Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

304 reviews

jkull_10's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Gun violence

bbmaan's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Cancer, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abortion, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Car accident, Death, Drug use, and Homophobia

logger_j's review

emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Car accident, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

samglade's review

emotional 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

2.75

Please check the list of content warnings before reading this book, if you have any triggers at all - it throws a lot of dark elements at the reader offhandedly, without much buildup.
While I enjoyed the nuanced characters and their relationships, my enjoyment of the book was spoiled by some of the choices the author has made. The author decided on a style heavy on clinical, excessive details (e.g. a list of video game merchandise on a shelf having over 20 items, comma-separated), which betrayed that she is not a tech person and the incorrect usage of technical terms was jarring. More importantly, it felt like she was ticking off all the dark themes she could think of from the list of possible content warnings, all packed into the lives of three individuals. For shock value? I can't tell why it was needed. Given how the story was progressing, I was genuinely surprised that miscarriage wasn't used as a cherry on top. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death of parent, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexism, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Car accident

Moderate: Cancer, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Drug use, Sexual content, and Chronic illness

Minor: Abortion, Racial slurs, Cultural appropriation, Gore, and Hate crime

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

maddieframe's review

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Child death, Abortion, and Grief

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

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.

mariabacterium'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, and Abortion

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, and Sexual harassment