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thepinkranger'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
4.75
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual harassment
linus_rieper'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
3.5
It's very well written. However, nothing about it surprised me or really stuck out to me. The emotional parts didn't land as I think they were meant to.
I hesitate to recommend it, but I also hesitate to write it off.
Graphic: Death and Gun violence
Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Cultural appropriation
noveltay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
monicadee88's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
lmfry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Vomit
mayaeatsbooks'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
5.0
First book ive ever annotated, and i have just a bunch of kinda kitchy nuggets of wisdom from in here.
I love this book.
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Suicide, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
book_dragon_julia's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
-Macbeth
This book was so good in my opinion. I really enjoyed the story and I loved that most of it was set in the 90s and 00s so all the popular culture they mentioned I remembered from when I was a child.
The two main characters Sadie and Sam were childhood friends having met in hospital at around age 12 where they bonded playing video games.
Fast forward to their late teens/20s they both have an interest in creating a video game which they named Ichigo. Sam's roommate also helped with the game with money and producing it.
The book follows the characters through the trials and tribulations of working with your best friend, starting a company, artistic differences and personality clashes.
I would definitely recommend this book, I loved it 😊❤️
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer and Abortion
zooix'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
4.25
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Minor: Pregnancy
applesauceee'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? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Mass/school shootings
leweylibrary's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
I think my favorite aspect that I don't think I've seen anyone talk about is how Sam is absolutely aro/ace and how much other characters struggle with understanding that. Like Sadie just could not get why Sam never made a move and why he couldn't say I love you. But the friendship love once he did say it to her was really sweet. Honestly Marx was probably my favorite character, he was just such a gem and a sweetie 🥹
I also love a book that ties everything together from the beginning into the end, I really do appreciate that. It makes the story feel complete even if these characters' lives aren't complete.
Quotes:
- Unless they were unreliable or clearly established as lunatics or scoundrels, characters in novels, movies, and games were meant to be taken at face value--the totality of what they did or what they said. But people--the ordinary, the decent and basically honest-- couldn't get through the day without that one indispensable bit of programming that allowed you to say one thing and mean, feel, or even do, another. (4)
- Sam could be ignored, but the childish shared reference could not be. It was an invitation to play. (34)
- What, after all, is a video game's subtextual preoccupation if not the erasure of mortality? (65)
- There is a time for any fledgling artist where one's taste exceeds one's abilities. The only way to get through this period is to make things anyway. (68)
- "It isn't a sadness, but a joy, that we don't do the same things for the lengths of our lives." (227)
- It occurred to Sadie: she had thought after Ichigo that she would never fail again. She had thought she arrived. But life was always arriving. There was always another gate to pass through. (228)
- Anyone who truly looked at Tuesday could not have possibly seen a coyote. But the woman had not truly looked, and the injustice of this hit him. Why was it acceptable for apparently well-meaning people to see the world in such a general way? (245)
- "The actual world is the random garbage fire it always is. There's not a goddamn thing I can do about the actual world's code." (331)
- "And what is love, in the end? Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else's journey through life?" (355)
- For most of his life, Sam had found it difficult to say I love you. It was superior, he believed, to show love to those one loved. But now, it seemed like one of the easiest things in the world Sam could do. Why wouldn't you tell someone you loved them? Once you loved someone, you repeated it until they were tired of hearing it. You said it until it ceased to have meaning. Why not? Of course, you goddamn did. (384)
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Antisemitism, Medical content, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Car accident and Cultural appropriation