The List
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3.3 • 257 Ratings
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- £3.49
Publisher Description
The instant Top 5 Sunday Times bestseller
'The Book Of The Summer’ VOGUE
'A page-turning read about the dark side of social media' STYLIST
‘Topical, heartfelt, provocative’ BERNARDINE EVARISTO
‘Impossible to put down’ PAULA HAWKINS
‘A page-turner that you can’t second guess’ THE TIMES
‘Fans of Yellowface will love The List’ RED MAGAZINE
ONLINE RUMOURS. REAL LIFE TROUBLE.
Ola Olajide, a high-profile journalist at Womxxxn magazine, is marrying the love of her life in one month's time. She and her fiancé Michael seem to have it all.
That is, until one morning when they both wake up to the same message:
‘Oh my god, have you seen The List?’
It began as a list of anonymous allegations about abusive men. Now it's been published online. Ola made her name breaking exactly this type of story. But today, Michael's name is on there.
Will the truth behind The List change everything for both of them?
An Evening Standard and The Times book of the year.
*SOON TO BE A MAJOR TV SERIES*
‘Explosive … Every book club should read this’ SYMEON BROWN
‘The book that everyone’s talking about’ INDEPENDENT
‘Terrifyingly good' RUTH JONES
READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH THE LIST:
‘WOW! I could not put this down. I would give it six stars if I could!’
‘Gripping, with twists and turns that keep you hooked until the very end’
‘SO GOOD. Perfect for book clubs … like Such a Fun Age’
Richard & Judy Book Club pick, April 2024
Reviews
‘A page-turning read about the dark side of social media’ STYLIST
‘A total page-turner on the underbelly of life online’ BBC WOMAN'S HOUR
‘One of the hottest books of the year… Topical and vital’ MARIE CLAIRE
‘The Book Of The Summer… Sure to inspire frenzied debate’ VOGUE
'Blistering… a love story for our times’ HARPER'S BAZAAR
‘Impossible to put down. The hype is real’ INDEPENDENT
‘Fun and thought-provoking… A book that's just right for our times’ HARPER'S BAZAAR
‘Punchy, topical and hugely thought-provoking’ GLAMOUR
‘The hottest book of the summer… an incredible commentary on the internet’ BBC RADIO LONDON
‘A gripping social nightmare’ OBSERVER
‘One of the most anticipated books of the summer’ GUARDIAN
‘A compulsive read’ HEAT MAGAZINE
‘Topical, heartfelt, provocative’ BERNARDINE EVARISTO
‘The perfect summer read’ PAULA HAWKINS
‘An enthralling, razor-sharp, witty page-turner’ BOLU BABALOLA
‘Phenomenal’ ABI DARÉ
‘Utterly compelling, immersive and addictive’ SARA COLLINS
'Full of sharp wit and exacting observation’ DIANA EVANS
‘A biting, chilling, prescient page-turner’ DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE
‘Whip-smart and thought-provoking’ RUTH WARE
‘Addictive… will set off a million debates’ ANNIE LORD
‘Unputdownable' NELS ABBEY
‘Explosive … Every book club should read this’ SYMEON BROWN
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
It’s rare to see a tricky topic like cancel culture evaluated with the nuance it deserves, but Yomi Adegoke, in her debut novel The List, makes her astute observations of online mob mentality and the weaknesses inherent to accountability rhetoric look easy. The story centres on Ola and Michael—both young Black media professionals who have enjoyed a certain level of Instagram fame ever since their engagement photo went viral. In the weeks leading up to their wedding, the couple are rocked by an anonymous accusation of harassment and abuse, levelled at Michael, that throws their engagement into jeopardy. Adegoke pulls the threads of Ola and Michael’s internal and external conflicts together seamlessly, as Ola seeks to reconcile her love for Michael with her integrity and need for the truth, while Michael’s conscience wrestles with his despair as the life he has worked so hard to build rapidly begins to fall apart. The couple’s frantic, individual desperation to keep their ugly circumstances as private as possible as they quietly get to the bottom of things clashing with the visibility and volume that comes in tandem with going viral on the internet, makes for unputdownable reading. The payoff is the jaw-dropping ending, whereby the remorseless architect of Ola and Michael’s downfall is finally revealed to the reader. Sharp, measured and thoroughly riveting, The List raises difficult questions—and Adegoke doesn’t shy away from presenting some complex answers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In British writer Adegoke's complex and revelatory U.S. debut, an online magazine editor in London is put in a difficult position after her fiancé is anonymously accused of harassment and physical assault at an office party. Ola Olajide has made her reputation by reporting on predators in the music industry, and she and her partner Michael Koranteng have garnered many online admirers as a prominent Black couple. A month before their wedding, an anonymous list of allegedly abusive men shows up on social media with Michael's name on it. Though he's cheated on Ola in the past, she refuses to believe he's guilty. Michael is convinced that his former fling, Jackie, named him out of revenge for breaking things off with her, though he keeps this suspicion from Ola. Adegoke does a thorough job of tackling the many issues involved: there's strong evidence against other men on the list, which causes Michael to appear guilty by association and attracts ire from an online mob, a situation that hurts Ola's credibility as she neglects to join them in taking down her fiancé. The story is full of poignant turns and nuanced insights, such as when Michael examines how he was negatively conditioned as a boy by a misogynist culture. This page-turner has bite.
Customer Reviews
The List was aite! Far better than i imagined with an overly shared book cover haha!
Intrigued by the aesthetic cover and how artistically quirky it looked, it definitely matched the story! I found this book to be unique, realistic and very intact with the times of today. Exploring dark yet authentically representative problems to modern times; Yomi did a great job with this!
It was probably just me who read it this way, but I loved the diary-like, commentary style that Adegoke was writing! Either intentional or unintentional; this made the book more personal and damn right gossip-blog like (which now looking back on it, was very on theme seeing as The List was on Twitter!).
The middle part of it though, felt repetitive. Like “will they marry?” or “won’t they marry?”, which I get, is the premise of the book. But those parts felt dry and the fact that nothing new was added to the story; I dare say that it could’ve been EVEN shorter than what it was. Although, maybe that’s the reason why?
Nonetheless, I loved the concept, the characters and how realistic it felt like The List was actually real. If only we had one for boys and girls in the real world ey? Haha jk, I’m not sure how society would be like with a list like that 😃 thankfully, it’s a fictional story and one that I wouldn’t read again having read it.
Even though I really related with Michael towards the second to last quarter of the book and what he realised about ‘lad’ culture and how boys talk to each other about women and how it’s portrayed from an outside perspective. Some seriously powerful stuff!
Now that I’ve read it though, I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it. Not to say that it wasn’t a necessary and impact-fully vital book, but being the ‘woke’, switched-on man that I’d like to see myself as (haha, full of myself I know 🤪), it was nothing that I disagreed with or for me individualistically didn’t know about already lol. But thankfully I did read it and I’d divulge for everyone (especially laddish men…) to read it for sure!
The author is incredibly talented and intelligent in the way she wrote from a male’s perspective which I highly rate her for 🙏🏽
You won’t regret reading it
Such a great book for discussion. It took me ages to buy this book because I was like oh my gosh the characters are black no I can’t cope. It was such a good read. I think the book club discussions would probably be even better. Enjoy!
Worth Reading
I almost stopped in the first few chapters but I am glad I didn’t ..,