Reviews tagging Sexual assault

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

41 reviews

emfass's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Injury/injury detail, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Car accident, Medical content, Suicide, Grief, Homophobia, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Hate crime, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Abortion

momalley215's review

emotional reflective 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

Graphic: Chronic illness and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Cancer, and Sexual harassment

woolgatherer's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.5

I‘m definitely in the minority here when I say that the book was okay, at best. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did, especially because it was about video games. Honestly, it was probably because it was about video games that I was driven to finish this book. Besides this, though, I felt that the book really started to fall apart at the seams around the halfway mark, and barely held together by the end of the book.

While there is a plot of sorts, it read to me as though Zevin wanted her book to be character-driven. I think she was fairly successful on this front, but it was not without fault. I was really looking forward to her dive into a very complicated friendship mired with platonic love and frustration. I thought the first portion of the book did an excellent job with this, so, it was a bit of a disappointment that what could have been a rich exploration of such friendships ended up being an unrequited love kind of situation. It felt like a lazy choice to me. I was also frustrated with how Sam and Sadie’s relationships with other characters played out, which, frankly, felt very much so like how one would interact with NPCs. It was especially the case with Marx (who was too perfect for comfort), whose role in the book later on came off as an insensitive (and, frankly, manipulative) plot device to push Sadie’s story further.

I also think another thing working against Zevin was that she was too ambitious with the second half of the novel. There was too much she wanted to explore beyond characters and their relationships with one another that she kept introducing. Notably (to me), she wanted to tackle various sociopolitical issues as well. I would have rather she tackled one or two issues rather than several surface-level discussions that left a lot to be desired.

I think it’s still worth checking out this book, especially if you love video games. Also, while I had my issues with the content, I think Zevin is a rather good writer, and I thought the way she experimented with the structure of the book was quite fascinating.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Gaslighting

Minor: Eating disorder, Cancer, and Drug use

deetabz's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Injury/injury detail, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Car accident, Death, Violence, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Antisemitism, Body horror, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Ableism, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Classism, Alcohol, Cancer, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Vomit, and Cultural appropriation

cyanide_latte's review

emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

For what it's worth, I don't think I'm the audience for this book and I didn't mesh well with the writing style at all, but this was beautiful, well-written, and I'm still glad I read it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

jenmcreads's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

I was conflicted throughout reading this book, but ultimately I did enjoy it. I would advise checking trigger warnings on this book as I think the way it is written can hit pretty hard on trigger points. What I loved in this book was the exploration of the value we place on romantic versus platonic relationships, given the central relationship in the book is platonic. The story was emotional, and well-paced given its sweeping timeline. I did not love the handling of mental health in all cases, but that is to a degree a matter of personal preference. I would definitely recommend this book, however would caution to read when you feel fairly stable in your own mental health. (Specific minor spoilers hidden with spoiler tag)

Spoiler

I was honestly particularly upset by the use of a background character's suicide to propel the plot of main characters who did not even know her. That felt emotionally manipulative and exploitive to me and it was a part of the book I struggled to move past. Similarly, I felt the treatment of abortion was quite glib and did not add much.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Car accident, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

vhmorris's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

laserdiscreader's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.75

Love, games, friendship - all the things that make the world go round. A beautiful story that is .25 from 5 solely because I didn't like seeing myself in the main characters 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence and Blood

Minor: Abortion, Car accident, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

owenwilsonbaby's review

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

"Maybe it was the willingness to play that hinted at a tender, eternally newborn part in all humans. Maybe it was the willingness to play that kept one from despair."

A book that had so many lines I wanted to include here that I actually found it pretty hard to choose. Zevin has crafted such a wonderful piece of art. There are so many layers to this that I think I need to reread it almost immediately. The entire last third made me want to ugly cry. Every scene of this book was on the surface about moving its tightly-wound plot onward, yet simultaneously managed to further an extraordinary portrait of play, art, ethics, performance, love and sex, disability and illness, relationships and family. Zevin's ideas about these varied topics are finely painted, always finding room for levity, lightness, nuance and exploration. At the same time, the scenes that lean more heavily into these themes never feel like they lack depth. If anything, the lightness of touch here in everything from narrative voice to plotting to recurrent images and motifs felt carefully considered. I learned so much about the gaming world and its history which I have never really interacted with before. And yet most of all I feel the novel's important insights boiled down to how humans relate to and care for another. That despite everything, in the end, love can be very simple. The conversation with Dong Hyun near the ending of the book where he incredulously looks at Sam and says "Are you kidding? [...] Everything is funny now." Insane. I wanted to sob.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Ableism, Racism, Terminal illness, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Drug use, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Classism, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Xenophobia

mollyburd's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, and Gun violence