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theamytivillelibrary's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
I went into this one thinking it was about a school shooting and it was, but it wasn’t really what the whole story was about.
In this story we follow Valerie who was the girlfriend of the perpetrator and kibdasortamaybe a co-conspirator in the crime as she was involved with the composing of the hate list. We follow her as she deals with the fallout of the incident and we hear from her POV the process of guilt and grief that she’s experiencing as she returns to the school to complete her senior year. We are also there as she spends time in therapy trying to come to terms with her role in the incident, her troubled family life and her grief over the loss of her boyfriend and fellow outcast, Nick.
I feel like this is a pretty accurate depiction of what a young person may go through in a situation such as this. Valerie isn’t always likable and at times her attitude is almost frustrating, but I found myself rooting for her. Her family life alone was a mess (her father was a real piece of work). What I found to be a bit far fetched was the unlikely and way too quick friendship between her and one of her classmates and her relationship with her therapist (don’t worry, it’s nothing inappropriate). I felt those things were possibly the most unbelievable things about the story.
This one is more of a character study that had me thinking about what I would do if I was in a similar situation as pretty much any of the characters and that added to my enjoyment of my time with this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Self harm, Bullying, Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Toxic relationship
jess_thefacts's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Jennifer Brown's 'The Hate List' offers a compelling exploration of grief, guilt, and redemption in the aftermath of a school shooting. Through the perspective of protagonist Valerie Leftman, the novel delves into the complexities of human nature and the power of empathy and understanding. Brown skillfully portrays the raw emotions of survivors while shedding light on the underlying issues within high school communities. With its thought-provoking narrative and well-drawn characters, 'The Hate List' delivers a powerful message about compassion, forgiveness, and the capacity for redemption.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cursing, Bullying, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence
itzjahir's review
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, and Suicide attempt
add_a_little_spook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Please refer to my YT for full review: https://youtu.be/bk5vBzt5E6U?si=JQdVoSEFHp_PI7ca
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Murder, Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Gore, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Infidelity
cassiereadsbooks_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Addiction, Bullying, Murder, and Suicide attempt
bri_reads9's review
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Violence, Gun violence, Death, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Blood
dazzling_night's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Bullying, and Child death
lisharead's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Grief, Death, Violence, and Gun violence
vampbunny's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death, Bullying, and Suicide
loverofeels's review
dark
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
THE GOOD:
- genuinely interesting premise
-morally complex protagonist
-for the first 60% of the book i thought this was going to be a solid 4 star YA contemporary
-did a pretty good job of depicting troubled familial dynamics until about 75% in, when the writing took a nosedive quality-wise
THE BAD:
-the entire character of Bea was SO over the top when it absolutely didn't need to be. she could have just been nice/a normal level of quirky, but she was ridiculous to the level of implausibility, especially within the framework of this dark, quiet narrative
-speaking of Bea: why did she show up twice then disappear until the final chapter?? it feels like we're supposed to see her as the mentor who helps Valerie find inner calm/an outlet/a purpose in life, like she's set up to be, except that Val uses painting as an outlet exactly twice then has a mental breakdown and never returns to see Bea again, as far as the reader is concerned. except there she is in the final scene, clapping along!
-generally, there's a trend of Brown dropping in potentially interesting plot points and then never following up on them. Valerie using her sketchbook/painting as an outlet is interesting, except it doesn't matter in the end! Troy threatening Valerie with a gun and her gaining the courage to report him to the police is interesting, except that we never find out if Troy or Valerie faced any repercussions for their actions! Valerie becoming friends with a popular girl, sabotaging their friendship as part of a breakdown, and eventually becoming friends again is interesting, except that the scene in which they reunite is unsatisfying because they don't address the horrible things that Valerie said to her friend!
-Brown sacrifices the entire arc of Val's relationship with her father for a "happy" ending. in the beginning, the dad is emotionally and for the most part, physically absent; in the middle, he tells her he will never forgive her for her involvement with the school shooting and has a scene in which he is physically and verbally abusive enough that a stranger asks her if she needs help; in the end, despite the fact that Val and her father have NO scene in which they reconcile all their problems with one another, he sits at her graduation and Val says that "In his eyes I saw hopefulness and knew, with some amount of certainty, that despite what we might have said to one another we would both eventually forgive each other." WHAT??? If there had been a satisfying conclusion in which Val and her dad begin to repair their relationship and he took back his statement that he would literally never forgive her, that would have been great. If nothing had changed between Val and her dad, that honestly would have been even better: this book thrives on complicated relationships, and I would have liked to see some of those relationships being left in that hard, messy place without the other person dying.
