A powerful story
Before reading this book, I was curious on how such a heavy topic could be written about in a proper manner. The author, Jennifer Brown, did amazing with this story. The Book follows Valerie, after experiencing something extremely traumatic: Her and her boyfriend, Nick, had made a “hate list” of all the people they did not like at their high school. What Val didn’t know, was that Nick was going to take this list very far when he ended up shooting up their high school, targeting the people on the list. Valerie had no idea that this would happen, and while Nick died that day, Valerie stayed alive, and has to carry this trauma with her for the rest of her life. So Jennifer Brown explores the emotions and experiences of Val after the event. I think this story is such an impactful story because it shows how very traumatic events come with so much damage to a person and how it affects the rest of their lives. I would recommend this book to someone who can take a heavier story. What I like about this story is that pretty much anyone over the age of 18 would appreciate and love this story.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Very good book
I read this book earlier in 2023 and it was absolutely astonishing. The characters are thought up well and the plot is very good. 10/10 would recommend. I feel like many people focus on the fact that it’s about a school shooting and not the character development that Valerie goes through
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Good read
I have personally enjoyed this book at the beginning it was to the slow start but once it started towards the middle I was very engaged in it. I also enjoyed very much since I do not read books with this certain plot and thoroughly enjoyed it. The author had generally portrayed the characters life very well because it was really showing that not everyone’s life is easy. I would also say there were some bumps in the book only because some of the chapters seem to run a bit to long for me. Overall though I would recommend it to anyone need a good read over the summer time or a brain break.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Powerful Read
I had never read a book with this kind of plot so I was not sure what to expect from the author, but let me tell you Jennifer Brown gets so many things right in this novel. Hate List is told from the perspective of one of the main characters, Valerie, who is the school shooter’s girlfriend. Together, Valerie and Nick decide to write a list of people and things they both hate. Valerie thinks writing the list is just merely a joke, but Nick has other plans in mind, he uses the list to pick his targets when he decides to open fire on their school cafeteria, Valerie protects one of the students, and ends up getting wounded. Nick ends his life right after that. The story revolves around the Hate List that Val and Nick wrote, and the author shows the reader how Val felt guilty when she realized that Nick was gone, and that she was the only one left to blame for the shooting. Throughout the novel, Brown focuses on Val’s emotional recovery and her attempt to live after being implicated in such a traumatic event. Jennifer Brown handles the subject matter with care. She does not portray Nick as a monster, but as a person who did something horrible. She allows the reader to understand why Valerie loved Nick before he committed this heinous crime. Brown makes sure that Nick is ultimately presented as wrong, but she shares a complicated story where Val has very conflicting feelings for the monster in the story. The strongest point of Hate List is that the author portrays each character as a person with a complex story, allowing us to see that the world is not black and white. Ultimately, I would criticize that this book seems to drag at times. Even though it has many interesting conflicts, such as Valerie’s feelings for Nick “the school shooter”, her struggles at school, and her relationship with her family…the scenes all seem to last a little too long for the reader. I find that there are some scenes and details that don’t belong or don’t need to be included in the story. I also think it is a very long book and that maybe removing some of the not so important details and scenes that I made reference to earlier, would be a good idea. Overall, I would recommend this very powerful novel. Jennifer Brown did a fantastic job at making me connect to the protagonist, Val, and her journey trying to piece her life in the midst of such a tragedy.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
GREAT STORY
I got this book a while ago and kept reading it on and off, but once I got to the middle of the book, I couldn’t put it down! It was good and I love it!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Bullying is never good.....
Bullying. A school shooting. This book is a must read to show the affects on bullying and how it can lead to a tragic incident like the one that happened in this book. Please look at your triggers if something like this affects you. But this book is a must read to show how bullying should be looked into and stopped before something this terrible can happen.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com