Aj the Ravenous Reader's Reviews > The List

Often it pays to be just in the middle of things-to be your ole regular, average self because often it sucks to be at the bottom just as it does to be on top (no innuendos intended^^) and The List accurately portrays this reality of life and what better setting can effectively show this than high school?

Labels are annoyingly inevitable part of social life and to young people’s crucial, formative years, labels may tremendously affect their self worth. Mount Washington High School’s ominous list containing the names of the ugliest and prettiest girls of every grade has become the high school’s yearly tradition and whether the girls in the school admit it or not, this list has affected them one way or another whether they are in the list or not but worse when they ARE.

I found myself completely glued in to the novel as I curiously flip page after page wanting to know what happens to these eight girls after seeing their names in the list. I was very impressed with Ms. Siobhan Vivian’s ability to voice out the inner thoughts and inner workings of these eight different girls. I find her plotline very manipulative because I keep flipping back to the list as I delve on through each of the girls’ stories. Surprisingly, the list affected the girls in different ways- some constructively, some destructively but I was particularly rooting for a few girls like Dannielle and Sarah.

Although the story was cut short and which I actually resented a bit because I’m still looking for proper resolutions, I think the author is trying to be as realistic as possible by insinuating that these labels will not stop. It’s entirely up to us how we’ll handle and react to these labels.