Hate by Alan Gibbons – review
It was just another day at school when I first met this incredible book. It was raining at break time and I decided to visit the library. A book cover caught my eye; I was intrigued by the single word title, HATE. Over the next day and a half, this piece of fiction opened my eyes to what this small but powerful word really means. Rather depressingly, if you look up in a thesaurus synonyms of the word ‘hate’ there are more than forty five of them; words like vitriol, rancour, enmity and repugnance, and that is almost the same number as for love.
Alan Gibbons was inspired to write Hate after meeting Sylvia Lancaster, the mother of Sophie Lancaster who was murdered in 2008 in Bacup, not a million miles from where I live. What was the reason for such a repulsive act? Sophie and her boyfriend were attacked for expressing their individuality in the way they dressed. How contemptible is that?
The book tells the story of Eve, whose older sister Rosie was killed when walking home one night with her boyfriend, and is obviously a direct homage to Sophie Lancaster. On the night that Rosie was killed, witnesses stood by and let it happen. Understandably, Eve finds it impossible to understand how these people could do that and she herself experiences feelings of hate. This section raised an important question in my mind- would I have had the guts to stand up to those thugs or would I have been too frightened? I am still not sure I know the answer to that. This story also shows how hate not only damages the attacked but also the whole society. Respect and acceptance are the only cures.
Hate crime can take so many forms including cyber bullying on social media, homophobia and racism and, at the end of the day, PSHE lessons and learning about events such as the Holocaust, although incredibly important, can only take young people so far in their understanding. In my opinion, books such as this one, where the language and style of writing feel so natural and where the story is so gripping, should also be part of our curriculum. So I hope every school library in the land, if not the world, decides to stock Hate. Then perhaps just like me, people will come across this jewel of a story one rainy break time, and let it change their thinking forever.
Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop