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magicgone 's review for:

The List by Yomi Adegoke
4.0

4.5 rounded down because the ending is a liiiittttle iffy for me. But I am shocked at how divisive this book seems to be because I really loved it. I was gripped, could not put it down. I found this to be very layered and human and it forces a lot of “what would I do in this situation?” moments of introspection. There’s a lot to unpack and mull over in this.

I’m sure there are flaws and valid critiques. There’s definitely some problems with the way Jackie is described as crazy + we’re never really shown what causes that & in fact a lot of the “she’s crazy” accusations leveled at her are disproven when we meet the jealous boyfriend of it all. A POV chapter or 2 from her, an interlude with her motivations, her experience with Michael, could’ve helped alleviate that.
And I can see where the annoyance with the false accusations plot line comes from - because we definitely don’t need any more simpering narratives about that shit - but I don’t feel like this book came across particularly apologetic or protective of falsely accused men. I think it’s important that we can still see the nuance of: the accusations might be false, but Michael is still an asshole, a cheater, a manipulator, a liar, a typical everyday variation of shitty man that every woman has dealt with.


Recommending to all my friends for sure