Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

141 reviews

sbnptwrn's review

emotional hopeful sad 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

3.0

The concept/premise was great but I feel that Zevin didn’t pull through with the execution. Felt like it was trying to juggle so many parts or elements that it resulted in way less ‘signal’ than there is ‘noise.’ I think it would’ve benefitted with some more structural edits/different editorial decisions. Often there were parts where the prose felt quite flat or bloated, and while I appreciate the attempts at social commentary it often felt shoehorned and could’ve been integrated into the narrative better. (Same with the homages and descriptions of video games). Second half felt weaker,  and while I did find Sam to be interesting I generally find that the characters were not very compelling. I think that this story may have worked better as a TV series/film

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Grief, Gun violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Homophobia, Medical content, Racism, Sexism, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Antisemitism, Cancer, Abortion, and Pregnancy

blairsatellite's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Medical trauma, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Cursing, Ableism, Mass/school shootings, Cancer, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Hate crime, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Car accident, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Gore, Cultural appropriation, Classism, and Terminal illness

lightthebeam's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.75

This book is divided into parts, and if you think of it as the sum of those into a whole - I think readers will enjoy it more. The book doesn’t pick one time to stay in throughout, there are jumps foreword and back and the beginning features heavy foreshadowing (honestly it kinda just states the what’s to come in some parts) and doesn’t make the reader work hard in guessing how things may develop. There is a slight identity crisis in writing style and what the book is accomplishing but again if you think of it in parts, it makes more sense and is less confusing. 
I did not like the sudden narrator switch, it’s something I tend to not like at all in books but I do think it worked to further the story and of course it provided a unique perspective but I found it jarring and awkward. 
The characters in this book will piss you off, and while parts of it are so beautiful overall it does leave you feeling sad. Maybe that’s just me. It’s meant to leave off hopeful but it feels sorrowful instead. 
I thought the middle of this book was the most beautiful - everything before the pioneer game chapters. I devoured the beginning of this book, but at the end it wasn’t as captivating and I felt like I was reading in circles, the character progression had stagnated but honestly they were just in a stagnant place which I understand. Overall I did really enjoy this book, there were just parts of the writing style I found to be a hinderance to the actual story, it felt like there was a slight identity crisis but it did make for a unique and thought provoking read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Antisemitism, Death, Mass/school shootings, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Murder, Cancer, Car accident, Hate crime, Chronic illness, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Violence, Xenophobia, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Toxic relationship

wooblatoober's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

i really enjoyed zevin’s ability to portray characters with generosity & portray ever-changing relationships, even with rifts, and just overall make everything feel real.

i’m obsessed with marx’s fruit tree motif. he’s ever-giving, and he’s beautiful, and he’s soft. the love he gives freely is so beautiful and bountiful and juicy and sweet, but not too much so, like a fuyu persimmon. for now, maybe because of my own experiences, i’m more hung up on marx’s death than sam & sadie’s stories and relationship.

zevin does an AMAZING job of showing how people and their relationships change over time. it’s crazy how much my opinions on the characters changed over time, waxing and waning and flipping between them.

specifically, i loved sadie at the beginning and felt sorry for how she was being manipulated, then disliked her toward the end, which isn’t even how every reader might feel about her, since she seems like such a real person, and real people have some people that like them and some people that don’t. conversely, i was a bit annoyed by sam for the beginning, thinking he seemed like any other toxic smart guy who thinks he’s smarter than everybody else, until i started LOVING him toward the middle, then i was a bit annoyed by him again by the end for his lack of communication, though i was proud of his growth and baby steps in communication.

this book reads like creative nonfiction. it’s remarkable. my only small complaint is a major spoiler (everything i’ve marked “spoiler” is a major spoiler though), and that’s basically the end of the book. tl;dr for the spoiler, i felt like the ending was just over the line of a little bit too late in the back-and-forth of the story to feel satisfied by it. i felt empty at the end like i do out of all the best books, but that emptiness came from events that happened before the ending of the book, and the ending was overshadowed by that and felt too little too late.

by sadie and sam’s happy ending, which implies that they’ll fight again in the future but will work to be better to themselves and each other, i was kinda over it. overshadowed by marx’s death, i had become done with sadie’s paralysis and easy-to-anger attitude as well as her ability to hold a grudge that outshines teen sam’s, and done with sam’s refusal to communicate, even if they had experiences or mental illnesses that facilitated those actions (or lack thereof).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Drug use, Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Ableism, Cultural appropriation, Antisemitism, and Body shaming

marippe'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

edit: read before i knew the author was a zionist but hey u cant win em all

og rating: 3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fatphobia, Chronic illness, Cancer, Medical trauma, Sexism, Vomit, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Death, Racism, Abortion, Car accident, Infidelity, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Blood, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Classism, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia

lexyan's review against another edition

emotional 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

I found this book really frustrating. Ostensibly it's a book for gamers, but it felt the need to pause the story and explain a game or a concept that most people interested in this book have probably already heard of. Sorry, but why did we pause the narrative so I can read the beginning of a Wikipedia article about Harvest Moon? Then, as the story moved away from needing to explain things, the characters became increasingly more exhausting. I appreciate that it's realistic but god it's depressing. I didn't hate it, I probably wouldn't have finished it if I did, but I don't see myself recommending it to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Abortion, Gun violence, and Car accident

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Sexism

ksolesby's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Abortion, Death, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Murder, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Pregnancy, Grief, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

birtch's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Gun violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Toxic friendship

leefox's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Less traumatic, Little Life- lite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Death, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicide attempt, Cancer, and Suicide

lena_2106's review

emotional hopeful 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

4.0

At first I hated it because the main characters are so incredibly annoying and I didn’t like them. But after a few chapters I started really loving it. They are annoying in the way people are annoying and while I definitely wouldn’t want to be friends with any of them it’s a beautiful story about love that I really enjoyed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Ableism, Suicide, Cancer, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, Homophobia, and Pregnancy