The List: A Novel

The List is an irreverent, sophisticated take on the classic breakup story. In fierce and exquisite prose, Tara Ison has written an astonishing story of love and hate.

Isabel is finishing medical school and destined to become a brilliant heart surgeon. Al is a video store clerk, a one-hit-wonder director whose first and only film became a cult classic. Their electric, passionate, and deeply maddening relationship can't possibly work. Tired of endlessly coming together and breaking up, they make a list of ten things to do before they finally say good-bye. But after a few perfect dates the list takes a dark turn, and their plan spirals out of control as they realize they would rather destroy each other than let go.

Tara Ison, whose first novel, A Child Out of Alcatraz, was a finalist for the 1997 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best First Fiction, traverses the incredibly rich psychological territory of a doomed love affair. The List is a stunning portrait of a couple on the brink.

ISBN: 9780743294157
Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Publisher: Scribner
Published: September 03, 2011

"The List is one fast-paced, word-drunk, film-obsessed, sidesplitting roller-coaster: a screwball comedy, an anti-romance romance, the quintessential L.A. novel. Ison is some kind of genius." -- Brad Kessler, author of Birds in Fall "The List is both wise and wicked about love: why it lasts or doesn't, and what's to be done about it. Tara Ison limns her characters' choices with dark precision and wit." -- Meg Wolitzer, author of The Position and The Wife "The List is visceral, honest, and intensely readable; Ison builds two complex, memorable characters, and then embraces their layers and contradictions, both alone and together. A highly enjoyable book." -- Aimee Bender, author of Willful Creatures and The Girl in the Flammable Skirt "A searing portrait of an American family . . . memorable." -- Glamour "A sad, often beautiful novel . . . provocative." -- The Boston Book Review