Denisse Flores 810
The book The Hate List, by Jennifer Brown, is a story about a girl named Valerie Leftman. The book deals with the aftermath of a school shooting. The shooting was caused by Valerie's boyfriend, Nick Levil. However, she also has to deal with family problems. Throughout the book Valerie faces many difficulties when she is left to blame for her boyfriend's shooting.
One of the difficulties that Valerie has to face is going back to school. She has to face everyone at school after her boyfriend opened fire on the morning of May 2, 2008. The shooting killed six students and one teacher but also left many people wounded including Valerie. When Valerie enters the school everyone looks at her in hatred and disgust even though she had nothing to do with the incident. The worst part is that her friends stop talking to her therefore she is alone and hurt because the people that are supposed to be there for you are ignoring her. However, no one thinks about what was the cause of this shooting.
One of the main reasons this shooting happened was because of bullying. Bullying is a big topic throughout this story. One day Valerie decided to make a hate list in her notebook. The people that were in the hate list were the students that tormented Valerie and Nick for being outcasts. However, the hate list that they created starts off as a joke between the two of them but later Nick starts to take this list seriously. In the day of the shooting Nick specifically wants to kill everyone who is in the hate list. In the book when Nick is about to shoot Jessica Chapbell, a girl who has tormented Valerie for a long time, Valerie suddenly jumps in front of Jessica to save her and gets shot in the leg. When Nick realizes what he has done he then takes his own life not realizing that Valerie was still alive.
The same day Valerie returns to school Jessica tries to befriend her. The reason Jessica tries to befriend Valerie is because she risked her own life to save a girl that has bullied her entire years in high school. Another difficulty that Valerie has to deal with is family tension. Valerie's parents are in the process of a divorce and feels guilty because the school shooting has a lot to do with her family problems. Also Valerie's brother resents her.This book deals with themes of bullying, family problems and suicide.
I love this book because this shows how far bullying can go. Valerie is a tough character throughout most of the book because she faces many challenges and situations. I really like how Jessica reacted with Valerie after the shooting. I knew that Jessica felt like a big part of the cause in the shooting, you can tell she regretted bullying Nick and Valerie. I was satisfied in how Jessica maintained this situation and I wonder what will happen to Valerie's new future.
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