Book Review #143: The List by Yomi Adegoke

Journalist Ola is set to marry Michael, the love of her life. But when she wakes up a month before the wedding to see a list of anonymous accusations of abuse, the kind of story she'd love to write about, she is horrified to discover that Michael's name is on it. Suddenly Ola's entire life is thrown into question, including whether or not she can marry Michael at all.

I had heard so many things about this book before I picked it up. The response seemed to be very mixed, but the sheer volume of people talking about it alone made me want to see what I thought of it.

I liked this book, but I definitely understand both the positive and negative reviews.

The first thing I noted was how authentic the dialogue sounded. You can tell that the locations the book is set in are familiar spaces to the author, and this is reflected in the dialogue, the locations and the references. Everything feels real.

The concept is really interesting, particularly seeing this story from the point of view of the accused and their loved ones, rather than the victim. It does a really good job of putting us directly into the characters' heads.

I particularly liked that we're in Michael's head, rather than being detached from him. It allowed us to view him as a 3-dimensional person. And I can understand how this has led to negative reviews in the vein of making the accused the victim, because we are led to view Michael as the potential victim of a false campaign. But from a character stance, putting the reader in his head gives us the opportunity to make up our own minds about him, and to therefore delve deeper into the story.

I thought it was realistic the way everyone around the character of Ola had a 'guilty until proven innocent' mindset, but I wasn't sure what the narrative message of this was. Who are we supposed to root for? Are we supposed to feel sorry for Michael? Are we supposed to give Ola grace? 

I had no idea where the story was going in this respect, and after finishing the book I'm not sure if that was a good thing or not.

I felt like the pacing was a bit off. It was interesting to see the countdown to the wedding but it went way too quickly. I think the story would have benefitted from spacing this out a bit more. 

By the time the book ended I felt like I was waiting for a twist that never came, and so I ended up being a bit disappointed. One reason for this was that I think Michael's guilt or innocence is revealed too early on. Once we know the truth, and we know Ola's decision, what else is there to see?

Overall, this is a really original, authentically told story. While I really enjoyed reading it and going on this journey, the reveal of the truth behind the accusations kind of validates some of the negative reviews that maybe this story isn't the best to add to the 'me too' conversation.

3.5/5