-Val's relationship with her brother was one of my favorite parts of the book in the beginning, and it's really unfortunate that the tension in their relationship in the aftermath of the shooting was reduced to one scene where he yells at her before again disappearing from the main narrative.
-why is it dropped into the last 10 pages that Val is planning to run away from home??? i thought the point was that she was becoming less selfish but i'm supposed to see this choice as a good thing that is approved by her therapist???? there is nothing emotionally satisfying about this ending.
THE UGLY:
- there's some blink-and-you-miss-it fatphobia (the way Christy Bruter and the reporter are described) and possibly racism (a comment about some guy possibly getting kidnapped by rebels and murdered in a hut?) that is definitely attributable to this being written in 2009, but still unacceptable and unpleasant to read
-in the first few days/weeks after the shooting, Val has trouble reconciling the Nick she knew (a kind, loving boyfriend) with the Nick the world now knows (a murderer who shot a number of people and committed suicide). this is an understandable reaction. i had hoped that this novel would explore how there can be multiple sides to people we love, and how we can deal with the way those sides conflict with one another. unfortunately, this narrative seemed more concerned with being sympathetic to Nick. Val spends a good deal of this book blaming herself and others for the shooting--so much time, in fact, that she never really gets around to the fact that HER BOYFRIEND SHOT UP A SCHOOL. she acknowledges that it was an objectively terrible and tragic event. she acknowledges that the people who bullied her didn't deserve to die. but she never succeeds in reconciling those two sides of Nick. 83% of the way through the novel, Val talks to one of Nick's victims about how he was "nice" and how there was "good in Nick." she doesn't make any progress past that. it was so, so disappointing that we never got to see that character arc. beyond that, it was kind of revolting: by not having Val truly face up to the kind of person Nick was, it delves far too close to making him a character we're supposed to like and sympathize with. this might be my biggest problem with the book, even though i felt more visceral anger over some of the other things i listed while reading.
-an addendum: in chapter 36, Val visits Nick's grave for the first and only time. afterwards, she tells her parents "Nick's officially out of my life forever. Maybe you can trust me now." okay, great progress on the accepting-that-your-ex-is-a-murderer front... except that in the final chapter, she brings a photo of her and Nick with her when she's running away from home! why! why! WHY!
THE ???
-if this were written more recently, i'd definitely be angry that this book doesn't confront the undeniable connection between school shootings and white supremacy. i don't know if that pattern was established when this was written, so i'm not holding that against the book, but i did want to mention it somewhere in my review since Hate List doesn't bring up race at all (as in, I don't think there are any characters of color and race is generally not a factor).
-i don't know that this is a very good depiction of depression. we're told that she's been (sort of?) suicidal for years and that "Mostly Dr. Hieler was about keeping me from killing myself" but we don't get a strong sense from her thoughts (this book is written in first person!) or actions that she is suicidal. some parts of this representation, like her avoiding people, definitely rang true, but other aspects seem a little lacking in hindsight.
-i'd recommend skipping this one and just reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson instead. different subject matter, but very similar reading experience except that Speak is much better written
- genuinely interesting premise
-morally complex protagonist
-for the first 60% of the book i thought this was going to be a solid 4 star YA contemporary
-did a pretty good job of depicting troubled familial dynamics until about 75% in, when the writing took a nosedive quality-wise
THE BAD:
-the entire character of Bea was SO over the top when it absolutely didn't need to be. she could have just been nice/a normal level of quirky, but she was ridiculous to the level of implausibility, especially within the framework of this dark, quiet narrative
-speaking of Bea: why did she show up twice then disappear until the final chapter?? it feels like we're supposed to see her as the mentor who helps Valerie find inner calm/an outlet/a purpose in life, like she's set up to be, except that Val uses painting as an outlet exactly twice then has a mental breakdown and never returns to see Bea again, as far as the reader is concerned. except there she is in the final scene, clapping along!
