Reviews tagging 'Death'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

1216 reviews

therealjayz's review

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

smolfrog's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gun violence

tlindhorst's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

This was a propulsive read. The story is set in the world of game developers - I do not play games, so this was completely foreign to me. The two  main characters, Sam & Sadie grow and change in believable ways across the 20+ years of the book. The portrayal of grief and the way it tears life apart was one of the better characterizations I’ve read. 

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Content Warnings

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

spencerthedemonbarber's review

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

shoohoob's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

taliare's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.75

This story and these characters will stay with me for a long time. But it doesn’t do this book justice to separate the two, because the story is the characters and the characters are the story. I loved and hated and loved Sadie and Sam so much, much like they loved and hated and loved each other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

gam2005's review

emotional informative relaxing slow-paced

• 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

I felt it was a slow burn/character buildup and then the last 100ish pages some drama happens. I liked the story, but I found myself wanting to predict things when it wasn’t that kind of story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Hate crime, Gun violence, and Abortion

bchadwick's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Car accident, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Sexual violence

schnaucl's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

• 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

I liked the book a lot more than I thought I would given that a lot of the problems could have been if not completely avoided then at least ameliorated if the characters had just talked to each other.   Similarly, Sadie was very aware of the misogamy in the gaming industry

but slept with her professor anyway even though she knew it would change how people perceived her work if it got out.

But the characters all felt very believable, even if in their selfishness and stubbornness.   And people do very dumb things in their 20s.

So I liked the characters in spite of themselves and I thought all the gaming stuff was handled very well.  

Given Gamergate and the toxicity in some gaming communities, it's amazing what happened to Marx hasn't actually happened.  Poor Marx.

I felt bad for the people playing Pioneers who lost their game because it had served it's purpose, which was never the player base at large.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Misogyny, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Chronic illness

Minor: Gun violence, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Pregnancy, Violence, Cancer, Drug use, Car accident, and Death

as00551's review against another edition

challenging reflective

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

4.5

I put off reading for a while because of the theme of gaming and not having a huge interest/knowledge area in it, but it is more than this and I now understand the hype. I hadn’t expected it to be such a good read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, and Car accident

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Abortion, and Pregnancy