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Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
308 reviews
itisnatal's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Sexism, Car accident, and Toxic friendship
niamhct's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I was teary at points (good thing), it gets sad quite suddenly! Was thankful for a satisfying ending.
Recommend <3
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, Homophobia, Car accident, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death
Minor: Pregnancy
gossamer_lens's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
So to talk about what I didn't like.
Characters - I basically didn't like any character in the book except for one. I didn't hate them, but I found two of the central characters to be very dry and boring. They felt like a lot was going on, but they were written to be so "real life messy" that they felt like flat characters of the phrase "people are complicated." This is fine I guess, but in real life, I hope to never be closely tied to people who are so "complicated" that they cannot think to apologize, reach out, or otherwise acknowledge their flaws. I love my friends and family and I expect some basic courtesy in return at the very least. So it was hard when literally none of the characters in the book demonstrated any knowledge of the concepts of forgiveness, therapy, communication, or establishing boundaries.
Plot - Overall this book didn't have a lot happen plot-wise. Some people do well in their careers and they all still have issues before, during, and after their successes. Not a problem... but when the book is so character based and I didn't love the characters... it made the writing style do a ton of the heavy lifting and left me hoping for more the whole way... only for it to end. Reflecting makes me realize it never gave me... "more".
Video games - I was super excited to read a book that centered video games. Over the last few years I have slowly become more and more aware of games. I was generally aware of them growing up but stuck to books. Then 2020 hit and my gamer husband (fiance at the time) got me invested in games by gifting me Animal Crossing. Since then I've played a bunch of cozy games, alongside a good smattering of fighters, platformers, Assasian's Creed, Indie games, etc. But besides that I've now watched hours upon hours of video game history video essays by developers, artists, and players. All this knowledge I thought would be helfpul and fun.
Instead, it made me vastly annoyed as I found the author gave credit to the most basic and well-known games while making up a lot of games OR taking actual games and giving them new names as if the author herself invented them. This wouldn't have bugged me so much had the writing not come across as "super gamer is making up cool ideas". At the back of the book the author makes acknowledgment to several games and to me it read as "this is what I referenced" and implied that the unmentioned things were her own invention. Looking across discussion forms and listening to my fellow book clubers talk about this book, this seems like how a lot of people read the book and her acknowledgment. I guess I don't expect a fiction book to have an annotated bibliography... but I expect more of an author than taking people's real-life work and not acknowledging them at all AND changing the names of games to try and hide that she is essentially taking others work and writing those concepts into her work.
I could write a dissertation on what all this author drew from real-life artists' work without acknowledging it. But the most egregious example is probably that of her not giving credit to a Jewish woman whom she not just took the game from but also some of the surrounding circumstances. Just very odd and the Washington Post goes into it in more detail here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/03/24/train-board-game-brenda-romero-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow/
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: Xenophobia
helenstratton's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Car accident
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy and Racism
willowbiblio's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
----------------------
There were elements of this book that were fantastic, and a few that felt sort of lackluster. I liked how Zevin used things like interviews and articles to tease future plot developments. I also enjoyed how Sam and Marx's characters and friendship developed.
I felt like Sadie's POV was incredibly emotionally flat, which was disappointing given the scope of the issues her character was being used to address. I also felt like there was a strange cognitive dissonance, either intentional or not from Zevin, regarding her relationship with Dov vs. Sam. I thought the Pioneers interlude at the end was odd and felt sort of jarring to read so close to the end of the novel, with very little closure for the main characters.
I did like how Zevin explored the concept of how our misunderstandings/assumptions about one another can lead to a sort of compounding effect that is hard to get away from. I also really enjoyed the various worlds and games there were created, and how Zevin used them a as a reflection and growth point for the characters throughout the story.
I'm glad I read this but not certain if it was 100% worth all the hype for me. I'd be interested to see how her other novels compare!
Graphic: Domestic abuse
lpdx's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Vomit, Blood, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexism, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug use, Abandonment, Cancer, Chronic illness, Grief, Gun violence, Car accident, Death, and Medical content
megrob's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Car accident, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Stalking, Confinement, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Death of parent, Rape, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Murder, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness
ambsonline's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Suicide
Moderate: Mental illness and Ableism
beachdancer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.0
Minor: Domestic abuse
narbine's review against another edition
- 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
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