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Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
207 reviews
bisexualwentworth'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? Yes
5.0
This novel tells the story of the relationships between Sadie Green, Sam Masur, and Marx Watanabe in an occasionally non-linear and experimental way over the course of about three decades. I've seen a lot of people describe this book as just the story of Sadie and Sam's friendship, but I don't think that's wholly true. Marx--and Sam and Sadie's relationships with him--is just as important as they are.
We meet Sam and Sadie as long-lost friends reunited and quickly learn why their initial tween friendship ended. Marx is at first Sam's roommate and then becomes generally the backbone of everything when Sam and Sadie start creating videogames with each other.
The games in this book--Solution, Ichigo, Both Sides, Mapletown, Master of the Revels, and others--are intriguing and add a lot to the story in the way that they use literary and pop culture references, show changes in tech and cultural norms over time, and help to show us things about the characters. This is not, however, a book about videogames, so I'm not mad at all that none of the games are particularly original in the grand scheme of things. Of course they're not. If Gabrielle Zevin came up with a fully original videogame, she'd probably use that concept outside of the confines of her novel. However, I do know that there is controversy around the resemblances of certain games in this book to certain games in real life, and I don't want to invalidate the feelings of anyone for whom that is a significant issue here.
Sadie is, I think, who I would have become if I'd grown up with more privilege and gone into STEM in college. I see a lot of myself in her, in her flaws and her literary interests as well as in her struggles with misogyny and her relationship with Dov.
Sam is in many ways a classic quirky character, a nerd who struggles to express his feelings and doesn't always know how to do interpersonal relationships. He's not explicitly autistic in the text, but he reads as autistic to me in a lot of ways, and I also resonated with him a lot.
Marx is the producer, the mom friend, the glue. He is a lover of Shakespeare and Homer, a man with expert social skills who struggles with romantic relationships and is doomed to forever be a side character because he is an Asian man living in America in the 90s and early 2000s. I love him just as much as Sadie and Sam do.
The book is named for Marx (it's a Shakespeare quote, Macbeth to be precise, and it is in Marx's honor), and anyone who thinks the title should have been Unfair Games was focused on a VERY different part of the story than I was. Unfair Games the company is a supporting character at best. Marx IS the story.
There are some very harrowing depictions of domestic abuse and gun violence here that could be triggering to a lot of readership, and I think it's important to note that so that you know what you're getting. This is not a trauma novel. It does not follow the trauma plot. It does not revel in its characters' pain, and I love it for that. It is also a novel filled with a lot of pain because the characters, especially Sam, are filled with so much pain of so many kinds.
Also, definitely the queerest book I've read this year that was not explicitly marketed as queer. Everyone is very bi, and the relationship between the three main characters certainly does not resemble any cishet friend group I've ever known. And the most central couple that is actually a couple for the entire time we know them is two men.
Anyway, I loved it.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Medical content, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Terminal illness, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion and Cultural appropriation
scmiller's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism
bonjoery'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
3.75
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cancer, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation
sunshineshazam's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
addie'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: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Racial slurs and Terminal illness
qrschulte'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
I didn’t find Sadie and Sam particularly likable, but I completely understood their motivations and their choices were believable.
This was a really ambitious book, and I think Zevin executed it really well. You can tell she put in a lot of time researching to make it realistic. It’s clearly a love letter to gaming, and I really appreciated the style of the different sections. I think it added a lot to the narrative. This is definitely a book that I will enjoy even more on a future read, though having a physical copy would make it easier to flip back to remind myself of different sections.
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Vomit, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, and Classism
Minor: Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and War
Not a true adult/minor relationship, but the power dynamic was definitely like one. The ableism is more internalized.grace_may'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
3.75
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Abortion and Cultural appropriation
qgg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that included all of the various iterations of love yet excluded romantic love as much as possible from it’s pages. At the same time, the familial, partner and friendship relationships in this book are so deep they dig into your gut while you are reading.
The portrayal of disability in this book is intense. I haven’t read something like this in popular fiction before.
The complex characters, story arcs, banter while plotting games and the characters’ vocabulary!! I want to reread this book solely to look up all of the new vocab words.
And lastly, I have to mention Sadie. I cheer for her, I ache with her, I yearn like her, I mourn with her…. I can’t remember a female character so unlike me, so complexly written, driven by so many different and competing desires, and I felt I understood her as a woman while not knowing what she’d do next.
If that sounds like a hot mess, just read this book and tell me you aren’t a mess for it.
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Abortion
jedore'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
3.75
“The way to turn an ex-lover into a friend is to never stop loving them, to know that when one phase of a relationship ends it can transform into something else. It is to acknowledge that love is both a constant and a variable at the same time.”
This book was NOT what I expected…which, in this case, was a pleasant surprise. It’s like the lite version of A Little Life. Despite the fact that I’ve never been into video games whatsoever, it kept me surprisingly engaged. It was a quick read, but the last fifth of it dragged a bit.
The story is totally character driven; most of the characters are really well-developed and very human (meaning not always likable). Like A Little Life, it’s primarily about inner strife and intimate friendships and romantic relationships.
Although I predicted part of what happened, it mostly kept me guessing…NOT an easy feat these days.
I did get mildly annoyed by the author’s “woke” references throughout…definitely a sign of the times. I don’t have an issue with being woke, it just wasn’t organic or subtle.
If you’re into emotional fiction about relationships, this is a very well-written book to add to your list!
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Cancer and Abortion
alyssasaurus'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
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail