Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The List

This book had me gasping and yelling 😂

What an incredibly harrowing concept. I wish I could thank Yomi Adegoke personally for writing this 😳

It keeps you guessing until the very end too. There was nary a moment where I was not hooked 🗣️

I thought I had clocked it when Celie started speaking to Ola about Michael, but NO! Aaron? Fucking eh! 😫

Highly recommend this one for an anxiety-inducing book! 4.5 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨ Content warnings below!

Content Warnings

maregred's review against another edition

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challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

bookishevy's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

💬 BOOK REVIEW 💬

Goodreads reviewers ravaged this read. Naturally, I had to see what all the hate was about.

Ola Olajide, a celebrated journalist at Womxxxn magazine, is preparing to marry the love of her life in one month. On social media, Ola and her fiancé Michael are considered Black love goals. They seem to have it all until their world comes crashing down when Michael's name appears on a list of alleged abusers.

This is interesting because Ola is a staunch feminist who rallies around the women making these claims. Usually, she'd write articles and call for these men to be fired. Now that her fiancé is named, Ola suddenly wants to hear the man's side of the story.

She's tens of thousands of pounds deep into wedding preparations. Their families are flying into London from Ghana and Nigeria. There's a lot at stake, but peace of mind is important, and Michael's past behavior has not brought Ola peace. This is more of an examination of their relationship than it is about him allegedly abusing someone. Michael messed up a few times. Ola forgave him, and he still has secrets. This relationship isn't the #couplesgoals it is portrayed as on the gram. How well does she know this man?

How Ola handles the situation doesn't only affect her relationship with Michael, who I didn't GAF about. He's trash. But Ola gets so wrapped up in the potential destruction of that relationship that she neglects how it's affecting her best friend, Celie.

This story could also be a study on people's short attention spans and how quickly we can go from wanting alleged abusers' heads on sticks to grieving their losses or celebrating their latest endeavors. It also examines the danger of not believing women because your fave or a loved one is on the list.

Despite there being inconsistencies around Ola and Michael being instafamous - Michael isn't known like that, and the proof is in how this affects his life - it's not a terrible read. But I dont think I can recommend it. I'll just say proceed with caution. Toxic masculinity ahead.

Content Warnings

nreyno's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

jazful's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

First of all: I absolutely don't understand the many negative reviews. Ironically, it reminds me a bit of the phenomenon that is discussed in the book: a topic goes viral and many people comment on similar things, criticising the smallest details.

Secondly, I found the story very entertaining and important for today, our generation and discussions around cancel culture, toxic masculinity and at the same time, the rise of MeToo and very important feminist movements. The story also brings in important intersectional perspectives that play an important role, especially for BIPOC (e.g. that Michael was most likely hired as a trope to make the team more diverse). The plot and actions are thought-provoking. What would I do if I were in Ola's situation?

I can very much identify with Ola's political stance, which has made me question myself. In this day and age, we are all very quick to jump on a bandwagon and love to criticise (especially in left-wing feminist circles). But what happens when your partner is on such a list?

Those who have written here that everything seems exaggerated, including the language and slang - I'm sorry, but then you've never been to South London. I particularly liked the book because it was so approachable. I found the characters very realistically written and they remind me of people I know. They speak, think and act like that.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading the book, despite the sometimes heavy subject matter, it was very fast paced and a page turner.

So, Vogue is definitely right: "The book of the summer!"

Content Warnings

baratheonbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

niamhmason's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Loveable characters? No

2.0

This book had SO much potential.

*** spoilers below ***

I was looking forward to see how they’d navigate the accusation but as soon as it was revealed that the accusation was false but he cheated on her anyway for a SECOND time, I knew that the relationship wasn’t going to last and there wasn’t any point in carrying on really.

Content Warnings

peckreadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

Content Warnings

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