jennyg1234's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Rape, and Death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, and Vomit
theirgracegrace's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Misogyny, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abortion, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia
Sadie's grandparents are Holocaust survivors, and Sadie's pre-Unfair game is about Nazi collaborators.boop_nicole's review
- 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
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Medical content, Murder, Addiction, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Hate crime
Moderate: Abortion and Blood
Minor: Cursing, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Sexism
islejazz's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Mental illness, Addiction, Car accident, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug use
zoiejanelle's review
- 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
if i could give 6 stars, i would. this book destroyed me time and time again and put me back together with such love and thoughtfulness. my love for these characters is unending, and i can’t wait to read again to pick up on more of the literary allusions and references that really made this book shine.
i am not a gamer nor do i think i ever will be, but Zevin made the gaming world so lush and fascinating AND easy to become immersed in. not only were the various plot threads anf conflicts interesting, the games that Sam & Sadie (and Marx) made made me envious that i wasn’t a character in this parallel world.
the star of the show here was Zevin’s unique ability to develop characters and entice the reader to connect with each. both Sam and Sadie were somehow so relatable to me that my heart felt tugged in opposite directions when their (very realistic, very important) conflicts split them throughout the book. and seeing each of them in each other’s eyes—especially seeing how Sam viewed Sadie throughout their lives despite their disagreements—was so raw and special. i often cried at the warm and affectionate light in which each of them held each other, and that their intimacy and deep, relentless connection allowed them to persevere through the hardest of trials. it was both so easy and so hard at the same time, to believe two people could love and hate each other so much.
the depth of this book, too, was astonishing. the references to other works, the repetition of key phrases with altered meaning, the parallelism, the themes of love, identity, grief, death, and good old fashioned meaning of life… this book really challenged me to ask myself some tough questions but in the same breath was encouraging and comforting in a way i’d never really experienced before.
i absolutely wept at the end, but in a good way. how could i not? this was a truly remarkable book that i can’t wait to read again.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Vomit
Minor: Antisemitism, Abortion, and Addiction
hancaavdic's review
- 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
2.75
that could be the only thing I actually really enjoyed about the story, apart from the writing.
This book is incredibly dense; definitely not as dense as A Little Life, if we’re comparing, but it’s nearly there. There are plenty of passages, paragraphs, phrases/sentences, dialogue, etc that I just did not care for. At all. In fact I think there’s a good chunk that could just be cut out from the book because it truly doesn’t do anything for the book, in the end, in my opinion. Like now that I think of it, I’m just asking myself what was the point? Why did I spend my time reading that? I don’t know. I felt like that a lot throughout the book. The structure and organization is weird because it constantly goes back and forth between the past and present and then at times—very quickly—it’ll jump to a time in the future, and then you’re pulled back in the present. The structure and organization are just weird; I hated the jumps in the past, and so much of it kept interrupting the flow of the story.
The execution of the story is poor. It feels incredibly pretentious and that it was trying to do too much.
Apart from that, one thing that really bothered me about the story is that with the characters, you wouldn’t know what they were exactly feeling or thinking about unless they actually said it themselves through dialogue. And because of that, when the reader reads through their dialogue, the characters seem to fall flat and almost monotonous. The tone of the language lacks emotion, there’s no spark. Nothing. Unless the character says so themselves, AND/OR when the writing in 3rd person POV is focused on their part of the story. And in other parts, it’ll change to 2nd person to put the reader as if they were the actual character. Again, trying to do too much, and in the end doesn’t add much depth to the story.
Also, final note: if you’re not interested in learning all about video games to the core, this book isn’t for you. I wasn’t prepared for that. I didn’t read the summary (I never do anymore with any book) but I don’t think not even that would’ve prepared me for the extensive talk and history about video games there is. Now I just genuinely don’t know what to do with all this information, and at the same time I don’t even know what I read.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Racism, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Drug use
laurenkimoto's review
- 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
Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Antisemitism, Ableism, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence