Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Morgen, morgen und wieder morgen

This book is great. It’s not like Ready Player One. It’s kind of like The Social Network but with mildly more sympathetic characters at its core. It’s ultimately about the work/life balance of three friends that start a video game company together told through the eyes of 2 out of the 3 of them. It also might be peak late Gen-X/Early Millennial nostalgia in terms of the video games referenced and it essentially inserts itself into how things actually happened in reality. Please note the sexism, misogyny and racist tendencies the characters Sam, Marx and their family members came across is realistically depicted. There’s also an active shooter situation depicted in the novel so be aware if it triggers you. One character also engages in an inappropriate relationship with a person with authority over them and mind if it triggers you. One character has a mobility disability and there’s vivid depictions of his struggles with medical care and health. There is suicide and car accidents depicted as well.

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avalete's review against another edition

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sad medium-paced

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

0.25

This book was genuinely awful. The writing is horrid, the characters are insufferable, and I don’t even think there’s a plot? There’s supposed to be a conflict between the main two characters, but they really don’t seem like they like each other. At all. Their problems don’t feel resolved.

I also don’t agree with the author’s views and wasn’t aware of them until I finished the book. I regret reading this book for so many reasons. I wish I could give it an even lower rating.

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legxleg's review against another edition

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emotional 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

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fi_sandison's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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catmech's review against another edition

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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

2.0

I shouldn't just write reviews for books I don't like, but I've got lots of criticisms in my brain right now, so I think I'll write them out here. I was expecting to like this book, at least in a surface-level way. Instead, I realized 100 pages in that I did not and would not like this book.

For a book that seems to want to focus on its characters, it really isn't good at showing you who they are. The book gives paragraphs of character descriptions, but doesn't really do a good job of showing you would they are or allowing the reader to relate to them. There was soo much telling and so little showing. Also, the word choice was not fun. I was reading a physical copy of this and could not be bothered to look up the SAT words sprinkled in every few pages.

The dialogue also wasn't great. None of the characters really had a distinctive voice, besides Dov and only because he cursed more than the other characters did. I also couldn't get over how the characters spoke exactly the same when they were 11 and when they were adults. Children don't talk like that???

There were several parts of the book where characters would be expressing their opinions about something political or societal and it just seemed like the author was using the characters as a mouthpiece. Absolutely did not love how the characters talked about cultural appropriation and the way that acknowledging trauma has become more socially acceptable. There was also a line about how most art could only be made by damaged people, which is an idea I absolutely resent. I think that is a popular idea about artists that leads artists to believe that their personal torment is good somehow and prevents them from seeking help. I hate it!!! I think that Diane in the TV show Bojack Horseman interacts with this idea in an interesting way (she stops taking her antidepressants, even though they have been helping her, because she can't write a memoir about her damage. This, surprise surprise, turns out to be a terrible idea!! She gets back on her meds and ends up writing a book that is more fun for her to write and more fun for others to read.) Also, I appreciate reading a book with Jewish characters, since I feel that I don't often see Jewish characters in books I read, but I did not love how pro-Israel they were. Especially for a book published so recently, it seems that the author should be more cognizant of how complicated of a situation it is? Esp since the author is half Jewish herself? The part where Sadie says she reads a book about the "creation of Israel" to bond with Dov was especially not great.

Also, it sucked so bad to read any scene with Dov in it. I don't think that Dov had any redeeming qualities about him. Even if he was the best game dev in the world, I don't think that makes up for his general attitude (rude), unprofessionalism, and lack of curiosity. It's hard for me to believe that someone like him who is so self-centered could create a work of art that could connect with so many people, but whatever. I guess Dead Seas was just a zombie shooter so maybe that's why? I think I reached my breaking point when

Dov pushes BDSM on Sadie and there isn't any discussion about how consent from BOTH PARTIES is so so important for any scene. The way the scene where Sadie is handcuffed to the bed is written seems so much like a rape scene. Those scenes and the scene where Sam's mom is groped by the game show host made me very uncomfortable, and I wish that the sexual assault trigger had been higher on Storygraph's content warnings.

Also, the author may have been inspired and failed to give credit/plagiarized the idea for Sadie's Solution game from a board game, so that's cool too. Generally I did not get the sense that the author was someone who loved video games, though in the afterward, the author says that she is a lifelong gamer. The way that the characters talked did not remind me of the ways that I or the people I know who love games talk. I thought that all the comparisons of life to video games was pretty cheesy, and could even be a tonal whiplash, like when

Sadie tells one of the other employees something about life being like a video game, so he shouldn't be so hard on himself on sort of being part of Marx's death?

I felt compelled to finish this book because I was recommended it by my friends' parents and was even lent a copy of the book. The book also read pretty easy. However, I really did not enjoy it. I'm glad I didn't spend any money to read this book!

Good things I like about this book, to be fair: There were good bits of writing here and there? Sometimes there would be nice profound thoughts about love or grief that I liked. I also liked the part where Sadie was talking about how we build versions of people in our brain, and when they aren't a part of our lives anymore, that version of them fades away. I also appreciate the themes being consistent throughout the book. I think there was a lot of research done into the locations of the books and the development of video games.

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rhiadav1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

2.5

Wow, this was a really hard book for me to finish. As soon as I started reading I knew that I was going to struggle to get into the storyline as it was extremely slow and dull. I was determined to finish it just so I could be done with it and by the end I was skim reading the pages.

Overall, the characters were beyond frustrating. I despised Sadie as she treats Sam horrendously. I do not see how it can be viewed as a form of love. I also didn’t understand what the point of the story was as a result of this. The characters displayed very little development even over such a long time span and the ending was anti climatic. I’m very glad I can move onto a new book.

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ivi_reads_books's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a nuanced story about friendship, love, life's tragedies, success and failure.

Even though I'm not a gamer it was interesting to see how the gaming industry and in particular development works.

There is some representation of a main character who suffers from chronic pain. The book portrayed the isolation and impact on the person's life and their loved ones very realistically. He is not a good role model for pain management though.

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