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paulawind'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
4.75
I get why this book became so popular amongst Little Life lovers because this one is also a trauma and pain extravaganza. It starts innocent enough with two friends making games but halfway through the emotional pain starts and it only keeps getting worse and worse and worse till it became impossible for me to carry on reading. After a month-long break I came back, an apparent emotional masochist, to cry over Sam, over Sadie, over Marx, over their relationships, lack of thereof, their pain, their loneliness, their misunderstandings, their lack of communication, stubbornness, and that sheer amount of pure love that permeates every page.
The blurb is right - it is not a romance but it is story about love. It’s quite rare for books to put friendship at the forefront, with romance in the back, to show the complexities, messiness and importance of those connections that often transcend and outlast romantic relationships. Sadie and Sam’s story is epic. Often frustrating, overwhelming and contradictory but undeniably the most important connection in both their lives.
This book ripped my soul out, put my heart in the shredder and I’m saying thank you
Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Racial slurs, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Blood, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Ableism, Violence, Acephobia/Arophobia, Death, Murder, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Cancer, Gun violence, Medical content, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Cursing, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Death of parent
marinapaso11's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Grief, Sexism, Physical abuse, Suicide, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Racism, Homophobia, Self harm, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Terminal illness, Vomit, and Sexual assault
flashandoutbreak's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Car accident, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, and Blood
Minor: Abortion and Self harm
charitytinnin'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
1.0
This book has been celebrated as a book about lifelong friendship between a man and a woman. I see very little evidence of actual friendship here — at best, it’s a story of on/off colleagues; at worst, a story about a toxic friendship.
In depth thoughts:
I enjoyed the first part of this book so much. I mean, it had art and creativity, disability representation, a woman out to be the best in a sexist industry. And the marketing told me it was about a platonic friendship over decades! I was hooked.
Unfortunately, by the end I’d fallen out of love. In addition to the death, I didn’t think the disability rep was handled super well. Still, I wanted to love the platonic messy friendship of it all. I wanted to.
But it felt like Zevin tried to cover too many different hard things/traumas (disability, abuse, assault, abuse of power, gun violence, death, depression, abortion, suicide — and these are just a few I remember off the top of my head; the entire CW list is massive) and those got in the way. I’m not saying real people can’t experience all those traumas, because they do. I just think it’s hard for an author to handle them all well.
Most importantly, at the end, I wasn’t sure I *should* want the friendship to last; it felt too dysfunctional, and I wondered if they’d be better off finding other connections. Which made me feel like I wasted emotional energy on something I shouldn’t have.
Maybe the problem with my experience is the marketing. Maybe Zevin didn’t set out to write a book about a platonic friendship that survives and upholds the MCs throughout decades, which is what I feel like was marketed. If, instead, she set out to write a story about two individuals who survive despite the trauma and dysfunctionally around them, that would’ve been more satisfying to me personally. I’d still say her MCs experience too much trauma for that page count, but I wouldn’t have been rooting for their friendship to pull them through …. (In some ways, it did, but I’m not sure it was in a healthy way.)
I know most everyone else loves this book. I wish I could see what others are seeing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t.
Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexism, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Murder
Moderate: Self harm, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Car accident, and Racism
Minor: Classism, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Abortion, and Cancer
Abuse of power in a professor/student relationship.