Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

810 reviews

spicyviolets's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad 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

A beautifully written book with characters that feel entirely fleshed out and grounded. It manages to be a love letter to the art of video games, and the healing powers of play, while not shying away from the systemic flaws in both the gaming industry and the community. 
Sam and Sadie are incredibly well-written. Both their own stories, and their relationship to each other are told woven and layered together in an incredibly unique way that was so entertaining to read. They’re deeply flawed, complex, often unlikeable (but I was always able to empathize with them both) and beautifully human characters. Gabrielle Zevin nailed this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gun violence, Mental illness, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

hannah_the_bookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Stalking, and Pregnancy

lidenek's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring sad 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

4.0

Don’t know why I waited so long to read this. The way the story is told is beautiful. So many different perspectives, and timelines but woven together seamlessly! Beautiful story of friendship and trauma. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

bethanystone13's review against another edition

The writing didn't grab me. I felt a little off kilter from the way it swapped narrator and timeline within the chapters so found it hard to follow at points

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Content Warnings

Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

wisewayfarer's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is somehow enjoyable but frustrating all at the same time. The characters play to realism and complicated relationships but I kept finding myself needing to step away from the characters out of irritation. Regardless, it is a complex and interesting read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness

dungeonsanddonkeys's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

starduststyx's review against another edition

People always wanna recommend this book to ppl who know nothing about gamedev and think oh wow what a great book about games this is but its just wrong. 

Besides the author not crediting the work of Brenda Romero who inspired the game "Solution" ( Zevin credits her husband for his games btw so she SHOULD'VE credit Brenda for her game "Train" inspiring "Solution) and being a zionist ( literally attended a "right for israel to exist" convention ) this book is just not good.

I stopped about 30% of the way there. I can't say the exact page because it was digital and I need the font to be bigger meaning the book is longer than it should, but as a gamedev it also just hurt to read. It's written in a way that's easy to devour but hard to process because some of the serious topics even in this first half I read was not handled properly. You're presented with this story that's supposed to be about this amazing friendship but it's just about it's complicated downfall from what I can gather so far. The book does have it's good moments when writing about Sam and Sadie, but the way the two of them talk about their creations make it feel a bit empty. You can evision the story and the characters and the visuals but the way you play the way these characters move are just things we barely gather. I think Solution was the only game I could clearly visualize besides EmilyBlaster. 

Yknow, if the author wasn't a zionist and apologized for not crediting Brenda Romero I would actually finish the book because like. How do you write a book about woman not being credited just to do that as the author. Agh I have so many more words to say but I feel it's just a waste. If you like the book. I get it. It's like enjoying a mcdonalds burger. But fuck this. I can spend my time doing better things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

ritte_e's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Hate crime

Moderate: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

delimeats's review against another edition

The continuous trauma and horrific things that happen in the characters lives, but then are never discussed, were starting to annoy me. It all came to a head when the book turned to second pov, and I became entirely uninterested in the rest of the story. Somehow, so much happnes but nothing occurs. Also the increasingly thesaurus.com sentences were tough to get through. While the book does have good bones and some good messages the admittedly non-graphic, but still present,

SA, suicide, toxicity,  injuries,  car accident, abortion, and gun violence

really drown out the moral of the story in order to include trauma and talking points for the characters, rather than advance the story itself.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, and Abortion

The content warnings in this book, save for

the shooting and the sexual abuse

are easy to skip because they do not heavily impact the story. Take that as you will :/

miketee182's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Vomit and Abortion