Friday, June 1, 2012

Review: The List

The List by Siobhan Vivian

Publisher: Push
Pages: 332
Source: Library
Genre: Contemporary
Challenges: Contemporary Challenge, Standalone Challenge 
Goodreads

An intense look at the rules of high school attraction -- and the price that's paid for them.

It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.
When I first heard what this book was about I knew right away that I had to read it. The idea was very intriguing and I loved the cover and I knew it was going to be special. This is the story of eight girls (two from each grade) who go to the same high school. Every year at this school two girls from each grade are chosen to be put on the list, one is named prettiest- one ugliest. Together these girls slowly come together to change this tradition and stop the list once and for all.

This book is told in eight points of view, telling the stories of each of the girls throughout the story. When I first heard that there were so many narrators I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep up with each of the girls, but surprisingly I found it fairly easy after each character had been introduced. Each girl had something that they had to overcome in the story, weather it was a fight with a sister, or facing a friend you ditched years ago, or facing the fact that she has an eating disorder.

The plot revolves around the girls of the list overcoming their differences and battling issues in their own lives to find out who created the list and stop it once and for all. Overall I really enjoyed the story that was being told and how well it was written. The one thing I didn't like about the story was the ending. The end left a lot of issues un-faced and was left wide open. The end was very incomplete and I really wish some of the questions that were left had been answered.

Overall the story is very well written but the ending was very incomplete.

2 comments:

  1. This one is on my Summer To Read list! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

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  2. I'm happy that you liked this one, like I did! I was surprised, like you, about how easy it was to keep up with all the characters. I feel like the author gave them each a unique situation and voice, so it was easy to tell them all apart. And I TOTALLY agree about the ending!! I was like, what the heck? It was SO cut off, like a total cliffhanger. I wish we would have gotten more of an ending! Fabulous review, Erika! =)

    -Aneeqah @ My Not So Real Life

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