Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - Morgen, morgen und wieder morgen

I refuse to rate this book because it is simultaneously one of the best and one of the worst books I've ever read. Zevin's writing is one of the most unique I've ever experienced. It's one of the only modern day fiction novels that I truly believed would be receiving a 5 stars for the incredible plot and dynamic character building; HOWEVER, the liberal ideologies plasted throughout this book were incredibly jaring and, at times, disgusting. About halfway through the book, it started getting slightly political, but I decided to ignore it as the story was so masterful. Though, the longer the book went on, the worse it became until it was all I could focus on and it ruined the last half of the book for me. I am open to reading more of this author' work in the future, but she is on a very thin line with me. I am a firm believer that things becoming political ruins them, and that is exactly what happened in this book. It's a tragedy.

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khorva1996's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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kat_in_a_tree's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I wish I had read the content warnings before reading, as some parts of the book were quite intense. I liked the structure of the book, particularly at the beginning when the reader gets glimpses into the future of the characters. I also liked getting a look into the creative process of the video games and how the characters careers developed. However, I found the book depressing as many bad things happen to the characters over the course of the book, many of these I felt lacked closure or enough discussion for it to be meaningful or hopeful, it was just too harsh. The characters are chronically mean to each other and although there are moments of positive interactions, these are overshadowed by the many negative things that happen.

I found the progression of Sadie's career especially depressing, while it may be common for a women's work to be attributed to male collaborators, this gave a bleak perspective on what it is like to be a woman in a male-dominated field. I also didn't like that her love life was so tied to her career, this made her character seem flat and played into the idea that men can't see women as equal colleagues and there will always be romantic undercurrents in the workplace.

Marx seems to be one of the most virtuous characters in the book, and he is punished for this by being killed off, adding to the depressing feel of the book.

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