Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

728 reviews

gvstyris's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The way to turn an ex-lover into a friend is to never stop loving them, to know that when one phase of a relationship ends it can transform into something else. It is to acknowledge that love is both a constant and a variable at the same time. 

Man. Such an engaging read, and Zevin plays with literary techniques quite creatively, particularly in the novel's last few sections. Marx's character was truly such a highlight (although his name choice is...questionable?), especially as Sadie/Sam grew increasingly unlikeable and cold.

Zevin's consideration of platonic and romantic love here is also so, so validating.

It soon becomes refreshingly irrelevant whether Sadie and Sam's relationship is romantic, because of how it is underpinned regardless by their mutual love and fascination with one-another.

I appreciated that decision a lot, particularly as someone pretty jaded with our wider culture's obsession with romance.

I do have a lot of research to do about this novel's various plagiarism & Zionism controversies, however...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Racism, Cancer, Racial slurs, Medical content, Homophobia, and Ableism

Minor: Abortion and Antisemitism

drj's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, and Cancer

Minor: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Vomit

codemasterpi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Dov is the worst. I am angry that there were no consequences for him from anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Death, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, and Biphobia

Minor: Cancer, Abortion, Eating disorder, Racism, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Misogyny

rqs8236's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Hate crime, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, and Homophobia

mloschi's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this book, I like the complexity of the characters and the various forms of attachment, friendship, love and partnership depicted. I’ve never read a book about video games before and found the descriptions of the game design very captivating. I read this very quickly for a bookclub discussion and liked exploring it with others after finishing. I think at times the author can be a little heavy handed with the allusions and some vocabulary choices took me out of the flow (kinda felt like words pulled from the thesaurus for the sake of it rather than adding value sometimes). Once I got over that and into the flow of the larger story I really enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Death, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Grief

marmorienkeli's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.25

I don’t really understand why this book is so loved. I mean, it wasn’t bad but it really wasn’t that good either? Somehow hollow dialogue and I didn’t really love the characters, they felt almost flat at times. The only likeable character

died near the end, and I thought ”Why should I even continue reading this?” And this is my own problem, but I dislike pregnancy tropes in books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death, and Car accident

Moderate: Abortion, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit

rosie_sloan's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

Minor: Death, Car accident, Suicide, and Death of parent

jkull_10's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Gun violence

bbmaan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Cancer, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abortion, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Car accident, Death, Drug use, and Homophobia

auniverseinside's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Car accident, Mass/school shootings, Death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, and Grief