Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

717 reviews

samglade's review against another edition

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? Yes

2.75

Please check the list of content warnings before reading this book, if you have any triggers at all - it throws a lot of dark elements at the reader offhandedly, without much buildup.
While I enjoyed the nuanced characters and their relationships, my enjoyment of the book was spoiled by some of the choices the author has made. The author decided on a style heavy on clinical, excessive details (e.g. a list of video game merchandise on a shelf having over 20 items, comma-separated), which betrayed that she is not a tech person and the incorrect usage of technical terms was jarring. More importantly, it felt like she was ticking off all the dark themes she could think of from the list of possible content warnings, all packed into the lives of three individuals. For shock value? I can't tell why it was needed. Given how the story was progressing, I was genuinely surprised that miscarriage wasn't used as a cherry on top. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death of parent, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexism, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Car accident

Moderate: Cancer, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Drug use, Sexual content, and Chronic illness

Minor: Abortion, Racial slurs, Cultural appropriation, Gore, and Hate crime

salixia_the_elixir's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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: Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Homophobia

Moderate: Antisemitism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Vomit

specialinterestbooks's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

The only reason it’s not a 5/5 is that I think the structure could be a little confusing. I listened to it in audiobook form and it feels like a book created for audio. 

I can’t stop thinking about The NPC - an incredibly well written literary short story slotted perfectly into the novel. 

Creating a short story (of such high quality) that both works as a standalone and adds to the narrative of the novel requires incredible technical writing skills.

One of the best novels I’ve read in a long time from a technical writing perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship

lindsayd's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.5

It's intricate and emotional and compelling but not my thing. I wish I had checked content warnings before reading. I also wonder about the role/perspective of the narrator. At some times they feel like a journalist with excerpts of contemporary sources and at other times they are much too intimate to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Medical content, Vomit, and Terminal illness

seubecca's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Car accident, Grief, Blood, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Vomit, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion, Eating disorder, and Racial slurs

ophelie_zl's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Suicide, Pregnancy, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Gun violence

therealjayz's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad tense fast-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

Wow, wow, wow. This book reminded me of why I love reading (as someone who doesn't really read!!); I devoured the entire book in the span of 3 days and literally couldn't put it down. I've recommended it to every single person I talk to when they ask for book recs. Literally within the first five pages of consuming the writing style, I was hooked and fell in love. At its core, this book is about love and all of the different kinds of love there is. 

The story itself is about two childhood friends who build a video game company together and follows them through the span of like 20+ years. I really really appreciated the representation of so many identities and social issues, from being a woman in STEM (specifically coding), biracial Asian identity, class disparities, disability rep, mental health issues, etc. The way that the author is able to weave together so many small elements in the story that seem at first nonchalant but bring them back later  in the most heart-wrenching, gutting, and significant ways should be studied! The creativity demonstrated in the creation of the various video games in the world is astounding and I wish I was able to actually play them. I also appreciate how you don't need to be in gaming culture/know about video games to enjoy this book, but can still appreciate how much research and detail went into the writing about video games in the book.

Zevin really makes you feel with the characters and writes such complex and flawed and lovable characters that you can't help but root and sympathize for even when they act like stubborn, ego-centric idiots at times. I felt like I truly knew the characters as real people and

genuinely grieved over a character like I had also lost my best friend. I cried so much, audibly said "no no nO" and had to stop reading when that moment happened so I could process and grieve. (which ended up being like half a day b/c I just needed to keep reading as well)

. Highly highly recommend this book, there's a reason that it was one of the top selling books of 2023. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexism

lambclown's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abortion, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer and Pregnancy

sarah_sati's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-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‘ve never read a book like this before. It was so beautiful and sad and emotional and I was just really rooting for all these characters. The friendships in this book are the main focus and how they change throughout life. The most important theme is platonic love and the power and beauty of it, which I personally really enjoy reading about. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical trauma, Gun violence, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Murder

spencerthedemonbarber's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Self harm, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Grief, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Vomit