Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend Nick opened fire at Garvin High School - killing six students and one teacher before turning the gun on himself. His blueprint for targeting victims was a "Hate List" of names he and Valerie created throughout their relationship. Now, after a summer of guilt,depression and therapy, Valerie steps back into the halls of her high school to complete her senior year and face a school full of students who think she is just as responsible for the murders as her dead boyfriend.
- IMHO -
"Hate List" is what young adult writing is (and should be) all about. The first two Gateway nominees I read I felt I was just page-flipping to get to a predictable ending. However, this book is meant to be digested slowly and I found myself intrigued with all of the characters as the story developed.
There wasn't the usual sickening dose of sugary teen angst or happy-go-lucky plot lines. Valerie's story feels incredibly raw and genuine. It's a great exploration of the adolescent psychology of dealing with the aftermath of a terrible tragedy. It's also an excellent social commentary on the dangers of bullying without being overbearing. Re-living teenage torment through Valerie was unpleasant and brought back very vividly how painful it feels to be made fun of and picked on. As the reader, I was constantly torn (as was Valerie) as to whether or not she should feel guilty about the deaths at her school.
I'm excited to see more from Jennifer Brown and from what I've read so far, I definitely think this has a shot at taking the Gateway.
Rating: 5 "shhhh's"
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