Author: Jennifer Brown
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Copyright: 2009
Summary:
Plot: Valerie and Nick are high school students responsible for a school shooting. Nick fatally shoots himself and Valerie is wounded. This is her story of loss, recovery, healing, and forgiveness.
Major Characters: Valerie and Nick.
Major Subjects: School Shooting, Psychological, Realistic Fiction
VOYA Review:
Valerie returns to school after her boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on many of their classmates and a teacher before killing himself. It is a tough scenario for anyone to face, but the survivors view her with hatred and suspicion. In selecting his victims, Nick used the list they made in what she thought was a means of blowing off steam. It contained all the people who treated them badly. Valerie must contend with the gossip and glares at school and at home, as her parents freak at the slightest hint of adolescent angst. In addition, Valerie must reconcile the image of Nick as a monster with the tender, troubled, Shakespeare-loving boy who also loved her. How can she mourn him while dealing with what he did? This novel ought to be the last written about a fictional high school shooting because it is difficult to imagine any capable of handling it better. Brown deftly traverses highly controversial ground with a respectful touch that never veers into sensationalism. She never bends to stereotypes nor settles for easy answers. The finale is a pitch-perfect tribute to the people who died or bear scars from Nick's actions, but there is no satisfying conclusion, which is itself satisfying. Also noteworthy: for a therapist, Brown gives Valerie Dr. Rex Hieler, easily one of the best adult characters in YA literature. He provides an oasis of comfort for both the character and readers in a story that is as sensitive and honest as it is spellbinding. Reviewer: Matthew Weaver
Review:
Everyone has heard the phrase, "love is blind" and most people don't realize how very true it is until they have experienced a certain kind of love themselves. Valerie loved Nick. She really loved him. She loved him so much that she couldn't see the warning signs and failed to read into his hateful emails like she should have. Nick killed a lot of people at their school. Nick did. Valerie was there and she saw everything. The worst part is that Valerie's parents, classmates, teachers, and the media believe that she was also responsible for planning the massacre at her school.
Valerie used to be a girl who found herself on the fringes of acceptance. She gravitated toward a particular group, especially a boy named Nick. Together they had inside jokes, places they went, memories that belonged only to them. One day, when she had had enough of the bullies at school, Valerie started to write down people and things she hated. Nick joined in.
One day, a couple of years later, Nick comes to school with a gun hidden under his jacket. The events, unclear and unforseeable, continue to haunt Valerie as she prepares to return to school in the beginning of the novel. Through a series of flashbacks, vivid memories, and nightmares, Brown hands us Valerie's sad fate and hopes that we sympathize with her and also with Nick.
Each school shooting has a villain and a hero. Hate List strives to be different. Incredibly, Brown is capable of painting each main character as neither good nor bad, complete nor devoid. Valerie and her reality is so engaging, it is easy for readers to become completely immersed in this story.
Reading Level: Intermediate and for mature readers.
Notes about Audience: Recommended for ages 15 and up.
Favorite Line: “Ever since I was a little kid, every time I for into trouble, I’d lie on my bed and stare at those horses and imagine myself hopping on one of them and riding away” (pg 11).
Hate List is Jennifer Brown's first book. Read her blog at:
You might also enjoy:
Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser
She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall by Misty Bernall
Quad by Carrie Gordon Watson
Shooter by Walter Dean Myers
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