Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - The List

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The List by Yomi Adegoke

7 reviews

florenceassetto's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

i feel conflicted about this book - i think the premise of the plot was important and it definitely discussed a lot of relevant social issues that we do see in the world today, but i am not really sure about how well done it was.

like many others, i worry about writing a book about false allegations because, yes they happen, but this book seemed to place a lot of emphasis on the fact that allegations are not always true, as if to insinuate that we should not always believe the victim?

i think i also really struggled to connect with the characters as people - i really appreciated the display of their culture and the celebration of their blackness, but otherwise i did find it hard to sympathise with them. the ending of this book was 100% just a let down, and didn't feel like a necessary addition, but i think i will be looking to read something else from this author!

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Not sure how I felt about this one. From the get go, you know it's going to be hard for the author to write a complete story, which way to go, will it be a cliche etc. I felt that the author did a good job of showing the grey and the middle ground reaction and action of the characters. The last chapter was such a random plot twist, not sure how I felt about it

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elephantsoups's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

Genuinely fuck this. You can write about evil and morally bad characters without making them all severely insufferable. I wasn’t rooting for anyone or any thing other than the percentage bar to continue creeping further towards 100%. The cultural pieces were touched on and then fully abandoned instead of properly delved into and considered- do the characters even care about their own ethnicities? Or are they just using them for instagram followers… Does the author even care about their ethnicities? She certainly didn’t honor them or hold any sort of cultural context within the story she chose to write.

Do you want to know what happens in this book? Read the synopsis and then the final 10% for the lack of resolution or accountability from every single person involved in this shit show. Nothing else happens other than one self-righteous fight and one bit of drama at an event. the ONLY bit of additional drama that occurs at the single defined event of the entire book.

If you want fanfiction of AD and Clay from Love Is Blind: here it is. The “I can fix him” and the “She’ll stand by me no matter what harm I do to her” thinking they can successfully have a marriage between them.

This book was entirely one-note and the ending wasn’t the end of anything or an ending marked by change or growth or accountability or even fucking acknowledgment of inciting events. The plot holes were jarring and entirely unforgivable and every side character was interchangeable with eachother. Petty points off for the chapter titles being huge spoilers as well.

The only compliment I can give is that it was an accurate representation of a shithead man but I already knew PLENTY about that from dropping my own last year. Beat for beat they had similar thoughts and excuses. The audiobook narrator did well wresting and differentiating all of the different one note characters and their accents. The content was truly enraging but her job was very well done.

In the Q&A between the voice actor/narrator and the author I found the jokes about cancelling *them* over tiny things to be wildly tone deaf. Do you truly think a self deprecating joke about your own work is equivalent to date rape/kidnapping/assault/ coercion/etc etc etc etc listed in your own fucking book? Now who’s trivializing things? The lack of proper content warnings is abhorrent considering the thing I’ve chosen to spoiler over below.

Maybe it’s cold but the only thing I was rooting for was

for michael’s suicide attempt to have been successful. It really would’ve saved everyone the hassle of knowing him and dealing with his bullshit. He couldn’t even off himself correctly and then couldn’t even take accountability for the fact that he even attempted it??? Mans can dodge every single thing in his life including cars I guess. I wanted to hit him again hearing that.

Also why the fuck did he wake up with a feeding tube. That makes no sense. the science in this book sucked shit too but now I truly am being petty.

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lebron_jamie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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bookdragon217's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

"The internet never forgets, until it does."

The List by Yomi Adehoke was a quick, propulsive read that kept me turning the pages non-stop. I binge this one in a day because I was obsessed with finding out the truth. I enjoyed Adegoke's writing style and I can see why this was picked up for TV. There are so many possibilities for some of the themes to be explored more deeply on screen. The author was bold in her choices and showcased a lot of serious themes in this one. The plot twist at the very end was jaw dropping.

I do wish Ola and Michael's fame was a little more fleshed out in the beginning so that the scandal felt a little more credible. However, I do commend Adegoke for taking risks and tackling toxic masculinity, patriarchy and misogyny, abuse of women, ways in which women aren't believed when they report abuse, the dangers and consequences of fame and the internet, the responsibility of reporters, the dangers of reporting rumors, Black men's mental health, feminism and the erasure of celebrities humanity. Reading this one makes me curious to see how the show will fill in the blanks and add depth to some of these topics because there was a lot to take in.

This is one you will definitely want to read with a friend because there is so much to talk to about. When I finished it, I immediately discussed it with my husband because it opens the door for so much conversation. If thrillers with social commentary are your jam, give this one a try. You will be entertained the whole way through. Thanks to @williammorrowbooks and to @cocoachapters for the gifted copy and tour opportunity.

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laurataylor's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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princessdeia's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ola and Michael and the poster couple for #BlackLove, planning their dream wedding and living their best lives as one of London’s favourite InstaCouples. Ola is a successful journalist with a celebrated feminist magazine. Michael is about to start his dream job. That is until someone publishes The List.

The anonymous account posted a spreadsheet to Twitter, a crowdsourced document of men’s names. All the men worked in the media and were accused of harassment, abuse and even rape. Normally, Ola would have written hundreds of words about The List, only this time Michaels’s name is included in the document.

This book is a modern-day thriller, drawing on historical events of Black men accused of crimes, like Emmett Till or the Central Park Five, but giving it a very contemporary twist. Told from several people’s points of view, we see the effect The List has on both Ola, Michael and even the victims of the crimes.

This is a page-turner, as you are drawn into Ola and Michael’s world. However, at times I found the storyline difficult to follow, suddenly there are new characters with little introduction making it awkward to keep up.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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