The List by Siobhan Vivian
Released: April 1, 2012
Publisher: Push
Pages: 332
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Carey
Synopsis: 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.
Review:
I honestly have no idea how I feel about this novel, so this is really hard to review. I wanted to like this so much. When I saw this book on the shelf, probably a year ago, and read the inside cover, I was so excited to read it. It sounded so good. And I got so excited when I saw that this was at the library when I did.
For starters, Vivian decided to write this in eight point of views. I repeat, eight point of views. The two girls from each grades, one ugly, one pretty. Eight girls. They all have their own problems, despite the list. And let me tell you, Vivian decides to go there. One girl struggles with anorexia, for example. And all of the girls do grow somewhat over the course of the Homecoming week. But majority of the time, the characters really annoyed me. Even the minor characters, like Andrew (Danielle's boyfriend) and Fern (Abby's older sister). I think the only character that didn't annoy me was Lisa, Abby's best friend. And that's probably only because she literally had maybe seven lines in the entire 332 page novel.
There was a major plot twist in the end, though, which definitely made it worth reading the entire thing. It was so surprising, and I just loved it. And it really explained a lot, too. Not that I can spoil anything for you.
Besides the whole eight point of view thing, I hated the fact that majority of the girls didn't really have an ending. Margo won queen, Jennifer didn't, Abby didn't go to the dance, and Sarah showered. But what about the other girls? Did Bridget's anorexia get better? Did Lauren's mommy (which by the way, what high school sophomore calls her mother 'mommy?') still pull her out of high school? Did Candace's friends accept her again? And what about Danielle? All we know by the end of the book is who won homecoming queen and who made the list, and why that person chose these eight people to be on the list. And that it why it received only three stars.
For starters, Vivian decided to write this in eight point of views. I repeat, eight point of views. The two girls from each grades, one ugly, one pretty. Eight girls. They all have their own problems, despite the list. And let me tell you, Vivian decides to go there. One girl struggles with anorexia, for example. And all of the girls do grow somewhat over the course of the Homecoming week. But majority of the time, the characters really annoyed me. Even the minor characters, like Andrew (Danielle's boyfriend) and Fern (Abby's older sister). I think the only character that didn't annoy me was Lisa, Abby's best friend. And that's probably only because she literally had maybe seven lines in the entire 332 page novel.
There was a major plot twist in the end, though, which definitely made it worth reading the entire thing. It was so surprising, and I just loved it. And it really explained a lot, too. Not that I can spoil anything for you.
Besides the whole eight point of view thing, I hated the fact that majority of the girls didn't really have an ending. Margo won queen, Jennifer didn't, Abby didn't go to the dance, and Sarah showered. But what about the other girls? Did Bridget's anorexia get better? Did Lauren's mommy (which by the way, what high school sophomore calls her mother 'mommy?') still pull her out of high school? Did Candace's friends accept her again? And what about Danielle? All we know by the end of the book is who won homecoming queen and who made the list, and why that person chose these eight people to be on the list. And that it why it received only three stars.
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