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gossamer_lens's review
- 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
3.25
So to talk about what I didn't like.
Characters - I basically didn't like any character in the book except for one. I didn't hate them, but I found two of the central characters to be very dry and boring. They felt like a lot was going on, but they were written to be so "real life messy" that they felt like flat characters of the phrase "people are complicated." This is fine I guess, but in real life, I hope to never be closely tied to people who are so "complicated" that they cannot think to apologize, reach out, or otherwise acknowledge their flaws. I love my friends and family and I expect some basic courtesy in return at the very least. So it was hard when literally none of the characters in the book demonstrated any knowledge of the concepts of forgiveness, therapy, communication, or establishing boundaries.
Plot - Overall this book didn't have a lot happen plot-wise. Some people do well in their careers and they all still have issues before, during, and after their successes. Not a problem... but when the book is so character based and I didn't love the characters... it made the writing style do a ton of the heavy lifting and left me hoping for more the whole way... only for it to end. Reflecting makes me realize it never gave me... "more".
Video games - I was super excited to read a book that centered video games. Over the last few years I have slowly become more and more aware of games. I was generally aware of them growing up but stuck to books. Then 2020 hit and my gamer husband (fiance at the time) got me invested in games by gifting me Animal Crossing. Since then I've played a bunch of cozy games, alongside a good smattering of fighters, platformers, Assasian's Creed, Indie games, etc. But besides that I've now watched hours upon hours of video game history video essays by developers, artists, and players. All this knowledge I thought would be helfpul and fun.
Instead, it made me vastly annoyed as I found the author gave credit to the most basic and well-known games while making up a lot of games OR taking actual games and giving them new names as if the author herself invented them. This wouldn't have bugged me so much had the writing not come across as "super gamer is making up cool ideas". At the back of the book the author makes acknowledgment to several games and to me it read as "this is what I referenced" and implied that the unmentioned things were her own invention. Looking across discussion forms and listening to my fellow book clubers talk about this book, this seems like how a lot of people read the book and her acknowledgment. I guess I don't expect a fiction book to have an annotated bibliography... but I expect more of an author than taking people's real-life work and not acknowledging them at all AND changing the names of games to try and hide that she is essentially taking others work and writing those concepts into her work.
I could write a dissertation on what all this author drew from real-life artists' work without acknowledging it. But the most egregious example is probably that of her not giving credit to a Jewish woman whom she not just took the game from but also some of the surrounding circumstances. Just very odd and the Washington Post goes into it in more detail here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/03/24/train-board-game-brenda-romero-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow/
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: Xenophobia
ubalubi's review
- 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
Minor: Violence and Sexual content
augie_'s review
- 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: Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Body horror, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence
lindsayvale's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Abortion, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Car accident, Vomit, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Eating disorder
chile16'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Car accident
Moderate: Physical abuse, Cancer, and Gaslighting
Minor: Violence and Homophobia
megshughes_13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
written well but i just found it incredibly boring.
Graphic: Death, Racism, Murder, and Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, Miscarriage, and Homophobia
sweetlilly93's review
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Ableism, and Medical trauma
Minor: Abortion, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Eating disorder
megrob's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Car accident, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Stalking, Confinement, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Death of parent, Rape, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Murder, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness
bookswithlauren's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Bullying, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
librarianjennifer's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Death, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Medical trauma, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, Sexism, and Car accident