wanted to know what you guys think about those casting choices.
07:04Also, if you've read the book, if you have anything to say about the book, leave it in
07:09the comments.
07:10Be sure to like, share, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
07:13And we do Watch and Goes every single Wednesday, so make sure you come back next week.
07:17Bye!
07:18Bye!
07:18Bye!
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