-generally, there's a trend of Brown dropping in potentially interesting plot points and then never following up on them. Valerie using her sketchbook/painting as an outlet is interesting, except it doesn't matter in the end! Troy threatening Valerie with a gun and her gaining the courage to report him to the police is interesting, except that we never find out if Troy or Valerie faced any repercussions for their actions! Valerie becoming friends with a popular girl, sabotaging their friendship as part of a breakdown, and eventually becoming friends again is interesting, except that the scene in which they reunite is unsatisfying because they don't address the horrible things that Valerie said to her friend!
-Brown sacrifices the entire arc of Val's relationship with her father for a "happy" ending. in the beginning, the dad is emotionally and for the most part, physically absent; in the middle, he tells her he will never forgive her for her involvement with the school shooting and has a scene in which he is physically and verbally abusive enough that a stranger asks her if she needs help; in the end, despite the fact that Val and her father have NO scene in which they reconcile all their problems with one another, he sits at her graduation and Val says that "In his eyes I saw hopefulness and knew, with some amount of certainty, that despite what we might have said to one another we would both eventually forgive each other." WHAT??? If there had been a satisfying conclusion in which Val and her dad begin to repair their relationship and he took back his statement that he would literally never forgive her, that would have been great. If nothing had changed between Val and her dad, that honestly would have been even better: this book thrives on complicated relationships, and I would have liked to see some of those relationships being left in that hard, messy place without the other person dying.
-Val's relationship with her brother was one of my favorite parts of the book in the beginning, and it's really unfortunate that the tension in their relationship in the aftermath of the shooting was reduced to one scene where he yells at her before again disappearing from the main narrative.
-why is it dropped into the last 10 pages that Val is planning to run away from home??? i thought the point was that she was becoming less selfish but i'm supposed to see this choice as a good thing that is approved by her therapist???? there is nothing emotionally satisfying about this ending.
THE UGLY:
- there's some blink-and-you-miss-it fatphobia (the way Christy Bruter and the reporter are described) and possibly racism (a comment about some guy possibly getting kidnapped by rebels and murdered in a hut?) that is definitely attributable to this being written in 2009, but still unacceptable and unpleasant to read
-in the first few days/weeks after the shooting, Val has trouble reconciling the Nick she knew (a kind, loving boyfriend) with the Nick the world now knows (a murderer who shot a number of people and committed suicide). this is an understandable reaction. i had hoped that this novel would explore how there can be multiple sides to people we love, and how we can deal with the way those sides conflict with one another. unfortunately, this narrative seemed more concerned with being sympathetic to Nick. Val spends a good deal of this book blaming herself and others for the shooting--so much time, in fact, that she never really gets around to the fact that HER BOYFRIEND SHOT UP A SCHOOL. she acknowledges that it was an objectively terrible and tragic event. she acknowledges that the people who bullied her didn't deserve to die. but she never succeeds in reconciling those two sides of Nick. 83% of the way through the novel, Val talks to one of Nick's victims about how he was "nice" and how there was "good in Nick." she doesn't make any progress past that. it was so, so disappointing that we never got to see that character arc. beyond that, it was kind of revolting: by not having Val truly face up to the kind of person Nick was, it delves far too close to making him a character we're supposed to like and sympathize with. this might be my biggest problem with the book, even though i felt more visceral anger over some of the other things i listed while reading.
-an addendum: in chapter 36, Val visits Nick's grave for the first and only time. afterwards, she tells her parents "Nick's officially out of my life forever. Maybe you can trust me now." okay, great progress on the accepting-that-your-ex-is-a-murderer front... except that in the final chapter, she brings a photo of her and Nick with her when she's running away from home! why! why! WHY!
THE ???
-if this were written more recently, i'd definitely be angry that this book doesn't confront the undeniable connection between school shootings and white supremacy. i don't know if that pattern was established when this was written, so i'm not holding that against the book, but i did want to mention it somewhere in my review since Hate List doesn't bring up race at all (as in, I don't think there are any characters of color and race is generally not a factor).
-i don't know that this is a very good depiction of depression. we're told that she's been (sort of?) suicidal for years and that "Mostly Dr. Hieler was about keeping me from killing myself" but we don't get a strong sense from her thoughts (this book is written in first person!) or actions that she is suicidal. some parts of this representation, like her avoiding people, definitely rang true, but other aspects seem a little lacking in hindsight.
-i'd recommend skipping this one and just reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson instead. different subject matter, but very similar reading experience except that Speak is much better written
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Fatphobia