Review: The List by Siobhan Vivian

The List

By: Siobhan Vivian

Pub. Date: April 1, 2012

Publisher: Push

Pages: 332

Source: ARC

An intense look at the rules of high school attraction -- and the price that's paid for them. 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.

I actually wasn't planning on reading The List right now, but when some bloggers that I talk to on twitter started discussing it, I had to get on the bandwagon and see what all of the talk was about. Wow! I seriously was not expecting such a great book. Siobhan Vivian's ability to weave eight different point of views in one story was admirable, and was executed wonderfully!

The Monday before Homecoming, a mysterious student determines who the prettiest girl and the ugliest girl is in each class grade. The List is the story of the eight girls that were chosen this year, and how the list affects them. The worst thing about this is that the list isn't some sort of prank, it happens every single year, and it is a tradition for the students. The first eight chapters is each girl's POV of hearing the news that they were on the list. Some are delighted, others are angry and can't believe it. It was really sad, and I could only imagine the pain that the "ugly" girls felt. The girls that were labeled pretty, were of course surprised and delighted by the outcomes list, but you start to see how it changes them as well.

You would think it would be hard to feel so connected to eight different characters, but that is not the case at all. I really cared for every single one of them.  The writing was fantastic, and I liked that there was a copy of the list at the beginning of the book. I found myself referring to the list a lot in the first few chapters to remind myself who all of the girls were. Despite this, I wasn't confused with all of the POVs.

The only issue that I found myself having was that I wish there was some sort of epilogue at the end, some sort of closure about the girls. There were a lot of unanswered questions, and I really wished these questions were answered and the ending wasn't left so open-ended.

Other then that, I really enjoyed The List. This was the first book that I read from Siobhan Vivian, and I am looking forward to reading her other books!