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A review by ckiyoko
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
fast-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
2.5
This is a really well-crafted book, works with form and POV in really interesting ways, and felt like a very propulsive read. For all that though, I could not decide when I was reading it if I was enjoying it. I cared enough to continue reading, but I got to the end and still was uncertain if I enjoyed the experience of reading it, or would recommend it to someone else. I will say, the NPC chapter is beautiful and the callbacks in it feel earned.
I'm also deeply Not Thrilled with "Solution" being a blatant ripoff of Brenda Romero's "Train" that goes uncredited, especially given this book deals so heavily with the power dynamics in video game design and how often women are overlooked/uncredited.
For me, I also struggled with some of the moments of the book that felt like they handwaved the concept of cultural appropriation, and later the soapbox moments about how sensitive the newer generation is. They felt a bit out of place, and more like the bubbling up of some deeper seated anxiety from the author than something coming from the characters' reactions to their place and situations.
I felt this similarly in the explorations of Sam's experience as being mixed EAsian and white, which felt like they tread the same ground that's been tread before/existed more as a justification for the existence of mixed white and Asian people. I don't know exactly how to phrase it. It was just something that was off-putting to me as someone who is in that category because it feels like it's re-litigating the same conversation we've been having for years and played to the same tropes and lines, which felt...recursive? Like it flattened a complex and nuance experience to a monolith? I'm not sure, but at the very least, I found it exhausting to hear the same talking points I heard in middle and high school here. There was an element of self-consciousness to the explorations of this that felt, again, like someone else's insecurities about their identity bubbling up here rather than the character.
But yeah, pretty wild book. Well written, but felt kind of like a liminal space turned into a novel.
I'm also deeply Not Thrilled with "Solution" being a blatant ripoff of Brenda Romero's "Train" that goes uncredited, especially given this book deals so heavily with the power dynamics in video game design and how often women are overlooked/uncredited.
For me, I also struggled with some of the moments of the book that felt like they handwaved the concept of cultural appropriation, and later the soapbox moments about how sensitive the newer generation is. They felt a bit out of place, and more like the bubbling up of some deeper seated anxiety from the author than something coming from the characters' reactions to their place and situations.
I felt this similarly in the explorations of Sam's experience as being mixed EAsian and white, which felt like they tread the same ground that's been tread before/existed more as a justification for the existence of mixed white and Asian people. I don't know exactly how to phrase it. It was just something that was off-putting to me as someone who is in that category because it feels like it's re-litigating the same conversation we've been having for years and played to the same tropes and lines, which felt...recursive? Like it flattened a complex and nuance experience to a monolith? I'm not sure, but at the very least, I found it exhausting to hear the same talking points I heard in middle and high school here. There was an element of self-consciousness to the explorations of this that felt, again, like someone else's insecurities about their identity bubbling up here rather than the character.
But yeah, pretty wild book. Well written, but felt kind of like a liminal space turned into a novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Ableism, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship