Hate List by Jennifer Brown


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a must read! A cautionary tale of mis- and non- communications. Do we really know others completely, or can they surprise us? Partially for fun as well as out of anger, Val creates a hate list of things and people she hates at school. Her boyfriend, Nick, joins in and it becomes their working manuscript...... until Nick starts shooting those on the list.

How does Val react? How do the students and community deal with the trauma?

For those popular students and those on the periphery this novel indicates what can happen through bullying, ignorance, superiority etc. A thought provoking story. Val survives; the story is rooted in her inner strength and willingness to search for answers within herself - others are not so lucky. The one 'far-fetched' aspect is the introduction of Bea - just a little too fairy taleish in an otherwise realistic haunting novel.


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