Hate You

by Graham McNamee

A young adult novel explores the path from hatred of an abusive father to healing as Alice learns to sing with her own true voice.

Alice Silvers writes songs she can never sing, because she has a broken, "Frankenstein" voice. Her father choked her years before when she got in his way while he was fighting with her mother. After that night, her mother threw him out. Alice has never seen him again. Now she's 17. Alice has her songs, her words, her mother, her boyfriend, her life. Everything but her voice. Years have passed since that terrifying night, but Alice burns with a hate stronger than anything she's ever known.

Genres: Young Adult, Sexuality, Love

128 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 9, 1999

About the author

Graham McNamee. Male. Caucasian. 5'10". Brown hair. Brown eyes. Do not approach. Extremely shy.

Author of: HATE YOU, NOTHING WRONG WITH A THREE-LEGGED DOG, SPARKS, and ACCELERATION. HATE YOU was an ALA Best Book for young Adults and an ALA Quick Pick, won the Austrian Children's Book Award, and was nominated for the Governor General's Award. SPARKS won the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship.

Born and raised in Toronto, McNamee has been sighted in Vancouver. Present whereabouts unknown.

Reviews

[Jocelyn Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice Silvers is a young girl who loved writing songs and wished she could sing them, but because her dad choked her when she was small she can't. After this incident, her parents divorced and she no longer has a relationship with her dad. Alice grew to hate her father for what he did to her. Her boyfriend is the only one who really supports Alice with her music and tries to help her get over the fact that she can't sing her songs, her mom is not a whole lot of help so she sorta hates her mom too. Throughout the story Alice begins to find some acceptance. Eventually Alice finds her voice and she realizes that she is who she is no matter what she sounds like. I liked the book. It shows how people shouldn't care so much of their flaws and try to embrace the good things about themselves.

[Joy Slykhuis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compulsively readable (I gulped in down in one day) story of Alice, who's 17, and has a "broken" voice. Her father strangled her years before, and her mother kicked him out. Now, she writes songs she can't sing.

Her father's girlfriend contacts her to let her know her father is dying. Alice really needs to confront him, to show him what he did to her, and to try to release some of the anger and hatred that fills her. Really pretty good.

[Rants and Bants · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good, especially for a debut novel. The writing was good, simple but smart, I liked some of the symbolism in here, such as with the Curious George art on her bedroom wall. I also liked the songs Alice wrote and the struggle of not having a voice to sing them, while her new friend Rachel had the voice, but was insecure about her looks. I didn’t quite know what had happened to her boyfriend though, and why his hand would shake. I wish in general there had been more to the story, it was a very short book and felt incomplete. I appreciated the conflict between her and her mother, and I truly appreciate that Alice was firm in how it wasn’t about how bad her father felt, it was about how she felt, because he was the one who abused her. Very important thing to remember in these situations.

[J.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up on a whim at the Goodwill. Why not, you know? Sounded good enough. It's a young adult novel and a quick read ~ I finished it in one day ~ but it was really refreshing. The author's voice is strong and the characters believable. I particularly liked the songs Alice "wrote" scattered between the chapters.

The only problem I had with it at all was at the end. I won't spoil it for you, but something happens that inspires Alice to write a song that I thought was simply amazing. The story could've ended there and it would've been enough. But in the last chapter, the author felt it necessary to explain the imagery in the piece, which I thought was a bit like hitting the reader over the head with it. I mean I have an English degree, I get it.

But other than that, I really enjoyed this book. I've always had a soft spot for angsty teen/YA fiction, and this is among the best in that genre.

[Sasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't call this a very hard read. It was a very easy read and such a small book that I finished it within the day I bought it. Since the book was small, this post will be short.
I don't have much to say about this book it wasn't amazing and wasn't garbage. I was in my fiance's school library and they had a two carts filled with books that said each book is $0.50 or three for $1 and of course I couldn't resist this deal. This book story grab my attention over the other books.

While I waited I decided to start this quick read while I waited. I finish this book within an hour (of course I got distracted). I honestly found this book pretty boring. It was about a girl who has hate for her father due to the fact that he choked her and made her life change. She is no longer able to sing with the beauty she wants held.

So I will have to read this book a 2.5 out of 5 stars. Just personally did not enjoy reading this book.

[Rachel Otting]

Alice is a girl who lives with her art director mother. Her boyfriend, Eric, introduces her to his cousin Rachel. Rachel is around 200 lbs but she has a wonderful singing voice and lucky for her, Alice writes songs. We learn that Alice and her mother were both abused by Alice's father, leaving Alice with a squeaky untoned voice. She hates her father and can barely remember him until she gets a call from his girlfriend saying he is dying of cancer. Alice goes and visits him twice. The second time she yelled at him and said he was the reason the way her voice was the way it was. He died a couple of days later. Alice learned to love her singing voice. Her fathers death made her a new person.

