When I was around fifteen or sixteen, I remember being attracted to the doom-and-gloom romanticism of Joy Division. Ian Curtis’ theatrical aesthetic certainly appeals to the juvenile fascination with tragedy. I haven’t entirely abandoned by youthful penchant for melodrama, but, alas, I left my teens more than a few years ago, and there’s really nothing attractive anymore about a woman in her mid-twenties (all right, beyond her mid-twenties) moping about and listening to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” on an endless loop. Apparently, Tara Ison didn’t get the memo.

The List is about Al and Isabel, who just can’t make their breakup stick. After yet another failed rehearsal, Isabel pragmatically suggested that she and Al create a list of things they want to do before they really end their relationship. Al, being the more idealistic of the pair, wonders why they don’t just allow the relationship to evolve naturally, upon which Isabel says:

Do not start talking about fate or Kismet or written in the stars or whatever excuse you like to come up with for ... letting everything just spin out of control and get ugly. I’m not giving in to that anymore. I can’t. (38)

Most of the dialogue in the novel is in a similar vein – clever and, at times, insightful, but usually teeming with a narcissistic awareness of its own cleverness, so that the characters’ conversations seem scripted and rehearsed.

Like the dialogue, the characters fail to retain the reader’s sympathy or interest. Isabel is an elitist control freak and an anal-retentive overachiever, while Al is a has-been whose most distinguishing attribute is his complete lack of ambition. The writer gives her two protagonists rich inner lives, but feels compelled to enumerate each and every single train of thought they follow. Such heavy-handed attempts to foster intimacy end up doing the opposite, since it’s hard to like characters that are so self-involved. The writing style, like the characters and (let’s be honest) the premise, is equally overwrought. There are a lot of muddled flashbacks employed to give background on Al and Isabel’s previous breakups, but they irritate more than they illuminate, as these passages only heighten the protagonists’ self-importance. Ms. Ison is given to long, meandering sentences that break awkwardly; the writer’s need to spell everything out for her readers is condescending. Describing Isabel’s reaction to Al buying her roses, she writes:

The sink was full of roses, the countertops, the floor, tea roses, American Beauty, long-stem, bush roses, roses she didn’t know, all wet, crushed, lovely, bruised, perfect, imperfect, a multitude of flowers and buds, broken stems, all the reds, greens, yellows, oranges, pinks, whites, a kitchen full of thorns and blooms. The floor confettied with petals. She wouldn’t have enough vases, not for so many roses. What a mess. What to do when you’re given so much? (191)

The tone of The List stays consistently whiny and precious, and its few genuinely moving moments of lyricism are bogged down by incessant navel-gazing. Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is only three minutes long, which is why its relentless gloominess doesn’t get tiresome (at least not right away). The same can’t be said of The List, however. If, perhaps, the novel had been thoughtfully edited to temper the writer’s indulgent histrionics, it would have been a more satisfying read. As it is, The List reminds me of pretentious, pseudo-suffering, aging hipsters who just can’t seem to weed out the black from their wardrobe.

Originally posted on my Vox and my LJ. ( )

When it comes to matters of the heart, there's always a story to tell. And when it comes to ambivalent relationships, the mysterious element that keeps bringing together two individuals who obviously weren't made for each other makes for an intriguing read. In The List, Tara Ison attempts to analyse such a relationship.

The novel is about hearts, both literally and figuratively. Isabel is a promising medical student, just about to graduate and become a heart surgeon. While she deals with her life in a very practical way (as is befitting a med student), her on-and-off again boyfriend, Al, prefers to let life pass by with as little effort as possible. Al used to be a promising film director, and even made a movie that went on to achieve cult status. But then he loses confidence and ends up working as a clerk in a video rental store. In short, he becomes a slacker and somewhat of a loser.

So with both of them at extremely opposite poles, it's obvious that they're often at each other's necks. And so they break up. Yet, something always pulls them together again. And the cycle continues. The repeated breakups strain each other and their friends, so Isabel suggests they do a list. Each will chose 5 items they have always wanted to do together but never had the chance. After completing these 10 items, they will break up amicably and remain friends. Isabel hopes that this will provide closure for both of them so they won't repeat the ridiculous cycle again. As is usual with such things, things don't go as planned, and spiral out of control.

