Hate List

The first word that escaped my lips the moment I finished Hate List was: "Wow." How do you sum up a book as powerful as this? It was like the words were living, breathing, and Valerie's pain was real. Truly an amazing novel from start to finish.

Hate List is an emotionally charged novel that tugs at your heart strings. Valerie, at a loss for how to move on with her life after the shooting, is constantly at war with herself, her family, and her school. So much to take on at one time, it's pushing her to a place she's never been before. You won't find any diluted plot twists or surprise endings - this novel is pure emotion - focusing more on Valerie and her growth as a character. And we get to experience the journey right with her.

Uniquely show more woven at the beginning of a few chapters are newspaper clippings, depicting the events of the shooting from completely different points of view. Certainly an original idea that really gives the book an authentic and fresh dynamic.

Jennifer Brown did a wonderful job at capturing such a unique voice in an ultimately realistic way as we read how Valerie struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Drifting from the past to the present, we get to read about Valerie's life before and after the shooting. The doubts, the heartache, the longing - it's is all there, front and center, for the reader to experience. It's not often that I cry at the end of a novel, but I did for this one.

Overall consensus: Hate List is a compelling read that may leave you with a bit of a heavy heart but a completely satisfied feeling. The prose is a bit angsty at times, but not mired in it. It depicts raw emotion and will certainly have you deep in thought by the end. A book not easily forgotten! show less

Kearsten says: Hate List is a tough book. It's well-written, incredibly compelling, and very, very rough emotionally.

Valerie is barely living life in the wake of a tragic school shooting in which her boyfriend shot and killed several of the classmates, going from a "hate list" he and Val compiled. Even though she had no idea Nick was planning actual violence, Val feels tons of guilt, given that she began the list, simply to compile a list of people and things she hated. Val was actually shot during the event while trying to stop Nick, right before he shot himself.

In the months afterwards, Val tries to recover physically, emotionally and mentally from the tragedy, and when school begins again, she decides to return to Garvin High to show more finish her senior year, despite the fact that many of her fellow students are shocked to see her return.

This book shows the ugly truth behind such tragedies - even though Val not only didn't participate in the shooting (in fact tried to stop Nick once she got over her shock at what was happening), many people still blame her, including students, teachers, and even her own family. Val finds wonderful help in Dr. Heiler, a kind and a bit quirky psychologist assigned to Val after she is released from the hospital, but much of her recovery depends on her actions.

Val's "road to recovery" is soooo painful to read. I cried for a good portion of the last quarter of the book, and I felt the reactions of characters rang true - even the horrible ones.

This would be a fascinating book for discussion with older teens and adults.

Recommended.

Merideth says: This book was a difficult read for me. It was really easy for me to imagine myself in Val's place, as we had a very similar family life and school experience. I too cried through a good portion of this book. So while I can say this book was effective, it would be hard for me to evaluate it on literary quality. show less

CW: Described school shooting, suicide and suicide attempts, dealing with the loss of loved ones, depression, guilt, dealing with shooting injuries, bullying, unhealthy family relationships, extra- martial affair, unsupportive father.

This book is about quite a challenging topic. Obviously it’s hard to comment on whether this was ‘enjoyable’ given that it was about a school shooting, so instead I will say it was a really engaging book. The writing was such that I felt connected to Val and everything that she went through prior to and after the shooting. Her struggle to make sense of her feelings of grief and guilt, and her continued love for the person who committed such a heinous act felt so believable and raw. I didn’t feel show more moved to tears. It was more that I felt exhausted with the weight of her feelings and the feelings of those around her pressing down on me throughout the novel. One of the themes that underpinned the story was ‘Are monsters born or made?’ His act was indeed a monstrous one but the novel tries to humanise him somewhat to illustrate that some people eventually reach a snapping point. Obviously his horrendous actions are not excused in this novel. The book merely attempts to show that the shooter was, to a certain extent, also a victim. I think there will be quite varied responses to the author taking this stance.

Please read the content warnings as this has the potential to be upsetting. show less

I loved this book, its amazing, very real, sad and completely engrossing. I came to it not really knowing what to expect and it left me with totally mixed emotions and I have to say it really surprised me. Most teenage books with any dramatic content narrated by a girl usually have this happy ending and some boy who they needed to help them through their problems, not Valerie, shes too independent and aware of herself and is all the better for it.

