Reviews tagging Gaslighting

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

12 reviews

aabubuyog's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Minor: Abortion

lilybearillini3's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective relaxing sad 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

5.0

This is easily one of the best books this year, if not the best fiction.  There were many points when I was moved to tears.  It is absolutely beautifully written and the narrator's voice (for the audiobook) was perfect and calming.  

I honestly don't know how to write a review for this and do it justice, I am at a loss of words.  It is a story of great friendship, love, and trials.  Every character had their complexities and were not always, if at all, likeable

Spoiler

except Marx, Marx is perfect

, but that is reality.

There was never a dull point of this book, I was interested and engaged the entire time.  The choice to show their friendship over decades was refreshing and I also really liked that we didn't switch POVs every chapter, I feel like that concept has been played out.  The video game nerd in me loved that the author did their research on video game history and what it takes to make video games.  While I don't like the miscommunication trope, I didn't find myself frustrated.  I understood why they weren't communicating because the characterization was so well done.

I normally don't go into books with expectations, but John Green said it was one of his favorite books of this year, so the need to read it was urgent.  John Green didn't let me down.  It was truly an honor to read Sadie, Sam, and Marx's journey.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Ableism, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Abortion, Drug use, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Antisemitism and Terminal illness

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.

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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

hannalizzy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

This book was so beautifully written. The story plays out like an actual life, full of its raging beauty and sharp ugliness. I read it at the recommendation of John Green, and I can see why he enjoyed it. It has a bit of his poetic flair, and the characters have their unique quirks like his do. The characters are richly complex, and somehow lovable despite their very apparent flaws.  

I wonder how I will feel about the ending after I’ve had more time to think about it. It felt like it lacked some of the finality I was hoping for in terms of Sadie and Sam’s relationship. I also felt like Sam and Sadie’s fights became a little too repetitive, but of course, c’est la vie. 

I always love stories of characters encountering grief, loss, and depression in its most potent form and still figuring out how to manage to continue on. I think those kinds of triumphs are so important to read about in an age where poor mental health feels like a largely universal experience.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gun violence, Death of parent, Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Injury/injury detail, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Hate crime, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Sexism

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Abortion, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, and Emotional abuse

isleoflinds's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I went into this book with mixed expectations. I tried reading it when it was first released, but couldn't get into it. When it started getting a lot of attention, I heard a negative review for it that made it sound really interesting, so I took another shot. As an ace person who is pretty steeped in nerd culture, I was really excited for a story sold as "two friends who were often in love -- but never lovers." To that end, I was not disappointed. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow delivered all the gaming nostalgia and a heart-tugging story about a different kind of love. However, there were elements of the book - especially the second half -  that were tedious and, at least to me, undercut a lot of the first half seemed to build up to. 

I thought that the characters - Sadie and Sam - were really well-rounded and flawed, but believable people. I was disappointed in the development of the character Marx, who felt most often like a plot device despite also appearing to be almost as significant as Sam and Sadie. Many of the tropes included about halfway through also felt unnecessary and I think a lot of the tension between Sadie and Sam could have happened without employing them. In general, I think Sadie's story was marred by too many gender-related difficulties. I know that being a woman in tech (now, but especially in the 90s) was difficult, but the bulk of the harm she experienced wasn't even related to her work, and I just wish we could have seen her face other issues. 

The structure of the book was incredibly compelling - it is built around the vague idea that each "part" is its own game. Especially in the first half of the book, I could really feel the themes aligning with the structure of the book in an intriguing way. The story took a lot of turns in the second half that were just not for me (

Spoiler

miscommunication trope, two accidental pregnancy tropes for the same character, dead baby daddy, and just a general waste of what could have been a really enlightening use of the NPC chapter concept.

) and I do think it affected my reading. The execution of Part IV was by far my favorite use of the novel's video game structure, however, and made the closeout of the story more satisfying.

Overall, I think that Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow had great bones for a story, I just wish it had been a little shorter and/or that it had spent more time considering the significance of Marx. In a story about the complex ways that people can love one another, Marx was central to this, and making <spoilers>the NPC</spoilers> seemed more of an afterthought to be profound rather. 

My final very small complaint is the little statement at the end about <spoilers>"this generation thinking their whole personality is their trauma." I am a millennial, so perhaps this very Gen X sentiment just isn't for me, but in 2022, the inclusion of this bit feels quite purposeful. It was said and largely abandoned, squeezed in at the end and unexplored. Why say something that significant and then end the book with "oh I guess maybe our trauma made us who we are too... or maybe not!" Trauma use colloquially often refers to 'the difficult things I have experienced in my life that give me perspective on the world and how I interact with it.' Perhaps this is nuanced, but it just felt quite dismissive and not necessary.</spoilers>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, and Sexual violence

hancaavdic's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-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

2.75

One thing I truly love about this book is that the author does an incredible job at crafting the characters and the dynamics of each relationship, without going into emotional detail (this may party be due to it being told in 3rd person POV?). And while I didn’t exactly *like/love* the characters themselves, nor did I fee any emotional attachment to them, I for some reason kept thinking about them when I wasn’t reading. I genuinely wanted to know what they were going to do next, what would happen next, etc.. 
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.

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Content Warnings

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

chichisode's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

5.0

if a little life was less trauma porn and more of just "life happens to us and sometimes life means shit", also video games and just games in general. but we keep going. fucking cried when the reasoning behind the title was revealed on page. strong read for escapists— yes, even when you're not a gamer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, and Hate crime

Moderate: Car accident, Genocide, Ableism, Cancer, Abortion, Alcohol, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicide, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Vomit, War, and Violence

jaji's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

I'm not usually one for contemporary/literary novels but I enjoyed this one.

The writing was smart and crisp. It also invoked nostalgia for me, for the games I've played and the childhood I have. I didn't know much about early game development so that was fun to learn.

All the characters have their flaws, but not in a way that makes them truly awful. I think Zevin does justice to how messy our relationships can be.

She also does justice to showcasing the experiences of people who might have our class systems stacked against them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Death, Gaslighting, Abortion, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Murder

laurenkimoto's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

I love this book. New top tier book. The writing is *chefs kiss* it flows so smoothly and gently pulls the story where it needs to go. I love the characters; Sam, Sadie, and Marx are the found family I want. I know next to nothing about video games and computers but that didn’t matter. This book was about video games but more so it was about stories and love and the people in our lives. 

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Content Warnings

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

calebg's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Abortion, Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

I really didn't like this book. The characters were unlikeable and got in their own way and that ultimately hindered them. They both are really terrible people that have been dealt a bad hand and don't make the most of it. Also Sam, is written as seemingly autistic and I don't think it was mentioned at all. So idk, I really didn't like it and don't get the hype.