The List: The instant Sunday Times bestselling debut novel – ‘The perfect summer read’ Paula Hawkins

Product Information

Compulsively written, Yomi Adegoke’s debut has all the tension and build of a thriller, but swaps its typical tropes and themes and instead delves into the depths of race, infidelity, cancel culture in the wake of the Me Too movement, and virtue signalling. First let me say, I did speed through reading this novel because I just HAD to know if what was on The List was true. Adegoke delivers a thought-provoking account of the power of social media to amplify and to silence, as well as the devastating effects of online pileups that catch innocent bystanders in their wake. This timely novel demands to be discussed.”— Booklist (starred review) Ola Olajide, a high-profile journalist at Womxxxn magazine, is marrying the love of her life in one month's time. Young, beautiful, successful – she and her fiancé Michael are the ‘couple goals’ of their social networks and seem to have it all. Throughout this book I truly couldn’t figure out if any of these characters were meant to be likeable which I must admit kept taking me out of the flow of the book; the pacing was also off with the story lagging at some points. But most importantly, I found that the book at times teetered on feeding into very harmful rhetorics about women making false accusations for vengeance purposes and that last chapter didn’t help my feelings about this at all!

The blurb compares The List to Such a Fun Age, Luster, and My Dark Vanessa which I don't think holds true at all. I found it more similar to Yellowface by RF Kuang in style and tone (not theme).Topical, heartfelt, provocative and wise, Yomi Adegoke’s characters are tenderly realized, and she has an exceptional ear for capturing different vernaculars so that the entire cast of this ultimate millennial novel springs vividly to life.”— Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other No one needs a defense of the bad perpetrators, especially when the victims rarely receive any justice. It began as a list of anonymous allegations about abusive men. Now it has been published online. Ola made her name breaking exactly this type of story. She would usually be the first to cover it, calling for the men to be fired. Except today, Michael’s name is on there.

I think the author was trying to make a grand statement or say something important, but mostly, this reads as a defense of ain't-shit men.😩The List is uncomfortable in the way it bends the beliefs we would otherwise announce with conviction. It is the kind of book to send you in a tailspin, all while being utterly readable and absorbing. Topical, heartfelt, provocative…The entire cast of this ultimate millennial novel springs vividly to life.”