Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

158 reviews

maziodynes's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

I read this book fairly quickly, and except for some long tangents of telling rather than showing and some wild word choices, I enjoying the writing. But I found myself on a rollar coaster of "wow this is great, I like this!" to cringing at how badly these characters communicate and how off some of the gaming references are.

It's obvious the game development process stuff was well researched. I found myself really enjoying Marx's perspective as a games producer myself. however, the game dev "lingo" and the games they brought up in context were off or didn't make sense for the time (or even the character's personalities). The author researched game dev history, and design, but it seemed like she didnt actually talk to many developers, and it showed. 

The MMO segment at the end was particularly weird from a player perspective - nobody pretends like they arent playing a game unless theres some REALLY stringent RP going on, rare in a full online game unless you have friends you actively slchoose to do it with.

I found any and all mentions of sex in this book to feel far too clinical. It made sense sometimes for Sadie and Sam's over-intellectual povs, but even from Marx who is an emotionally intelligent and loving person, any POV of sex felt completely stripped down of emotion. The scenes felt so impersonal they may have well been omitted, esp when they were one-off sentences of "they had sex." But of course, we get the excruciating physical and emotional details when Sadie is sexually abused by Dov. Make it make sense

This is a personal hangup, but I couldn't get behind was the fact that Sadie kept Dov in her life the entire time. I understood needing to keep the professional relationship for Ichigo, at least at first. But how the is the game that your abuser made your COMFORT GAME? and you're still GETTING BRUNCH with him 10 years later?!? and he gives her that teaching position... it just makes me absolutely sick and soured my perception of Sadie. I wanted to root for her, but between some "not like other girls"-isms and her inability to work on her mental health in any capacity, I just couldn't after a while. And I liked Sam as a character alone, but his obsessive friendship /romantic tension with Sadie was too toxic for me to end up rooting for in the end. 

There were some beautiful lines in this book, some sentiments about life and friendship, and my chosen career that truly moved me. but the relationships between the characters ultimately left me wanting more resolution.

Marx was the emotional heart of this book for me in the end. His second-person chapter reduced me to tears. tbh, that chap alone is why I am giving this a 2.75 instead of 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Car accident, Suicide, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

Minor: Body horror, Cancer, and Terminal illness

getlostmatilda's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Homophobia, Death of parent, Gun violence, Chronic illness, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Car accident, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion

hannah_dv's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.25

It’s a fun book in being about video-games and the creative process but I do think the author was trying to do too much and seemed to use the book to virtue signal her opinion on every possible issue.

The book has suicide, car-crash, chronic pain, amputation, DV, shooting, death, LGBT violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Gun violence, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Ableism, Hate crime, Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Violence

squigglybungus's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Abortion, Suicide, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

laur_o's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Ableism

raptorq's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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: Death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Murder, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Vomit, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Ableism, Suicide, and Car accident

Minor: Physical abuse, Abortion, and Blood

menglert's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I cannot remember who or where recommended this to me but I was not expecting it to be so sad. Maybe it was just a bad time for me to read this but I just ... bleh. It wasn't even like... cathartic sad. It was just sad. 

Definitely check out the content warnings before reading this one because some of them came out of left field. I'm usually a horror/thriller reader, but there were a few scenes that were so jarringly dropped into this story that I got uncomfortable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Death, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Car accident

Moderate: Gaslighting, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Confinement, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Grief, Sexism, and Suicide

Minor: Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Abortion, and Bullying

ashley_turch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

OUCH. 

My only complaint was how little we got from Sadie during the last quarter of the book. But now that I write this maybe that was fully intentional. We would get Sam’s side of the story often when he was really going through it, so I was waiting for Sadie’s side to come and it never did. I could be wrong though and maybe her side wasn’t necessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Medical content, Racism, Blood, Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Car accident, and Homophobia

Moderate: Misogyny, Cancer, and Sexism

Minor: Eating disorder and Abortion

There is mention of an animal injury (possibly unintentionally caused by a person). The animal survives, recovers, and thrives. Can easily skip over the paragraph that discusses the injury to get to the happier times.

handsomelibrarian's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

I was nervous because this book is longer than anything I've read in awhile, but it has been recommended to me many times and I'm so happy I read it! I didn't want it to end. The author's vocabulary is superb. I learned so many delicious words reading this book. Some of the best writing about a disability I have ever read. I relished the passages about Sam's time with his mom and grandparents. By the end of the book, I found myself thinking about friends I haven't talked to awhile, and wanting to catch up with them. I hope this book encourages other readers to reach out to old friends, too. 

Definite content warning about a professor/freshman student relationship that has nonconsensual BDSM aspects, and a separate content warning for gun violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Cancer, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Blood, and Abandonment

setaggu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Cancer, Medical content, Biphobia, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Vomit

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Cancer, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, Antisemitism, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion, Cultural appropriation, and Eating disorder