Book review: The List is a provocative tale about the pitfalls of online social justice

The List 

By Yomi Adegoke
Fiction/4th Estate/Paperback/384 pages/$22/Amazon (amzn.to/40kn7t1) 
3 stars

Olaide Olajide, or Ola, is a renowned feminist journalist.

Described as a voice for the voiceless, a fierce advocate for women’s rights, she reports abuse allegations and pushes for the accused to be held accountable. 

But 26 days before her wedding to Michael, a list of names of alleged perpetrators of abuse is posted on Twitter.

Ola experiences a gratifying sense of justice until she sees a familiar name at the No. 42 spot: her fiance’s.

In her debut novel The List, British author Yomi Adegoke offers a buzzy social commentary on cancel culture, the world of #MeToo, and virtue signalling.

“Would you be okay with other crimes being handled via the court of Twitter?” she asks in the novel.

In the story of Ola’s first-hand encounter with social media justice, Adegoke highlights the paradoxical nature of social media.

While the platform gives power to the voiceless, these voices sometimes are not always truthful, and while the reach of social media is wide, messages often get taken out of context.

Through the eyes of main characters Ola and Michael, Adegoke tries to offer insight into the painful realities of a “he said, she said” world, where gender politics and unwavering loyalty obstruct the pursuit of nuanced truths.

Adegoke depicts both the main characters’ perspectives.

Ola learns that pointing fingers and exposing alleged abusers seems easy and right only when it is not someone whom she loves. She grapples with the repercussions of anonymous online attacks, becoming collateral damage in the allegations against her husband.

The pedestal other women place her on only intensifies her struggle to meet their moral standards.

Through Michael’s perspective, Adegoke paints a harrowing picture of what it is like to undergo trial by Twitter and be hunted by a mob.

Michael allegedly has a restraining order filed against him after harassing whoever put him on the list. Despite his multiple attempts at clearing his name, the online abuse never stops and impacts his life. 

Adegoke captures this mental toll well, by depicting Michael’s descent into depression as he battles the false accusations and keyboard warriors on an anonymous forum, while dealing with his deteriorating relationship with Ola.

In raising tough questions about a society eager to side with the underdog accuser, Adegoke’s writing captures the zeitgeist which has turned against the power of social media.

But there are shortcomings in the book. Adegoke’s plot choices perpetuate harmful narratives about women making false accusations for revenge, particularly in the light of the ending.

There are so many issues raised in the novel – such as victim blaming, misogyny, the power and downsides of social media, and journalism in this day and age – that no particular message shines through.

Perhaps ambiguity could be what Adegoke wanted to convey in her provocative novel – that justice is seldom straightforward, and there is rarely just one truth.

If you like this, read: Asking For It by Louise O’Neill (Quercus UK, 2015, $18.82, Amazon SG, go to amzn.to/49my7Ke), a hard-hitting story about a young woman who is sexually assaulted, and the subsequent trial and media scrutiny that unfold, exposing the harsh realities of societal judgment and the complexities of consent.