Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The List by Yomi Adegoke

7 reviews

jazful's review against another edition

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!"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

withlivjones's review against another edition

mysterious sad 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? No

2.5

Interesting premise but ended up falling flat after the first 50 pages. It felt pretty messy, way too long, I didn’t care about a single character (they all felt pretty one-dimensional and underdeveloped), and the ending came out of nowhere with no time to process it and it cheapened the whole book. Also, writing stories about false SA allegations can be pretty harmful and disrespectful unless they’re handled in a nuanced, understanding way - which isn’t the case here as some of the conversations surrounding SA victims made me very uncomfortable. Overall, not a great experience. I should’ve listened when people said not to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

peachani's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Death, Suicide, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

sarahjanecw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent

stellahadz's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

The first half of the book had me really concerned - I found that it dealt with incredibly heavy subject matter in a shallow way, and I wasn't optimistic about the second half. It felt a bit "devil's advocate" ish, which was uncomfortable to read, and I suspect that was the point. I wish the author had taken more time to explore the relationship between Michael and Ola; it felt like I was told over and over how much they loved each other but I wasn't seeing it at all in their interactions.

The second half did seem to start taking the topics of sexual harassment and abuse of power much more seriously, and from that point on, I tore through the book to learn how everything would play out. I loved the writing style - it reminded me a lot of Zadie Smith (which is a huge compliment; White Teeth is one of my all-time favorite books). Each character in The List had a distinct voice, which really made them come alive. As much as the devil's advocate narrative was uncomfortable to read, and I think the author could perhaps have written it better, the theme of how easily social media can change lives, for better or for worse (and regardless of whether the people in question "deserve it") is an important one. A side character is described as "more than ready to sharpen her pixelated pitchfork until it pointed back at her," which I thought was brilliant. I've seen some criticism of the plot twist, but I actually quite liked it - it reinforces one of the larger points of the book, which is that sometimes things are really, really not what they seem. Jumping to conclusions is exactly how we sometimes miss bigger, more dangerous problems. Spoiler alert: 

sometimes it's not the "instahoes," it's their vengeful boyfriends.

This book loses some points with me just because of how shallow I found the beginning, but I'm still happy to give it 4 stars based on the writing style and the improvement of the story in the second half. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

laurataylor's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment