Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

408 reviews

jlbailey831's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

In a lot of ways, this was a great book. I want to play the games. The writing is good. The emotions felt very real. Marx, Dong Hyun, and Bong Cha were perfect and I loved them. But, Sadie and Sam were kind of awful. Dov was actually awful. And I don’t think I’ve ever had to look up more words in a book than in this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Medical content, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Hate crime

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Cancer, and Terminal illness

the_milof's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Drug use, Grief, Sexism, Gun violence, Murder, Medical trauma, and Sexual content

narbine's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Torture, Sexual violence, Cursing, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Vomit, and Misogyny

Moderate: Stalking, Ableism, Gaslighting, Abortion, Abandonment, Cancer, and Religious bigotry

miwandie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Car accident, Chronic illness, Sexism, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Cancer, and Medical content

iconicavocado's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Book 📖: 5/5 stars

Audiobook 🎙️: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

(Audio was a 3 but the unexpected secondary narrative gives it a 4 for creativity.)

This isn't a love story in the way of traditional love stories.

This isn't a miscommunication trope in the way that is traditional tropes.

It's a love story, at it's core about friendship. It's a story about two people fundamentally shaped by the obstacles and challenges in their life which they in turn accidentally build similar obstacles in each other's lives. Where the only way they can show their love and connection is through their love of video games. 

As I read this book I kept having this feeling that it is like a palindrome - a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards (ex: "racecar" or 12:21). The characters, themes, stories... they volley back and forth in this circular pattern that simultaneously holds this melancholy and hope. It's a book of neverending comradry and loneliness.  It is both endearing and depressing. It's frustrating and completely relatable. The writing is even weaved in a way that reveals layers of the past, present, and future interchangeably. 

Marx was my favorite character. I saw so much of myself in him. However Sadie and Sam are the main characters. They are flawed characters to a T. The antiheroes to themselves and each other. As much as they'd frustrate me, I fell in love with them too. 

This book at its peaks was captivating. And maybe at it's worst: overplaying is own quirkiness. But those moments are few. This is ambitious, labor of love. I admire this author swinging for the fences on something as abstract and creative as this. I love video games, and I appreciate the palpable feeling of mutual love for the medium as seen in this book. It is truly unique in the way of love stories and will be memorable to me even after this post reading haze. 

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Edited March 2023*

Lastly, there are allegations about this book. I didn't learn of them until shortly after I started reading. I tried to not allow these allegations to affect my experience of the book because this is a matter of author vs their medium. 

 
I'll speak of the book and book alone: (1) Crediting work - If you know you were inspired by someone's work, what is the harm in crediting them? Especially if you mention their husband's name in the book itself.  Just seemed lazy and a misstep considering this book tackles the unfair discredit of women in male dominated spaces like the gaming world. Brenda Romero, for her board game "Train", should have received an acknowledgement. (2) Pro-Religious Undertones* - allegations have been made about Zevin and this book. I honestly can't speak about the author herself but the book did not promote a religious agenda at first glance, but upon further investigation I can see how it could be interpreted that way*. In the beginning there is a game based on the Holocaust, a character who is from Israel, and the main characters (Sam and Sadie) who have Jewish backgrounds. There is a brief mention of Sadie reading about "the founding of Israel" which I previously overlooked.* She doesn't go into what she read but it is mentioned.* After that Jewish related things are barely brought up and are most definitely never in a way to steers the plot. It's mainly used as character history/origin, with the exception of the "founding of Israel" being used to impress a boyfriend.*  

It's up to you how you want to proceed with the author based on accusations. I suggest doing your own research.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Chronic illness

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Confinement

librarianjennifer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad

• 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Death, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Medical trauma, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, Sexism, and Car accident

c_peach's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book… it’s been on my TBR for a long while. I am far from a video gamer, so I was hesitant to pick up this book. The character development was real and genuine. There was disability and racial diversity, with focus on multi-racial youth and the impact of this. The authors ability to evoke emotion from the reader (at least me) at certain points was also impressive. 

The middle was slow for me, as well as most parts when they were discussing making video games (their lives work and passion). I am often drawn to character driven books, but for some reason that was not enough to make this a 5 ⭐️ with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

melist6's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Death of parent, Homophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Death, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

miada001's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.0

the more i think about this book the less i like it. at times its very subtle and beautiful and others, clunky and heavy handed. the characters, while interesting at first, really didnt change or grow much despite their evolving relationship being a central point of the story. i found them immature and frustrating. the plot had many interesting and unusual surprises but ultimately turned soapy and depressing. the ending wasn’t creative or satisfying. the worlds and games built in the story are fascinating, but the people creating them just became a chore to listen to. i’m glad i read it but was ultimately relieved when it was over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexism, Suicide, Homophobia, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

2.0

Finished reading: January 28th 2024

“This is what time travel is. It’s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently. And that mode of transport only worked with those one had known a significant time.”

WARNING: it's unpopular opinion time again!!

Right. I confess that I was already a bit hesitant to pick up Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, because hyped books and me don't usually tend to get along... But since I consider one of her other books an all time favorite, I ended up giving in when I saw I needed a book about gaming for one of the challenges this year. Sadly, I didn't get along AT ALL with this book. I'm starting to believe The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry was the outlier, and her writing just isn't the right fit for me... Because to say that I struggled with Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow is an understatement. Initially I was cautiously hopeful even though the pace was a lot slower than expected, but things soon started to go downhill. There is something almost pretentious about the writing, 'woke' characters/topics and the plot, and it kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I can't say that I was a fan of Sam and Sadie's friendship at all, and they never felt like 'real' characters to me. It was almost like they were shouting: 'Look how different I am! Look how special I am! Look how I'm better than you!'... And it was a huge turn off for me. Add Sadie's relationship with Dov (cringeworthy and only made me like her character even less), and other topics introduced seemingly just to show how 'woke' the author is, and I confess that I started to skimread long before the halfway mark. In fact, I should have just DNFed it instead... Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow most definitely wasn't the book for me, and I think I'll just leave her books alone in the future. Sure, A.J. Fikry did receive a 5 star rating, but this has been the third time her other titles have failed to hit the mark for me... And sometimes you just have to know when to throw in the towel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Car accident, Murder, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Blood, Hate crime, Racism, Suicide, Ableism, Death, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship