Book Review: Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Hate List - Jennifer Brown

Synopsis:
When bullied teenager Valerie Leftman, and her boyfriend Nick Levil, create a list of the people and things they hate, it seems like a harmless way to let off steam. But while Valerie finds it satisfying to write down names and things and simply let it rest, Nick has more sinister plans.
May 2, 2008 seems like any other day, but everything changes in the morning before school starts, when Nick opens fire on his classmates in the school cafeteria. Using the Hate List as a guide on who to pick as targets, Nick seeks revenge against his peers in the worst way he knows how, and forever changes the lives of the staff and students of Garvin High School.
Five months later, Valerie (who was shot in the thigh while trying to stop Nick) is about to return to school to complete her senior year.
While officially cleared by the police for any involvement in the shooting, many of Valerie’s classmates believe that she should be held accountable for helping to write the Hate List. Many others believe that she is a hero for stopping her boyfriend, yet she is still socially excluded from the school community. Valerie’s former best friend doesn’t want to be associated with her, and the only person remotely interested in showing any compassion towards her is the girl who she inadvertently saved.
Valerie’s life, already complicated by her guilt following the shooting, is made even more complex by the ever-increasing tension within her family, regular visits to her psychiatrist Dr Hieler, and the love she still holds for her dead boyfriend.
As a result, all Valerie wants to do is forget the horrible events of the past and pretend that none of it ever happened. But to be able to move on with her life and make amends, she first has to come to grips with the tragedy, and her role in it…

What I gained from reading this book:
Unfortunately, school shootings are more common than we would like to admit, especially in America. According to most news articles, the perpetrator is often described as the ‘quiet one’ who ‘no one really knew’, and the victims often can’t believe that something like this could happen in their close-knit community.
This novel subtly challenges the perception that these incidences are not borne simply from mental illness, but are spurred on by the hate and bullying that the shooter is often a victim of beforehand. In the novel, Nick and Valerie are teased mercilessly because they choose to look and act differently to their peers. While this in no way condones shooting people, it does help readers to see that there is often another side to the story, and that the victims of words and taunts are often overlooked when compared to the victims of bullets.

Positives:
Valerie experiences conflicting physical and emotional feelings throughout the novel, and readers can’t help but empathise with what she is going through. The author is brilliant at portraying the trauma and guilt that Valerie feels, as she tries (with the help of Dr Hieler) to put the past behind her and get on with her life.
But her attempts at recovery are dampened by the fact that her family is disintegrating, and that her classmates are directing a mixture of confusion, fear, anger and forgiveness towards her, for her role in the tragedy.
Hate List cannot be considered a shallow or light-reading novel, for the hard-hitting themes and thoughts it provokes.

Negatives:
I honestly couldn’t find anything wrong with the story, but, like I mentioned above, if you’re after a light and easy read, this book is not for you. The themes in the story (ie. School shootings and bullying) could be confronting subject matter for some readers.
But this shouldn’t deter you from reading this otherwise exceptional debut novel.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Genre: Teenage Fiction

Recommended for: People who are interested in reading about one girl’s journey of guilt and atonement, after circumstances which she couldn’t have prevented.



Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: Atonement by Ian McEwan

Atonement - Ian McEwan

Synopsis:
It’s 1935, and at thirteen years of age, Briony Tallis has decided to move on from writing and illustrating short stories, instead choosing to create a play, The Trials of Arabella. She has high hopes that the play, which is a product of her overactive imagination, and which features her penchant for dramatics, will be performed for her brother Leon and his friend Paul Marshall, following their homecoming from college.
Her cousins, who are staying with the family for an undetermined amount of time while their parents go through a messy divorce, are delegated roles in the play, but Briony is disheartened by their poor attempts at acting and decides to call the play off. It is while she is staring out the window in a depression that she spots her older sister Cecilia in a moment’s interaction with the cleaner’s son Robbie Turner.
With her thoughts going into overdrive, Briony imagines the scenarios that have lead to what she has witnessed, and starts to plot a story far beyond what she knows.
These imaginings skew her perceptions of Cecilia and Robbie’s relationship, and when a crime is committed on the grounds, she immediately points the blame at Robbie, despite contrary evidence.
Briony’s distorted perceptions of the event, and the repercussions that follow, haunt each of the characters as they struggle to survive through World War II and through the difficult years that follow.

What I gained from reading this book:
This story gives as good a reminder as any that you shouldn’t judge someone without knowing all the important facts.
Briony lets her imagination dictate what is happening between Cecilia and Robbie, and this not only threatens to ruin the couple’s new relationship, but it destroys their families and aids a criminal in his escape from justice.
The fact that a thirteen-year-old middle-class girl is believed over a cleaner’s son is also reminiscent of the times when higher status in the community meant more than a person’s integrity. What is worse, even though Briony has her doubts later on, she is too afraid to renege on what she has said for fear of retribution, which only heightens the guilt that she ultimately feels.
This is an issue that affects many people in their day-to-day lives, where they feel the need to lie to save their own skins, despite knowing that they are wrongly incriminating somebody else. The author is able to highlight the remorse that Briony feels about Robbie during the war, but is also able to draw on her fear of being blamed for destroying so many lives. This theme could strike a chord with readers who have also found themselves in situations where they have faced avoidable guilt.

Positives:
Not only are the characters well developed, but readers will get drawn into the drama that comes from their personal stories and the wartime experiences they face- especially as they deal with the consequences of what happened in the summer of 1935.

Negatives:
Although the novel has won wide acclaim from critics, as well as several awards, it takes a while for readers to actually get into the story. The beginning is slow and sometimes it seems as though nothing exciting will ever happen, but if you persist with reading the first few chapters, you will find yourself drawn into wanting to know what happens next to the characters.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: War/ Relationships

Recommended for: People who have seen the film and would like to read the book.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below: