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petyapav's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Suicide, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Cancer, Car accident, Drug use, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Sexism, Sexual assault, Classism, Grief, Racism, Rape, and Stalking
bethantg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Firstly, I haven't read many reviews of this book so I don't know whether this is just a me thing or not, but the "women written by men" vibe was so strong that I was genuinely surprised when I double checked the author. Sam is pretty consistently a character that you can empathise with, and Sadie just is not. Her backstory is so poorly fleshed out and she has literally no arc. She literally just goes through a chain of boyfriends and gets depressed — worse because her depression is almost entirely witnessed from the outside, either just as absence or as her being rude to Sam. In contrast, Sam is almost always kind, is presented as just as overall skilled as Sadie, and is actually given his own perspective and thought processes, where Sadie is massively lacking. Trying to think of a part in the book where Sadie's thought process behind her behaviour is detailed, I can only think of very early on in the book when she wants to appear cool and calm during her first breakup. Which is crazy, she's literally meant to be one of the main characters. The other female characters are worse, which is semi-excusable on account of them being side characters, but also not at all considering how much comparable insight we get into male side characters like Ant, Dong Hyun, and even Marx (who obviously blurs the main/side character roles). Like Ant talks about very difficult, complex feelings
So it's a book mainly dominated by men's thoughts and feelings to the neglect of women's, which is cool for a book that wants to deal with sexism. As a result, Sam and Sadie's relationship, supposed to be this great portrayal of friendship persevering through age and trauma, just seems like Sadie causing problems and Sam being nice to her because ultimately he has romantic feelings for her. Made worse because even right at the end of the book,
These incomplete discussions and Sadie's often absent perspective are a major part of what makes the characters feel incomplete — and therefore makes the story feel unsatisfying — to me. But what exacerbates that many times over is when the author just pops in an anachronistic rant. Yes it's the cultural appropriation thing. It happened pretty early on in the book but it was just stupid. Sam, who has mixed American, Jewish and Korean heritage, and Sadie, who is a Jewish American, make a game that is heavily inspired by Japanese culture and has Japanese characters. When questioned about cultural appropriation, Sam goes on quite a rant that makes interesting points, but has several issues with it — mainly the fact that it's not Sam saying it, it's the author. Marx, whose father is Japanese and who grew up in Japan, produced the game and had some pretty significant contributions to it (like the Japanese language component of Ichigo's name), and he is not mentioned. This is because Marx exists in the story, not the real world, and this is a real world argument being shoehorned into the story. It's also entirely unchallenged, and dropped right there. Also, in the final conversation of the book, Sadie says that had they made Ichigo then, almost twenty years after they did, they would have worried about cultural appropriation and not have made it. So Sam being questioned about this at the time is very clearly an anachronism, because it's even referenced here by Sadie that this wasn't a concern in that era (sometime in the 90s I believe). It's literally an admission that this just exists as a moment for the author to say their piece. Of course, she absolutely has the right to say this piece, but the in a work of fiction where it makes no sense for the time, not really. As I say, interesting points are made — Sam talks about how he doesn't feel connected to a single part of his heritage, but that he wouldn't have been called out for making a game inspired by it. But it's just a throwaway line that gets no development into a proper discussion whatsoever, and that's massively disappointing.
I would also say that this reads less like a story about friends and more about a story about two people relentlessly forced together by circumstance.
Maybe these complaints I have are meant to contribute to the realism of the story. People don't always get satisfying character development or have deep, multifacted conversations about complex topics. People die on days like any other, and friendships are complicated. However, just as the characters discuss the perfected worlds of video games, where nonsensical things don't happen, so is the perfected nature of books, where characters and themes don't just get picked up and put down at whim.
Graphic: Hate crime, Suicide, Medical content, and Gun violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Drug use, Cultural appropriation, and Cancer
ks19'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
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Suicide and Sexual violence
bbmaan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Cancer, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abortion, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Car accident, Death, Drug use, and Homophobia
logger_j's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Car accident, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
samglade'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
2.75
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.
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
tlindhorst'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
4.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Hate crime, Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Suicide
gam2005's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Death
Minor: Hate crime, Gun violence, and Abortion
bct_1101's review against another edition
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Hate crime, and Gun violence
Moderate: Body horror
mellowkittenreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, and Death
Minor: Death of parent, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Drug use, Mental illness, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders