A review by alexblackreads
The List by Siobhan Vivian
3.0
I didn't dislike this book, but it was pretty close to a two. It may have actually been a two if I wasn't in just the right mood for a high school drama. I do like Siobhan Vivian, but I don't think this is her best work. I kept thinking there was going to be something more to this story, something different, something beneath the surface, but it was just pretty generic. There's a list of the prettiest and ugliest girl in each grade. Some have good experiences with it, most bad. Then it ends. Very abruptly too. I was reading this on ebook and flipped to the next page not realizing the book had ended.
It almost felt like she was going for social commentary then forgot to add the commentary. I was expecting something, even a heavy handed message, but it seemed a bit lacking. I picked up this book because I'd always been curious as to what it was like beyond the basic premise, but I didn't come up with a whole lot more. It was just kind of par for the course. Being pretty isn't all its cracked up to be. Ugly is a social construct that doesn't mean anything. Love yourself. Looks don't determine your self worth. Etc etc.
My biggest issue was that there were so many characters. Eight different girls narrate, two from each grade to represent the prettiest and ugliest, and that's a lot. By the time I remembered everyone and what their story was, it felt like the book was winding down. It's about 300 pages, but divided by eight means each narrator only gets about 40 pages of screen time. It definitely felt like a number of them were throwaway characters who only existed because the premise demanded it. Each individual story felt so brief that it was almost a little like an after school special. There just wasn't time for much depth.
That being said, there were a few characters whose story I was interested in. Abby and Danielle I was always kind of happy to see, and even Laura to a degree. But three out of eight isn't fantastic odds and I liked Danielle's story despite how painfully generic it was.
I don't know. It wasn't bad and Vivian is definitely a good writer, but there just wasn't much about this book that grabbed me. If you're intensely curious about the premise like I was, then sure go ahead. It kind of felt like a waste of time, but not necessarily in a bad way. I'm reading a lot of YA contemporaries very quickly right now and I was okay with this being one of them.
It almost felt like she was going for social commentary then forgot to add the commentary. I was expecting something, even a heavy handed message, but it seemed a bit lacking. I picked up this book because I'd always been curious as to what it was like beyond the basic premise, but I didn't come up with a whole lot more. It was just kind of par for the course. Being pretty isn't all its cracked up to be. Ugly is a social construct that doesn't mean anything. Love yourself. Looks don't determine your self worth. Etc etc.
My biggest issue was that there were so many characters. Eight different girls narrate, two from each grade to represent the prettiest and ugliest, and that's a lot. By the time I remembered everyone and what their story was, it felt like the book was winding down. It's about 300 pages, but divided by eight means each narrator only gets about 40 pages of screen time. It definitely felt like a number of them were throwaway characters who only existed because the premise demanded it. Each individual story felt so brief that it was almost a little like an after school special. There just wasn't time for much depth.
That being said, there were a few characters whose story I was interested in. Abby and Danielle I was always kind of happy to see, and even Laura to a degree. But three out of eight isn't fantastic odds and I liked Danielle's story despite how painfully generic it was.
I don't know. It wasn't bad and Vivian is definitely a good writer, but there just wasn't much about this book that grabbed me. If you're intensely curious about the premise like I was, then sure go ahead. It kind of felt like a waste of time, but not necessarily in a bad way. I'm reading a lot of YA contemporaries very quickly right now and I was okay with this being one of them.