Reviews with content warning for Racism - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

I found this book really frustrating. Ostensibly it's a book for gamers, but it felt the need to pause the story and explain a game or a concept that most people interested in this book have probably already heard of. Sorry, but why did we pause the narrative so I can read the beginning of a Wikipedia article about Harvest Moon? Then, as the story moved away from needing to explain things, the characters became increasingly more exhausting. I appreciate that it's realistic but god it's depressing. I didn't hate it, I probably wouldn't have finished it if I did, but I don't see myself recommending it to anyone.

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teddyybee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad slow-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

4.75

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jaclynrei's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

4.5

This is a book about sexism, racism, abuse, trauma, love, and grief under the guise of a lighthearted story following a band of video game developers. Two childhood bestfriends are reunited under the prospect of creating a novel game together. During its publication and subsequent success, factors such as race, class, and gender shape the trajectories of each character and create a schism between the group which grows and wanes over time. Each character is multidimensional and is not reduced to any one of their features or flaws. The characters are not always likeable, and I found my own shortcomings within the main characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who is willing to subject themselves to slight emotional devastation.

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thesonnetsilence's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

What took me so long to pick this one up? I absolutely fell in love with this story. It was hopeful, heartbreaking, and motivating. Excuse me while I dust off some of my game consoles to enjoy in some quality game time…this story inspired me to do so.

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litoreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I cannot even begin to explain how much I love this book. The writing, the characterization, the plot, the emotions. If you're in your late 20's or older, you will fall in love with these characters and their flaws, which make them so real.

Zevin's writing style is gorgeous and I need more of her in my life. Thank you for writing this. I'm so grateful to have found a signed edition at B&N <3

6/5 stars.

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grem_ler's review against another edition

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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

Relied on violence for a plot twist, felt unearned

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maziodynes's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

I read this book fairly quickly, and except for some long tangents of telling rather than showing and some wild word choices, I enjoying the writing. But I found myself on a rollar coaster of "wow this is great, I like this!" to cringing at how badly these characters communicate and how off some of the gaming references are.

It's obvious the game development process stuff was well researched. I found myself really enjoying Marx's perspective as a games producer myself. however, the game dev "lingo" and the games they brought up in context were off or didn't make sense for the time (or even the character's personalities). The author researched game dev history, and design, but it seemed like she didnt actually talk to many developers, and it showed.

The MMO segment at the end was particularly weird from a player perspective - nobody pretends like they arent playing a game unless theres some REALLY stringent RP going on, rare in a full online game unless you have friends you actively slchoose to do it with.

I found any and all mentions of sex in this book to feel far too clinical. It made sense sometimes for Sadie and Sam's over-intellectual povs, but even from Marx who is an emotionally intelligent and loving person, any POV of sex felt completely stripped down of emotion. The scenes felt so impersonal they may have well been omitted, esp when they were one-off sentences of "they had sex." But of course, we get the excruciating physical and emotional details when Sadie is sexually abused by Dov. Make it make sense

This is a personal hangup, but I couldn't get behind was the fact that Sadie kept Dov in her life the entire time. I understood needing to keep the professional relationship for Ichigo, at least at first. But how the is the game that your abuser made your COMFORT GAME? and you're still GETTING BRUNCH with him 10 years later?!? and he gives her that teaching position... it just makes me absolutely sick and soured my perception of Sadie. I wanted to root for her, but between some "not like other girls"-isms and her inability to work on her mental health in any capacity, I just couldn't after a while. And I liked Sam as a character alone, but his obsessive friendship /romantic tension with Sadie was too toxic for me to end up rooting for in the end.

There were some beautiful lines in this book, some sentiments about life and friendship, and my chosen career that truly moved me. but the relationships between the characters ultimately left me wanting more resolution.

Marx was the emotional heart of this book for me in the end. His second-person chapter reduced me to tears. tbh, that chap alone is why I am giving this a 2.75 instead of 2.

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