The List: The Instant Sunday Times bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club Pick - 'Terrifyingly Good' - Ruth Jones

SPOILERS ALERT:The List was incredibly gripping and I finished it in 2 days as I absolutely had to know what happened so on that respect hats off to Adegoke who I'm a huge fan of.The characters were interesting if not a little clichéd and I did enjoy the read however not particularly groundbreaking.Although despite all this I find the victimisation of men and the 'twist' that at least two of the men on the list had been falsely accused for revenge, to be wholely irresponsible in the current climate considering women already have a hard time being believed. It kind of made me sad because I was really rooting for Adegoke and this book.This is not to say the above does not happen but it made be uncomfortable, especially when framed in a feminist context. The book tried to compensate by reminding us constantly that the majority of abuse allegations are true, but the apologist nature made me uncomfortable.

Brought up thought provoking topics re relationships. Brought up topics about the internet, what to believe or not and how it can change and damage lives. Did not always feel sympathetic towards characters, still found the book a good read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5#ThinkFirst is the most important message to take from this book, especially with all the constant discourse on Booktok. Everyone who believes in cancel culture, everyone who believes in guilty until proved innocent, and everyone who believes there's no smoke without fire should read this book. Fortunately, I'm none of those people so I spent a lot of this book frustrated; this felt so real and could be many people's story. I was so angry when reading a lot of this and because of that, the book was always going to get a high rating from me.When I first heard about The List, months ago, I knew I absolutely had to read it. And I'm so glad that I did. The use of culture and emotions added so much to this story; it was so emotive and so informative. Had Ola's actions been different then I probably would have given this 5 stars but I didn't feel like we had enough of the background of their relationship to work out whether what she did was justified? At this point I don't think it was and I don't feel any sympathy towards her chatacter, whereas I wanted to be rooting for them both.A really thought-provoking read. #ThinkFirst

I personally found this book a bit of a slog and called time 1/2 way in. For me, the text often felt quite try- hard and overly descriptive, relying on classic chick-lit phrases (her long legs swinging, stretching languidly, messy mop, jaw carved from stone etc) to drive us very slowly forward. I also struggled to feel much towards any of the characters - they felt exaggerated yet flat at once. I think it's a good read for the tiktok book club crowd who love Coleen Hoover etc, but I reckon at mid-30's I'm likely not the target audience anyway.

Was excited to read as follow a few titles in the book club. Initially wasn't what I was expecting and found the main characters slightly shallow so struggled to connect but it actually got really good and was quite thought provoking in the end.

**********CONTAINS SPOILERS*******When I started this I really struggled with the premise that women lie about abuse. I believe we should believe women who claim they have been abused. I was worried I was reading a mens rights book about women being liars. However the more I read, the more I realised how complex this book is. Yes, we should believe women, however publishing a 'list' on social media is not the best way to go about this. It endangers the very women it aims to protect, subjecting them to abuse and amateurs pulling their stories apart, and ultimately subjecting them to more abuse. The police receive training in how to deal with cases like this, the average twitter user doesn't. However, if the police system was better at dealing with abuse cases, maybe women wouldn't have to resort to posting 'lists'. I loved the line 'if one woman is a liar, we're all liars', which is so true. Ultimately, social media justice rarely helps anyone and makes things worse for victims. The characters were complex and human which I loved, whilst Michael wasn't guilty of the crimes he was accused of, he was guilty of treating Jackie badly, possibly even a type of abuse? His friends discussions of abusive men were awful. Ola's dilemma was interesting, being on the other side of self righteous 'clickbait' campaigning. Ultimately, this novel raises questions about online activism, how helpful social media clickbate is towards social justice (and whether the motives behind it are pure), how people present themselves and lie to and about themselves, male friendships, male mental health, and lots more. I'm still thinking about it now. Thought provoking and complex, would definitely recommend.

Read it for my book club and it was great!

I didn’t particularly like the book. I think the social media started out as way to stay connected with family and friend. However, it has turned into a weapon to destroy a lot of lives through bullying, greed, and in the guise of monitoring people’s opinions. It has turned into a way to indoctrinate, control, and bully others.

What I missed is the threat victims of abuse receive when speaking out, their point of view, their fear for their life, the male point of view gets a lot of space, what is excellent to read, this refuse of responsibility and reality; it is more often that victims of abuse lose their jobs, friends,, respectability- just follow what #rammstein is doing to the women who dare to speak out; in this book the focus was too much on the 1 (one) percent lying, not on the 99 percent and their huge number, not to mention the huge number of assaults and rape without any legal steps, in the dark forever; I expected in the end a swift but not to be on the understanding side of a villain - three stars, excellent style and gripping but the missing stars go to the suffering and injustice done to victims

Hard to put this down as it's a gripping read

A very relevant story when you consider all the emphasis on the me too movement. Makes you really stop and think about the injustice some women and men are force to deal with,and the lengths some people will go to seek revenge.

A fantastic, clever, novel, brilliantly written with interesting characters. I read it in two days - it was absolutely gripping.