HATE LIST has to be breaking new grounds in YA fiction: has there ever been a book about such a difficult subject? It is uncomfortable, heartbreaking...and yet ultimately hopeful.
The book jumps between that fateful spring morning and days following immediately, to the start of Valerie's senior year, to various Valerie-and-Nick moments across high school. While the consistent changes in chronology may be unsettling at times, it does more to draw readers into Valerie's past and mindset. Valerie herself may not be the most sympathetic protagonist around, even in her situation, but inevitably we accept her and all of her twisted thinking.
However, I wouldn't say that this is one of my favorite books dealing with school shootings, nor is it an easily believable portrayal of high school and adolescence in general. I guess I was expecting something that would delve more deeply into the psychological aftereffects of a school shooting on someone who was falsely implicated; however, HATE LIST deals with Valerie's family and social issues much more than her psychological healing.
It's not a particularly mind-blowing novel--especially with underdeveloped supporting characters and a scatterbrained, free-spirited art teacher that just screams "amateur character cliche mistake!"--but HATE LIST will still be an interesting read for most people. It will be a great way to introduce the horrifying traumas of school shootings to younger readers who are not yet ready to read heavily researched true accounts of events such as Columbine.
The book jumps between that fateful spring morning and days following immediately, to the start of Valerie's senior year, to various Valerie-and-Nick moments across high school. While the consistent changes in chronology may be unsettling at times, it does more to draw readers into Valerie's past and mindset. Valerie herself may not be the most sympathetic protagonist around, even in her situation, but inevitably we accept her and all of her twisted thinking.
However, I wouldn't say that this is one of my favorite books dealing with school shootings, nor is it an easily believable portrayal of high school and adolescence in general. I guess I was expecting something that would delve more deeply into the psychological aftereffects of a school shooting on someone who was falsely implicated; however, HATE LIST deals with Valerie's family and social issues much more than her psychological healing.
It's not a particularly mind-blowing novel--especially with underdeveloped supporting characters and a scatterbrained, free-spirited art teacher that just screams "amateur character cliche mistake!"--but HATE LIST will still be an interesting read for most people. It will be a great way to introduce the horrifying traumas of school shootings to younger readers who are not yet ready to read heavily researched true accounts of events such as Columbine.
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