Wow. This book seriously lives up to the hype and more, and I'm not just saying that because of the social issues it explores. Sure, it's a story about racism and microaggressions, growing up between two parallel cultures, and speaking out against injustice; it's also about a sixteen-year-old girl, her family, friends, and community. First and foremost it's a story about people, and that's part of what makes it such a powerful, effective narrative.

The writing is raw and real, and even beyond having a mostly non-white cast of characters this is an incredibly diverse book. It deserves SO MANY points for Starr's Chinese-American best friend Maya, whose own cultural identity is recognized and presented as matter-of-factly as Starr's (but of course, Asian representation is a feature rather than a focus, so it doesn't feel right to shelve it as such); and for the portrayal of two very different attitudes white people can take: allies like Chris and narrow-minded "I'm not racist, but I guess I'm sorry you're so sensitive you were offended by what I said" self-proclaimed victims like Hailey.

As a narrator/protagonist, Starr is incredibly easy to relate to; while there are aspects of her life that I will never be able to truly understand, her struggle between fear and determination to pursue justice (despite knowing the system is set up against her and her people) is admirable and definitely evokes empathy. The social dilemmas she faces on the high-school level — dating a white boy, having a racist best friend, being one of two black kids in her grade — add to the entirety of her circumstances, exemplifying the necessity of code-switching and other subtleties of inequality.