Reviews with content warning for Grief - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

770 reviews

_pauline's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

I read it bc of its popularity; liked the first half, but overall not for me
the MCs entire friendship is based on the amount of time they’ve spent together + a shared talent; they barely talk to / know each other in ways that matter. mostly they’re fighting - but I didn’t care because the good stuff their friendship is supposedly based on wasn’t really established
as other reviews said: the MCs are insufferable at times
so many random plot points & weird details/scenes
the amount of times someone throws up in this book is insane - there are other ways to show someone’s unwell
I don’t think the wrong use & explanation of german words was intentional?
I did like how sam
showed up for sadie when she was depressed (thanks to marx, he knew how to be a good friend for like 2 pages)
; and how dov
behaved after sadie broke up with him (obviously he was horrible during their relationship & nothing he did afterwards could ever make up for that though)
check the content warnings for this book before reading!!

anyway, here are some of my favourite quotes because the portrayal of chronic illness was, at times, actually quite good:

"Sometimes, I would be in so much pain. The only thing that kept me from wanting to die was the fact that I could leave my body and be in a body that worked perfectly for a while—better than perfectly, actually—with a set of problems that were not my own."

He was tired of his body, of his unreliable foot, which couldn't even handle the slightest expression of joy. He was tired of having to move so carefully, of having to be so careful. He wanted to be able to skip, for God's sake. … He wanted to surf, and ski, and parasail, and fly, and scale mountains and buildings. He wanted to die a million deaths like Ichigo, and no matter what damage was inflicted on his body during the day, he'd wake up tomorrow, new and whole.

Throughout his life, Sam had hated being told to "fight," as if sickness were a character failing. Illness could not be defeated, no matter how hard you fought, and pain, once it had you in its grasp, was transformational.

Sam was scared and ashamed, because he felt as if he had no control over his body, no understanding of what was causing the pain and thus, no means to ameliorate it.

so I guess I hope this book raises some awareness for that (though maybe the way the characters dealt with their issues takes away from that)

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lyriarosa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-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

4.5

Content Warnings

ju_harue's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

Eu amei esse livro. Com a escrita da autora, a história - que poderia ser arrastada - se tornou algo diferente, algo surpreendente, que nem sei expressar o que senti ao ler. Em vários momentos me identifiquei com a personalidade dos personagens, como é a vida real acontecendo mesmo, não parecia ficção. Passei raiva, gritei de nervoso, implorei que houvesse conversa, ri de situações inusitadas e comemorei as conquistas, chorei de emoção. Foi tudo isso e mais um pouco. Sem dúvidas, um favorito.

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genorgana's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

lmfry's review

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emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

ruby_mae_read's review against another edition

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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

4.5

Content Warnings

book_dragon_julia's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
-Macbeth

This book was so good in my opinion. I really enjoyed the story and I loved that most of it was set in the 90s and 00s so all the popular culture they mentioned I remembered from when I was a child.

The two main characters Sadie and Sam were childhood friends having met in hospital at around age 12 where they bonded playing video games.

Fast forward to their late teens/20s they both have an interest in creating a video game which they named Ichigo. Sam's roommate also helped with the game with money and producing it.

The book follows the characters through the trials and tribulations of working with your best friend, starting a company, artistic differences and personality clashes.

I would definitely recommend this book, I loved it 😊❤️

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zooix's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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

4.25

Content Warnings

applesauceee's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

leweylibrary's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

I have to say that I did really enjoy this book! I think my biggest frustration was the miscommunication the two MCs had throughout lol but I really liked the concept and the themes that were explored. The pace picked up so fast in the last 100 or so pages which idk how I feel about that and I felt kinda weird about that because idk what it was driving towards? But I thought the characters were really interesting, especially how they developed together and separately throughout their lives. Oh and the student/professor relationship that like never really went away? Weird. Super weird. But yeah I had a good time reading it overall and there were some really great quotes.

I think my favorite aspect that I don't think I've seen anyone talk about is how Sam is absolutely aro/ace and how much other characters struggle with understanding that. Like Sadie just could not get why Sam never made a move and why he couldn't say I love you. But the friendship love once he did say it to her was really sweet. Honestly Marx was probably my favorite character, he was just such a gem and a sweetie 🥹

I also love a book that ties everything together from the beginning into the end, I really do appreciate that. It makes the story feel complete even if these characters' lives aren't complete.

Quotes:

Unless they were unreliable or clearly established as lunatics or scoundrels, characters in novels, movies, and games were meant to be taken at face value--the totality of what they did or what they said. But people--the ordinary, the decent and basically honest-- couldn't get through the day without that one indispensable bit of programming that allowed you to say one thing and mean, feel, or even do, another. (4)
Sam could be ignored, but the childish shared reference could not be. It was an invitation to play. (34)
What, after all, is a video game's subtextual preoccupation if not the erasure of mortality? (65)
There is a time for any fledgling artist where one's taste exceeds one's abilities. The only way to get through this period is to make things anyway. (68)
"It isn't a sadness, but a joy, that we don't do the same things for the lengths of our lives." (227)
It occurred to Sadie: she had thought after Ichigo that she would never fail again. She had thought she arrived. But life was always arriving. There was always another gate to pass through. (228)
Anyone who truly looked at Tuesday could not have possibly seen a coyote. But the woman had not truly looked, and the injustice of this hit him. Why was it acceptable for apparently well-meaning people to see the world in such a general way? (245)
"The actual world is the random garbage fire it always is. There's not a goddamn thing I can do about the actual world's code." (331)
"And what is love, in the end? Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else's journey through life?" (355)
For most of his life, Sam had found it difficult to say I love you. It was superior, he believed, to show love to those one loved. But now, it seemed like one of the easiest things in the world Sam could do. Why wouldn't you tell someone you loved them? Once you loved someone, you repeated it until they were tired of hearing it. You said it until it ceased to have meaning. Why not? Of course, you goddamn did. (384)

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