As for the actual plot, it frustrated me so much, having to suffer with Valerie the ignorance of the morons in her life who wanted to blame her for their problems, especially her family. At times I could see their point of view, but in reality I knew that Valerie wasn't selfish or an attention show more seeker, she was just an easy scape-goat for their own shortcomings, in particular her father. I can say for certain having compared him to my own father that Valerie's is the worst parent ever, he blamed her for everything and was extremely vocal about it. He acts as if he has something to forgive her for when in reality all she did was postpone him from escaping his responsibilities, forget him escaping Valerie, I was happy to see her escape him.

I know I am very off topic here so back to the main plot. I was happy to see that Valerie was capable of coming to terms with what happened and that she didn't just run and hide, she had no reason to have to hide. What these people did to her was blame the last living person they could and it was atrocious. I was delighted to see everyone eventually acknowledge the fact that Nick was human too and that although none of the people deserved to die, they weren't totally innocent either, something set Nick off in the first place. I think this shows the really important points that you have to be so careful what you say to people who may be suffering other things in their lives apart from you and also that when you say you hate someone like a classmate, chances are you don't really know them, which very importantly works both ways.

I think this book served to show that their are two sides to every story and even if it wasn't the shooter himself we heard speaking, I believe it was perhaps more important to hear the girl he left behind, the one who cared. show less

After closing the pages of this book, I couldn't stop thinking about it. My mind kept wandering back to Val and everything that she had been through. It's like this book opens up a part of you that is emotionally dormant, until you start to read. Hate List is by far one of the toughest books I've read this year, and yet I was completely invested in every single minute of it. All I can really say is, oh my goodness.

I think what really blew me away was that this particular book is from the point of view of Val. She isn't the shooter, she isn't necessarily a victim (although she is in a way), but instead she's even more than that. Val is the girlfriend, the confidant, the accessory (as people so blindingly label her) to the shooter. show more Watching things unfold through her eyes was heartbreaking. I'll admit that at first I was slightly frustrated with her. I couldn't seem to understand how she missed so many signs. However Jennifer Brown writes in a way that shows the reader different points of view, and I soon found that I was only seeing what was there because I was being allowed to. Does that make sense at all? Putting myself in Val's shoes, I can see why she missed those early signs.

What was truly heartbreaking though, were the relationships that were crushed in the wake of event. The two people in Val's life who should have been there for her, her parents, were so angry and almost heartless. As a reader, I saw a girl who had no one to really lean on. A girl who was struggling with something bigger than herself without any aid whatsoever. Let's put it this way my dear readers. If you are going to read this book, get a box of tissues. You might also want something to punch, because wow did parts of this make me angry. The writing on the pages is so emotional, so deep, that Hate List will cause you anger, sorrow, and the feeling of utter hopelessness all in one page.

School shootings are a tough subject to handle, but Jennifer Brown does it with the utmost grace and understanding. I got to see the emotions that rolled through each of the characters. I saw the bullying that went on and felt for those who were so fed up, so helpless, that they didn't know where to find an outlet. I walked with Val, as it happened, and sobbed for her. It was intense, it was amazing, it was so beautifully written. Jennifer Brown's Hate List is well worth your time. I'm not sure what else I can write to convince you of that. You'll need to experience it yourself to understand what I really mean. show less

When I first saw this book featured on The New York Public Library's Stuff for the Teen Age page, I was skeptical. I thought isn't Columbine over already?. While Hate List turned out to be what I expected in some ways, it also exceeded my expectations when it came to character development and the satisfying resolution at the end. Rather than focusing on the evil of school bullying, Jennifer Brown paints a compassionate portrait of a girl trying to understand who she really is after everyone she loves and trusts has let her down.

I started this book on a whim because I’d seen it on other blogs before and I couldn’t decide among the INSANE amount of books I’ve gotten over the last couple months which book to read. So I randomly just scrolled through my kindle and put my finger on a book and lo and behold it was Hate List. I could not have made a more perfect decision though. This book surpassed my highest expectations. It shot straight to the top of my 2011 favorite reads.

