Bren fall in love with the sea.'s Reviews > The List

“That's how inside jokes usually are. Funny to those inside, annoying as shit to the rest of the world.”
― Siobhan Vivian, The List

This is going to be a tough book to review. I say that because for most of the book I thought it was going to be five stars. I loved it..until the end. And if you have read this I am sure you will guess my complaint because I have read several reviews that all mention what I am going to mention.

So this book is from the POV of eight different High School girls. Every year, at this school a list comes out. The list contains eight names. The prettiest and the ugliest girl from each grade. That's it.

The book is about the impact of the list for each of those eight girls..the four voted prettiest and the four voted least pretty.

I adore realistic YA Fiction and for most of it, I enjoyed this book. The characters were real and fleshed out and I was amazed at how well the author got into the heads of these young girls.

You know, connecting to characters is pivotal in any book. And I admire the writer for taking us down the path of EIGHT different girls, each so distinctive that their voices were heard clearly and the reader could feel their angst and pain.

And unlike some, I had no issue with having so many POVS. I really didn't. One of my all time favorite YA books, Lois Duncan's "Daughters of Eve" has I believe TEN..or possibly more..POV'S. So what's eight? Works for me!

What did not work for me was the ending. And I am not one to take TWO points off for an ending. But it was such a let down to such an awesome book and the last book I read this year to complete my reading challenge. I was hoping for a five!

ENDING SPOILERS:

OK..I could have understood if one or two of the girls were not touched upon. But the book does not tell us about how things turn out for ANY of the girls! Now that is not my thing. I invested hours of my day reading this. And the end is so sudden I had to go back to make sure I had not missed something.

We do not know ANYTHING. It is like the book HAD no ending. You are just reading and it stops. Meanwhile all the characters you are invested in..I mean you find out NOTHING. You do not even find out what happens at this dance the whole book was leading up to. The book ends with about two percent of the book devoted to the dance.

I do not think these type of endings are hip or cool or thought provoking at all. Not when the books seems UNFINISHED. Unless this is a start of a new series and I don't know that, (in which case I will happily apologize and bump my rating up to a five) then I don't get it.I almost feel like..what was the point?

And I do feel cheated and now the whole book feels a bit manipulative. All that fighting..everyone is mad at someone. And such deep issues are explored. Can we, the reader, not know anything about how one thing in the book turns out? It maybe one of the oddest endings I've ever read. I am not kidding.

I also felt for Jennifer and could not stand Margo even though I felt at the end the writer was attempting to give her some soul. It did not work as she may have been my least favorite character. And she gets crowned Homecoming queen. That's it. None of the other seven girls, all in the midst of deep emotional issues, are even mentioned again. What gives?

What Jennifer did was pretty horrible but she was one hurting puppy and I got that. Margo on the other hand..I could not feel anything for her but contempt.

I LOVED Laura. I want Laura as a friend! In fact she reminds me of one of my closest friends. What a beautifully woven character!

So a three rating it is. I adored the book for ninety percent and that count for something. If you don't mind having literally no ending, you will most likely enjoy the book if you like YA.