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[Following is a volunteer review of "The Banned Book about Love" by Scott Hughes.]

Why do we hate others even though our hate won’t lead us to any good? Can we ever love those who hurt us deeply? Is justice merely a symptom of our hateful nastiness?

The Banned Book about Love by Scott Hughes attempts to answer these questions by providing a short empathetic and philosophical account on why people hate. The booklet revolves around the case of Brock Turner, a swimmer indicted on charges of rape and sexual assault. There was a public outrage in 2016 when Turner was sentenced to just six months in jail, as compared to the years of incarceration for non-violent crimes such as possession of marijuana. The outrage became worse when Turner was released three months after his sentencing. This public outrage is the manifestation of the “hate” Mr. Hughes describes.

The Banned Book about Love is as real as its title. The booklet was banned—literally from Amazon because of its controversial original title “I Love Brock Turner.” As mentioned in the original title, the booklet insists that, instead of hating Brock Turner, we should “love” him, and others just like him. To overcome the habits of hate, the author advises that we must learn how to love others, even if it goes against our intuitions. He hints that this love must come from our empathetic tendencies, as well as from our rational inclinations.

The booklet introduces a “utilitarian” approach to human relations; that is, we should only do things if they can bring more benefit in the end. Hate, an emotional surge that silences rational thought, should not be pursued because hate won’t bring us any good. The author’s approach is a good eye-opener since people don’t usually think about why they hate this and that.

Mr. Hughes doesn’t only resort to rational thought in this booklet. He also does his best to have a conversation with his readers instead of using one-sided preaching. His effective use of similes gets his ideas across clearly, such as “Love is like an alcoholic trying to go a whole lifetime without drinking. Hate is as simple as taking a sip.” He does his best to talk to the readers’ hearts while he strays away from vagueness and ambiguities. For a booklet that talks about love, the emotions are the best ways to share one’s thoughts.

Despite the author’s intentions, there are some ideas and inconsistencies in the booklet that I simply can’t accept. When one thinks about the ideas hard enough (as Mr. Hughes suggests), one may realize that some of the author’s thoughts won’t stand to scrutiny.

All throughout the booklet, the author treats “love” and “hate” as opposing ideas; wherein one cannot love when one hates. This idea becomes prominent not only from his similes but also from this excerpt, “Love is what’s left when you wipe away any indulgence in hate.” It hasn’t occurred to the author that a person can stop being hateful, simply by being indifferent. Of course, this unawareness is understandable because the author assumes that the readers care enough to hate a convict. But if one shares the teachings of this booklet to apathetic people, the messages may not resonate well in this situation.

An inconsistency that I noticed in the book is when the author says, “I said I love Brock Turner. I said I love rapists. I said I love child murderers.” He uses the words “rapists” and “child murderers” to describe these certain people as monsters that can’t possibly be loved. I would appreciate it if Mr. Hughes did more to show the humanity of these people by saying, as a start, that they are all people, just like us. Besides, how can we love others if we can’t even see them as “people” in the first place?

It seems that this booklet is a reaction to the intense public outcry during the Turner case. (The book was published the same year as the sentence was given.) A reactionary text tends to focus on the author’s bias, which explains the inconsistencies and the short content of the booklet. The good thing about a reactionary text is that it tends to let the author express his genuine emotions and sentiments at that time of writing, which explains the booklet's emotional bearing.

In the end, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. By considering the author’s intentions and empathetic writing, I can recommend this booklet to any people, whether they be haters or not. After reading this booklet, you may decide if love truly is the answer against hate.

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The Banned Book about Love
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Like raikyuu's review? Post a comment saying so!

Thanks for the good review. I know there was controversy surrounding this book, but now I have a better understanding of what it was about. Nice job.

That is interesting. Great review. I don't think that this would be a good book for me. I am a huge advocate for the No More campaign and donate to the Joyful Heart Foundation. It is not necessarily hate for Brock Turner, it is the hate for what he did and how he ruined someone's life.

kandscreeley wrote:Thanks for the good review. I know there was controversy surrounding this book, but now I have a better understanding of what it was about. Nice job.

Thank you, kandscreeley. The original title tends to make people jumpy, considering the atmosphere at that time. No wonder that the book was controversial, even without reading the contents.

-- 02 Aug 2017, 20:39 --

jemgirl202 wrote:That is interesting. Great review. I don't think that this would be a good book for me. I am a huge advocate for the No More campaign and donate to the Joyful Heart Foundation. It is not necessarily hate for Brock Turner, it is the hate for what he did and how he ruined someone's life.

Interesting. I don't usually think about the difference between hating a person and hating his/her actions. The book doesn't give a distinction between the two. It is an interesting reminder.

Great review!

testing123456 wrote:Great review!

Thank you for commenting.

We can learn to forgive those who hurt us. That's what I liked about the book. Scott Hughes talks about hate is useless.

Great review! I guess every book teaches us something, and this book seems to teach that hate is a feeling that should be best ignored. Not sure if I"ll pick up the book, but being as short as it is, I might just do it.

kislany wrote:Great review! I guess every book teaches us something, and this book seems to teach that hate is a feeling that should be best ignored. Not sure if I"ll pick up the book, but being as short as it is, I might just do it.

Thank you, kislany. The book won't take an hour to read, so it's okay to read the book anytime of the day.

I have read this book and feel sorry that it was banned as it has a very good message. Maybe, the way the message about love was presented raised a negative response by the audience. Let me explain what might have happened:
Author: I love Turner.
Audience: What???

(Had it been,)
Author: I don't hate Turner because it's not the solution.
(the response might have been,)
Audience: What do you mean by this?

Aimy wrote:I have read this book and feel sorry that it was banned as it has a very good message. Maybe, the way the message about love was presented raised a negative response by the audience. Let me explain what might have happened:
Author: I love Turner.
Audience: What???

(Had it been,)
Author: I don't hate Turner because it's not the solution.
(the response might have been,)
Audience: What do you mean by this?

Well, controversial texts do tend to get famous. Another "what might have happened" could be
Audience: ......... (yep, silence)

But nevertheless, the book is interesting in its own right. I do agree that it has a very good message. If only the author's ideas were developed further, the outcome might have been better.

When it comes to matters of love and hate, not everyone is on the same page.

Mercy Bolo wrote:When it comes to matters of love and hate, not everyone is on the same page.

Yes, Mercy Bolo. That's why we have dialogues in the first place. Thank you.