What a wonderful representation of the complexities of love and friendship. This book really caught me off guard in that regard; I was pretty hooked from the beginning due to the readability of it and my own interest in the creative process of video games (I especially enjoyed the many references), but the aspects of human connection are what will stick with me. Not only does Zevin do a great job of showing the ways our childhoods influence our lives (through both trauma and our escapes from those traumas), but the novel is stunning in using its own influences in the gaming world to shape its form in places. I found the 'Pioneers' section, in particular, to be very special and a beautiful culmination of bringing content and form together. I was left misty-eyed by the end of it.

Reviewed on Sunday, November 26th, 2023, 12:15pm.

I really enjoyed the frame of this novel being that the end of the world was an inevitability and that what we are left with is seeing how people will deal with it, but ultimately it felt a little too narrowly-focused to be super effective for me. I think maybe showing a little bit more of the outside world, perhaps through the lens of David, rather than being so confined to Lyd and Mott's lives, we might feel the overall danger imposed on the two throughout. Instead, there are often long stretches of not much going on other than internal and personal conflict between mother and daughter. I will say, the book really sticks the landing and ties up how important being so narrow throughout was, because we can see a very personal experience with this whole thing in a way that we wouldn't had it been too broad.

Reviewed on Monday, October 23rd, 2023, 10:44am.