Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

694 reviews

lindsayd's review

emotional sad slow-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

3.5

It's intricate and emotional and compelling but not my thing. I wish I had checked content warnings before reading. I also wonder about the role/perspective of the narrator. At some times they feel like a journalist with excerpts of contemporary sources and at other times they are much too intimate to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Medical content, Vomit, and Terminal illness

seubecca's review

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Car accident, Grief, Blood, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Vomit, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion, Eating disorder, and Racial slurs

ophelie_zl's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Suicide, Pregnancy, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Gun violence

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

lambclown's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abortion, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer and Pregnancy

sarah_sati's review

emotional reflective sad fast-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

I‘ve never read a book like this before. It was so beautiful and sad and emotional and I was just really rooting for all these characters. The friendships in this book are the main focus and how they change throughout life. The most important theme is platonic love and the power and beauty of it, which I personally really enjoy reading about. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical trauma, Gun violence, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Murder

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

meganpalu's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

4.0

SPOILERS 

The first half of the book this seemed like a book I would have written in middle school. Too many words, and a manic pixie dream pulled straight out of a John Green novel. I liked/enjoyed the first half based on nostalgia alone. However, the second half dealt more with the loss of love than I expected. I didn’t get attached enough to the characters to have their losses hurt, but it provided a new way to look at love. Overall, a book about the complicated ebbing nature of love. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Outing, and Homophobia

Minor: Toxic relationship and Abortion

mellowkittenreads's review

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

This was an interesting read. The title and cool graphic design intrigued me. I went into it honestly not even really reading more than the first couple lines of the description. I have never read a book with this sort of plot line - gamers, growing pains, and even painful experiences of racism and discrimination all in one. The writing style was different- I read it digitally and simultaneously listened along with my spotify membership. It was easy to get immersed into this universe. I liked how there was a mix of present, past, and future AND first and third person- I’m telling y’all very different and yet it worked well for the most part. There were a few times I had to reread to make sure I understood who the narrator was embodying. I finished maybe an hour ago and am still digesting. I share the frustration with Sam and Sadie. On one side would’ve loved if they at least had an intimate experience but on the other side I wanted them to be both single and leave other characters alone with their bad communication skills and annoying behaviors. I am disheartened with how things went with Marx’s character. I liked the representation of disabilities, chronic pain, asian characters. However I wish this book included trigger warnings. I feel a bit overwhelmed and overexposed to the asian discrimination and gun violence the characters experienced. Too vulnerable for us bipoc. I am one who loves happy endings and this was as a whole bittersweet. I adored the link to the meeting up in the station and the ending - so sweet! I think that’s all for now. Give it a try.

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Content Warnings

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

as much as sadie claimed sam was a bad person, who sleeps with someone in a relationship (dov and then again marx) and one of those people is your best friend’s friend? like girl. I absolutely agree with sam that them being in a relationship which so shady they “hid” it like marx you really tainted yourself, but alas, it did skew sadie being favored. which arguably was intentional seeing how she got her way with dov and got his code and mentorship.