The Good: There are so many things going right with this book that my mind is scrambled right now. From the opening lines of the book, “The scene in the Garvin High School cafeteria, known as the Commons, is being described as “grim” by investigators who are working to identify the show more victims of a shooting spree that erupted Friday morning" to the very end, this book not only captured my attention, but it had me by the throat, demanding that each page be read with intense fury. I guess I should start with the writing. Hate List is not only well-written but it is extremely addictive writing. Brown seamlessly moves from past to present, character to character without blinking an eye and it all works so well. You don’t know you’re 200 pages in until you look at the clock and realize you’ve been reading for a couple hours. That’s how much this book consumes you. So great writing? Check. Let’s move on to some of the issues brought up in this book. School Shooting. Love. High School. Bullying. Parental divorce and fighting. Poverty. This book touches on all those topics but the thing is…it goes SO much deeper than that. Our main character, Valerie is the girlfriend of a school shooter. What’s even worse is that the people he chose to shoot are people he AND Valerie put on a “hate list.” This novel goes deeper than that surface topic though and delves into the fact that just because something awful and disturbing has been done by Valerie’s boyfriend…she still loves him. Love doesn’t just stop immediately after something like that. It takes time. But what do you think the rest of the world would want her to do? Hate him? Yes…they do want that. Society expects that of her. Even Valerie expects that of herself. But that is not life! It’s not love. This book explores that difficulty of navigating between what society/life/Valerie expects out of her and than the reality of the matter. Another deeper issue this book brings up is the expectations of parental love. I’ve been told my entire life that no matter what, my parents will love me. No matter what. But what if I were to be involved with someone that shot 16 people? Would they still love me unconditionally? This is the question Valerie grapples with. Really, she is innocent as far as the shooting goes, but both of her parents don’t see it that way. She may not have physically shot those people, but it was her words, her relationship and her involvement with Nick that implicate her in the shooting as well. This is an incredibly difficult thing to have to deal with. Valerie is not only trying to recover from the ordeal and deal with her own guilty conscious but than to have your parents knowingly act like it was your fault is an awful feeling. The best example I can give is when Valerie’s dad is talking to her,

“No,” he said, without facing me. “Maybe it makes me a bad parent, but I don’t know if I can forgive you. No matter what the police found, you were involved in that shooting, Valerie. You wrote those names on that list. You wrote my name on that list. You had a good life here. You may not have pulled the trigger, but you helped cause the tragedy.”

And on the flip side of things…how would it feel to be the parent? How COULD you look at your kid, knowing they were in love with someone who killed so many people? Would I be able to forgive my child for that? Would you?
Another great issue that was brought up is something that I think is so remnant of teenage relationships. It’s this whole attitude of being so wrapped up in love, lust and feelings that you sort of just agree with the things the other person says. Whether its because you want them to trust you, like you, respect you or just have a feeling of camaraderie, sometimes it’s the “pretending” that ends up getting you more in trouble. For example, Nick talked about death and revenge a lot and when he’d ask Valerie questions she would either nod in agreement or say something neutral that would lead Nick to believe she understood what he meant and agreed with him, even if that’s not what Valerie truly thought. Brown completely nails this whole phenomenon with a couple of lines that come from Valerie, “Who was I kidding? I never even really belonged with Nick. Because I totally betrayed him, made him think I believed what he believed, made him think I would be on his side no matter what, even if he killed people.” This is exactly the issue, teens are so vulnerable and impressionable at the high school age and especially during new and powerful relationships. They are so willing to give themselves entirely to someone and they end up losing themselves before it’s too late to realize what’s going on. These issues are exactly why reading this book turned out to be such a huge experience for me. Instead of focusing JUST on the topical issues, Brown goes deeper and pushes the envelope to make people REALLY think about these things, make them question even their own moral beliefs. I love that this book is realistic and the school and the popular kids aren’t all hunky-dory after the shooting happens, because that is not real life when that happens. Speaking from experience of witnessing a school tragedy, people do not change all that much. Most of them keep on acting bratty, selfish and downright mean. But that’s not to say that no one changes, because sometimes they do. The girl that Valerie chooses to save in this book is completely altered by the experience and she really does change, but it’s not like a 180 change and suddenly she’s sugar sweet, it’s a gradual, grown-up change and it’s done so well that by the end of the book, you can’t help but adore the girl who was once such a witch to Valerie. I also loved watching Valerie’s growth from the beginning of the novel to the end. She grows so much as she navigates all the emotions she’s feeling and I appreciate that Brown allows her to be both the victim and the perpetrator at certain points. I also appreciate that Brown makes Valerie stand up for herself at certain times because really, it’s not fair the way she is treated and it would have been really annoying and unrealistic if she let Valerie play the victim the whole way through and let her blame herself entirely. It would have felt like a sob story a little bit. But watching Valerie get angry, shout and stand up for herself was wonderful and refreshing. Really there are probably lots of other things I could talk about in relationship to this novel, but I think I’ve rambled on enough and you get the hint that I really freaking loved this book. I finished it and literally ten minutes later bought the book for my sister who started reading it Christmas morning and ended up finishing it that night with the same feelings I had about the book.

I would recommend this book to anyone of any age. It may be a book that is set centrally around a teenage/high school character but the themes, topics and issues that are discussed are certainly more than that. I think so many types of readers would enjoy this book and find something extremely important to take away from it. I give it an A+!! show less