Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

475 reviews

radfordmanor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

iced_mochas's review against another edition

emotional informative lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-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

4.0

I listened to this one on audio. So foreign was the language of gaming to me that I thought I’d started some sort of fantasy / magic realism book at first! Yet, quickly enough, the reader is comfortably immersed into the world of Sam and Zadie, the gaming masters and protagonists of this book. The phases of their lives are carried through each of the games they produce.

Sam Mazer is eloquently described as “that f**ked up romantic kid” in the latter half of the book, which sums him up nicely. He is the broken hero of this story (physically and figuratively) whose Jewish/Korean ancestry reflects the author’s own. The story explores an unfulfilled love between friends as their life experiences take them in several different directions. There are some really animated characters, well-voiced by the narrator Jennifer Kim (only one segment is voiced by Julian Cihi). The characters include actor-turned-business-manager Marx, as well as the Israeli teacher Dov Mizrah, an exploitative faculty member from M.I.T.

Despite being quite an odious character, I did feel Dov was entrenched throughout the novel. His background remained unchallenged and may serve the normalisation of the settler colony. For a book published in 2022 and a story that is so rich with references from recent political history, it was uncomfortable to have the occupation go completely unmentioned.

[Minor spoiler alert] The most memorable moments that kept me engrossed were the social twists and turns of immigrant life in America. Sam’s mother Anna who witnesses a death by suicide. In another instance, a life-changing mass shooting. Yes, sometimes this novel did read like Heartbreak High and I got a little bored by the “will they, won’t they” question. That said, this book did not feel as long as it actually is (14 hours). I’d recommend for a not-too-complex escape to another world.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence

sylviatp's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship

stratospheric's review against another edition

funny inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Abortion

Minor: Drug use, Blood, and Alcohol

weepy_iskwew's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

It took me so long to read this book. Not the book’s fault I think I was just going through a lot with work and personal stuff. 

It was a good book. I liked the complexity of the characters, the reflections on their life through the lens of race, ethnicity, disability, trauma etc. I liked the reflections on our human life vs. the infinitely repeatable video game lives. Just the exploration of designing and playing video games was lovely as someone that is a fan of many games. I love that it’s a deep partnership that isn’t necessarily a romantic relationship. 

I think I struggle with literary fiction at the best of times, but found this to be a little too slow even by literary fiction standards. Obviously, with the caveat that I also had a rough month while reading this - there were a few moments that felt like trauma included just for trauma’s sake. 

Maybe I’ll give it another go when I’m in a better headspace myself - but for now its a 3.75 for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma

felofhe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

anderson27paige's review against another edition

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

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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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

irammy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

4.25

Zevin created not only an engrossing book, but a number of intriguing game worlds I'd love to explore. I devoured it, in part to find out if the issues of Sadie and Sam's relationship were ever resolved. They were both perfectly imperfect characters; frustrating, believable and loveable. God I love Marx, he was the most perfect and kind human being. Zevin sometimes uses big words, as I imagine a Harvard/MIT grad might to "prove" themselves as smart and they cleverly interspersed comments from the future/present to build intrigue into how the characters lives develop. This is a book I'm desperate to discuss with friends, I'd thoroughly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence and Death of parent

abbiwesner's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual violence

bunzilla's review against another edition

I really don't get why this book is so popular? None of the characters are likeable except for Marx and they kill him off for no reason lol 
Too slice-of-lifey for me as well

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Rape and Abortion