[MK · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but touching story about Alice, who writes songs she would like to sing, but can’t sing because her voice no longer works. Meanwhile, her other friends have their own problems as well—Rachel can sing and sing well, but she’s uncomfortable with herself because of her weight, and Alice’s boyfriend has an uncontrollably shaky hand (I don't remember it being clear what he had). Alice also deals with the emotional damage of how she lost her voice in the first place—her abusive father, whom she has not forgiven. It would be nice if this book were longer or had a sequel maybe. Definitely a good debut by one of my favorite authors, Graham McNamee ^_^

[TheSaint · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know how some people have really horrible voices, but they get recording contracts anyway? Think Macy Gray, or Tom Waits if your parents are into that sort of thing. The voice that Alice Silvers has is kind of like that. She writes great songs, but because her dad choked her when she was small, she can't sing them; naturally she's quite bitter about the whole thing.
Luckily, she has some support from her boyfriend, (her mom's not a whole lot of help) and she discovers that maybe she can learn to live without so much self-loathing.

[Savannah K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hate You was a very good book. It tells of the struggle for one girl to find her voice and to realize that she is who she is no matter what she sounds like. I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks that they're abnormal because they're different from everyone else.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice Silvers was injured by her father as a young child; permanently affecting her voice. After this incident, her parents divorced and she no longer has a relationship with him. This is the story of how she finds some acceptance. There were a couple subplots that I wished were more developed.

[Kelly Basque · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book on a random scan of our Learning Center. It was good! It wasn't the most amazing book I've ever read, and had some parts that started to lose my attention, but it was overall a touching story of tragedy turned inspiration. I would recommend it to my middle school students.

[i love jerome always and forever · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am reading this book

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can read my thoughts here.

[Holli · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this book in highschool and still think about it sometimes. it was inspireing.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Redemtive and touching.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise, but I think the book was too short - I didn't make a deep connection with the main character.

[Nyiesha]

very weird book.

[Cassandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have you ever felt like you are absolutely hating everything and everyone? The one thing you love to do you can’t even do because you “suck” at it. This is how Alice feels in the book Hate You by Graham McNamee, she absolutely hates on her life. School is boring, have one friend, mom is always out working, thinking about your dad that hurt you when you were young, these are just some of the things that go through Alice’s mind. Do you ever find yourself wanting to yell at someone? This is how Alice feels about most things but she can’t yell at anyone because she has a damaged voice from being abused. Many stressful things in life can make you decided that you “hate” many things, but do you really “hate them? I would not recommend reading this book because of the complaining and the unrealistic parts about it.

One reason I do not recommend this book because the main character Alice complains a lot. She has an amazing friend that she doesn’t even appreciate that much. All her mom wants is to keep her safe but she doesn’t follow the rules (sound like anyone you know?). It seems almost like all the teens in her generation like to rebell for several different reasons. Now that most people know about her voice she just decides to hate everyone. This book is almost as if complaining is how she made it through life. Not being able to do things she loves, and not allowing people to help her achieve her dreams.

Another reason why I don’t enjoy this book is because it is unrealistic. You aren’t going to have the loving boyfriend always there for you, you aren’t going to be able to leave your house anytime you want and do things without your parents knowing. It teaches bad habits about how young adults should go off doing stuff without talking to their parents, or having their parents knowing about it. For example, when Alice’s mom is explaining to Alice that she needs to stop skipping school. Alice gets mad at her mom and screams at her and her mom just lets her do it and doesn’t punish her. I am pretty sure some parents would not allow their children to read this book for many other reasons.

I can see why some people would like this book and recommend it because they can relate to how Alice feels and reacts to situations. People that see children that believe parents say things to be rude not to help would like this book. For example, when Alice’s mom says she needs to stop skipping to school she gets mad because she doesn’t want to go back to school. Most teenagers believe that they are always right and parents don’t understand their life, or anything that they do. I am a highschool kid and I related to Alice since her mom had a new boyfriend she didn’t like and that's how it was with my step dad. Or how it is normal for teens to not want to care about anything but friends and not want to go to school. Even though this book can be relatable at moments it was not put together well enough.

Overall the book Hate You has an interesting story to it but in my opinion it is not put together well. The story has many questions that leave you wondering about how the story ever ended like that. Alice never gets her “happy ending” or her “sad ending”, I think there needs to be another book. Basically if you don’t want to waste time on a book, that will annoy you a little bit unrealistic situations, then don’t read this book.