While I find Tara Ison a good writer, I wonder if she would be more at home at script writing. There's a scene in the book, told from Al's "director" point-of-view, and it is written in script format. I particularly enjoyed that scene more than the rest of the book. I have to admit, it took me a while to get into the "spirit" of the book. The List starts out slow, and from the perspective of Isabel. Her character did little to make me like her but she did grow on me later on. Al's a little more lovable, but he's a typical jerk-slacker type, so he's not much better. The book starts to shine when they reach near the end of the list and Al starts to find ways to make Isabel stay around him longer. ( )

It's an interesting concept, this. Having been in one or two destructive relationships, I could empathise with both the characters, and am having some perverse delight in watching them drive each other crazy. Been there, done that, take sadistic pleasure in watching it happen to two complete strangers! But even if I hadn’t, the way the characters are introduced entices the reader into their lives in such a way that one feels a part of their lives. It's all written in the present tense, of which I'm not usually a fan, but it works here, keeping the reader involved in the action. There’s also the added twist of the chapters being narrated, turn and turn about, by the protagonists, so that the inner thoughts of each are exposed.

This had moments of very dark humour that had my doing my "Evil Mastermind" laugh every now and then. It gets slightly surreal near the end as the actions of the characters get more twisted and extreme, but it still manages to keep on track and delivers an ending that is perhaps slightly unexpected.

Not having read Ison’s previous novel, I can’t say whether or not this style is typical of her, but her style is certainly appealing and I would be interested in reading more of her work in future. ( )

Folk wisdom about love proclaims that opposites, like magnets, attract. Tara Ison’s second novel, The List, depicts the obstacles and darkly comic circumstances of two opposites trying repeatedly to tear themselves apart. Isabel, a gifted heart surgeon about to begin her residency, and Al, a video store clerk and director whose only film turned into a cult-classic, are involved in a toxic relationship where neither of them is capable of breaking the cycle of enabling the other’s destructive behavior. In a vain attempt to bring her chaotic personal life into the kind of black and white order her career contains, Isabel and Al create a list of things they always talked about doing together but never got around to, and then proceed to ceremoniously check the activities—a sunset walk on the beach, steamed clams on the Santa Monica Pier—off in order to bring closure to their dysfunctional relationship. But like their every attempt to smooth things over, eventually things take a wrong turn with their final plan. They persist with The List (sometimes with the begrudging notion of completion rather than enjoyment) and destroy a little bit of each other with every item they cross off.

Unlike in many relationship crisis novels, Ison manages to balance strong plot development with an insightful examination of the emotional and psychological rollercoaster that Al and Isabel experience in The List. The narrative voices of both main characters are clearly distinguished as each chapter shifts between their points of view, and decisions that might otherwise seem haphazard are justified as the story is not just told, but experienced through the eyes of both Al and Isabel. The strength of this novel is not in the main characters alone, though. Because of the depth of the minor cast of this novel the audience is able to experience the relationship as intimately as Isabel and Al, and at the same time clearly see how their behavior is comically destructive through the eyes of family and friends.

Anyone who has ever done something seemingly out of character, irrational, or sacrificial because of love will immediately recognize and appreciate the complexity of The List. Emotions and rationalizations don’t fit into any neat little boxes (though, Al and Isabel would argue that their lives can be seen in terms of physiology and classic film), and Ison’s treatment of the down-spiral of a relationship is unapologetic and gritty. In short, it’s real. Readers will certainly find the characters conflicted, but may be surprised by their own shifting allegiances between Al and Isabel, what is healthy and unhealthy, and whether or not they should stay together in the end.

The List is a captivating, nearly voyeuristic look at the reality of a contemporary conflict in love—to stay with a partner for the sake of comfort and the looming ticking of a biological clock and career, or to enter into the frightening world of independence and being single. The journey blends dark humor, vulnerable intimacy, and snapshots of the highs and lows that virtually anyone in the dating world can, perhaps disconcertingly, recognize. With her sharp wit, honesty about love, humor about dysfunction, and her gift for unforgettable characters, Tara Ison crafts an addictive story that leaves the Al or Isabel in us wanting more.

Review by D.M. Papuga
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