title: The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters
author:  Aneva Stout 
description: Stout's debut novel is a clever hybrid of meta-fiction and gift book: this slim, illustrated hardcover is a love story composed entirely of second-person affirmation-style list entries, none more than two or three dozen words. The result offers all the guilty pleasures of chick litthe snarky humor of a good glossy magazine and the soothing cadences of a girl-loses-boy-girl-finds-boy-girl-dumps-boy plotwith a precise breakdown of the newest behemoth genre which, at its best, refines the form to poetic abstraction without sacrificing readability: "248. You'll wonder how he keeps his bathroom tile so sparkling. 249. He'll say, 'Are you okay?' 250. You'll say, 'Don't stop!' " It can grate when its heroine (you) hews too close to clich, but Stout generally avoids easy laughs at her character's/audience's expense. Though brief, the book has enough drama, emotional resonance and sharp throw-away lines ("333. You'll look in his closet. 334. You'll find something you wish you hadn't. <i>a. A closet that's neater than your living room. b. Twister. c. A videotape labeled: Aruba.</i>") to make it worth revisiting, either in part or whole. Simultaneously, the "high art" fiction conceit reinvigorates the "low-art" gift-book genre it appropriatesnot a major achievement ( la <i>The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay</i> or Lorrie Moore's <i>Self-Help</i>), but no small feat either. <i>(Apr.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  # Untouchable
  
  
  ### A Bully Romance
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Sam Mariano
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Author’s Note](part0005.html#4OIQ0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 1](part0006.html#5N3C0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 2](part0007.html#6LJU0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 3](part0008.html#7K4G0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 4](part0009.html#8IL20-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 5](part0010.html#9H5K0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 6](part0011.html#AFM60-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 7](part0012.html#BE6O0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 8](part0013.html#CCNA0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 9](part0014.html#DB7S0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 10](part0015.html#E9OE0-35ba95e5c96543d5af0f33e2155da232)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 11](part0016.html#F8900-35ba95e5c96543d5af