67 pages • 2 hours read
Jennifer BrownA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Before You Read
Summary
Part 1, Chapters 1-2
Part 1, Chapters 3-4
Part 1, Chapter 5
Part 2, Chapters 6-7
Part 2, Chapters 8-9
Part 2, Chapters 10-11
Part 2, Chapters 12-13
Part 2, Chapters 14-15
Part 3, Chapters 16-17
Part 3, Chapters 18-19
Part 3, Chapters 20-21
Part 3, Chapters 22-23
Part 3, Chapters 24-25
Part 3, Chapters 26-27
Part 3, Chapters 28-29
Part 3, Chapters 30-31
Part 3, Chapters 32-33
Part 3, Chapters 34-35
Part 3, Chapters 36-37
Part 3, Chapters 38-39
Part 3, Chapters 40-41
Part 3, Chapters 42-43
Part 4, Chapter 44
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Valerie invents the hate list to record all the things that bother her. One particularly bad day in ninth grade, Valerie starts filling up a notebook, like “some kind of paper voodoo doll or something. I think I had this feeling that just writing down their names in the book would prove that they were the assholes and I was the victim” (134). Nick quickly starts adding to it, and readers see how the duo’s long-standing unhappiness affects them; the hate list bonds them, and their bond is built on negative emotions they believe they have no other way to process. Ultimately, the hate list takes on a power of its own: Valerie watches the camera feed of the shooting, as Nick goes around picking off students on the hate list one by one.
When Valerie finally reaches Nick during the shooting, he asks her why she doesn’t remember their plan. She remarks, “My brain was moving slowly still, but was picking up speed. It didn’t make sense to me. But then again, maybe it did. We had, in a way, talked about this,” as she remembers the hate list (99). To Nick, the hate list symbolizes a blueprint of people to eliminate in order to make their world better.