Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

260 reviews

curlykristenk's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

5.0

This book made me feel SO MANY FEELINGS. Some happy, some sad, some furious, some distraught. But that’s what makes a good book. The writing was incredible, thoughtful and thought provoking. Just amazingly creative and clever. 
Yes there were plenty of toxic elements to the many relationships in this but navigating those is also a part of life. They were authentically human and both Sam and Sadie made mistakes. I don’t like that she still meets up with dov in the end but just goes to show the long lasting effects that (TW) grooming and manipulation can have on a person. This overall was a realistic, messy, heart wrenching, heart warming story about human connection and love. What else is there? 
The NPC has my heart. 

This review was written and book was read prior to learning about xenophobic author.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Violence, Abortion, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Confinement, Miscarriage, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Terminal illness

Minor: Blood, Body horror, and Cancer

bookforestsprite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racial slurs and Abortion

allykonkol19's review

emotional inspiring 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

4.25

A coming of age story about friends and lovers. The story explores the creative process, the evolution of friendship, grief, trauma, overcoming pain both physical and emotional, and maintaining hope. The friendship between Sam and Sadie was complex and emotional as you follow them through decades. Beautifully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Grief

Moderate: Death, Cancer, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault

ashtheaudiomancer's review

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Throughout my reading of this book, I keep yelling out things like, "What??" "WHY!?" "Not in 1996, you can't," "That is not what 'heterochromia' means," and mostly "GOD these PEOPLE!"

I hated this. It was entertaining to some degree, but I have no patience left in me for these kinds of characters. We have 1) a self-pitying manipulative jerk who is supposed to be brilliant and very precise with language, but doesn't know what 'heterochromia' means, 2) a self-pitying manipulative jerk who keeps crawling back to her abuser over and over, 3) said abuser, who takes advantage of his students, and does not at any point either atone for his actions or get a bus dropped on him by the narrative, and 4) the only actual good character who DOES get a bus dropped on him by the narrative. This is one of those "If any of you actually, like TALKED to each other, this conflict would totally evaporate" types of stories that I can't stand. (And I'm pretty sure taking credit for introducing the first same-sex marriage in a videogame would really piss off whatever developer *actually* did that.)

"Then why did you finish it?"

Someone else chose this book for my library book club, and from what I gather I was not the only one who had this reaction to it, so at least it'll be an interesting discussion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

katiehalford's review

emotional inspiring reflective 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

I LOVED this book!! It was not really on my tbr radar but it was the chosen book for my book club and I am so glad I was introduced to it!!

I love books that span several years as I feel it gives you chance to really get to know and love the characters and this book is no exception!! I absolutely adored Sadie, Sam and Marx and loved the exploration of the individual relationship dynamics between each of them and how these shifted as the story went along. Even the ‘side’ characters such as Dov, Dong and Bong, Ant etc felt so rich and real (which is often my biggest critique of other books). 

I found the exploration of platonic love so perfect and moving. And although I feel the book had a lot of clear ‘teaching moments’, at no point did these feel unnatural or forced which is a true skill from the author. 

The only critique I would have was that the last third of the book was a little slow. I still found it incredibly emotional due to how connected I felt to the characters but did feel that the plot dragged slightly compared to the first two thirds of the book which I couldn’t get enough of. 

Overall I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to really immerse themselves in the world of the characters and who will enjoy a story that is simultaneously fantastic yet relatable (and no you do not have to care about gaming one bit to enjoy this book!!)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion

anushaaa's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall I was confused and intrigued by this book. It was an enjoyable read, the author didn't make us as the reader feel unintelligent by spelling anything out, but this was also a flaw because in some sections it was very confusing what was going on. There also would be little explanation for some sequences in the novel, which is why I skipped some pages near the end, something I never do with books. This could just be me, I've seen many good reviews of the book, and otherwise it grappled with themes of life very well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Gun violence

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

Minor: Pregnancy

I did notice that some information was revealed later in the novel, which made me go like ohhh thats what they meant, which was pretty cool, like levelling up in a game.

fancyjess_party's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Drug use, Car accident, Bullying, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Ableism, Suicide, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Medical content, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Cancer, Sexism, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Violence, and Toxic relationship

popsicleplease's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Domestic abuse

sarahwpotter's review

emotional reflective sad medium-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 month took me a month to read because I connected to the characters so much and it made me so sad. finished the last half as an audio book. so beautifully written. one of those books where the last half informs the first half so much it makes you love it more. didn't love the last couple of chapters as much as the rest but still a great great book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

tinystars's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This whole story is one big miscommunication trope. I hated all the characters by halfway through. Kept thinking it'd improve and it just got worse. So depressing with no character growth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical trauma, Abortion, Gun violence, and Homophobia