What an epic journey!!! I can’t even imagine what kind of effort goes into creating such a full story. I read this book kind of slow, alternating between this and other books. I actually have read around 10 books in between the reading of this one! But this was the kind of book that I wanted to read forever and at the same time needed a break from it. It was so heavy and full, and the characters so real, I had to get breathing room.

Sam & Sadie. Whew. Where do you start with these 2? They’re friends, soulmates, strangers, colleagues…. they totally belong to each other, but they are such hard people and they can’t always see that. Actually more often than not they don’t see it. I was totally in on this drawn out life story, but I’d be lying if I didn’t think the author kept Sam & Sadie in a state of nothingness for too long. By the end I just didn’t believe that they belonged in each other’s lives. Sadie held onto immature grudges, and Sam kept not saying anything for too damn long.

But still…. It’s a beautiful book, you should totally read it.

Things that weren’t my favorite:
▪️the non-necessary giant plot twist that turned this book into something I didn’t think it was supposed to be.
▪️Sadie turning into a biotch after the halfway point. She became a totally different person— paranoid, quick to anger, quick to accuse.
▪️unnecessary couples
▪️unnecessary woke stuff

Things I loved, loved, loved:
▪️THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF!! It was perfection.
▪️So much nostalgia
▪️The way I felt reading about Sam & Sadie as kids and young adults
▪️The way this was kind of a YA crossover book that felt very YA in the best ways ( )

This is the best book I’ve read in 2023. I thought it would be about video game culture in the 1990s. And it was…but that was the backdrop, not the story. This is a story about friends and it made me think of mine. A must-read. ( )

This was a pretty quick read, to give credit where credit is due. Particularly through the first half of the book the writer really kept me turning the pages when I knew I really ought to go to sleep. Somewhere along the way, however, I began to lose patience with the characters and their stories. I don't think I truly appreciated to what degree I felt that way until I was literally pages from the end, yet, due to a change in pace from the rest of the novel, I briefly entertained just not continuing further. I just wanted the book to end.

The thing is that this isn't supposed to be in the YA genre. (Note: I actually like YA novels so this isn't meant to be some kind of burn.) In fact, the story begins when the characters are adolescents back in the 80's, and this GenXer really appreciated the nostalgia of reliving the last few decades. It made sense that it should feel that way in the beginning. But people should grow, right, and it felt like Sadie and Sam were perennially incapable of communicating. Their relationship with one another never seemed to evolve and mature. So, by the end of the book, it's 2010 or so, and the two characters are in their mid-thirties, yet they're still behaving like angst-ridden teenagers who can't humble themselves to reach out to each other. Instead, they just stay mad.

Also, this is a character-driven novel, which meant I really needed to be able to empathize with the main characters. Unfortunately, I found both Sam and Sadie mostly insufferable from the beginning. It was mostly how self-absorbed they both were and really how unappreciative of the gem of a friend they had in Marx although I had more grievances with Sadie.

In spite of this very critical review, I didn't hate it, hence the three stars. It's more about expectations. They were pretty high based on all the hype surrounding the book. I'm at a loss as to what all the fuss was about. I would say that, if you're a GenXer who grew up gaming and like character-driven novels, you should check this book out. It's no Ready Player One. ( )

(14) This is a best-selling hardcover that I got off the waitlist at the library. I have never read this author before, but it kept showing up on many reading lists so I got in line. It is a quick read that is very engaging. Sam and Sadie meet as children and bond over video games - I think they are about 20 years younger than me so older millennials, maybe. Donkey Kong wasn't old school when I was a kid, instead cutting edge. They become gamers, Harvard and MIT educated programmers, and eventually owners of a tech company. Seems like I would hate it, but the characters are interesting. They reminded me of the friends from Hanya Yanagihara's 'A Little Life,' - tragically hip. Despite it just being a narrative of relationships and growing up, I followed all the drama and was moved by some of the climactic scenes.

I am not a gamer and so I suspect that this limited my enjoyment. (Although, I have been known to play Animal Crossing on my son's Switch) The vibe was overall a bit too precious for me to rate much higher and it almost seems like it was written for young adults. And the gimmick with Sadie and Sam meeting up on essentially a version of Animal Crossing was too gimmicky for me. But overall, I am glad I read it. I liked Marx best of all as well as Dong and Bong and their characters will stay with me. It makes me wonder about young people that are really into these world-building games with avatars. It seems like most of their 'real' moments are in the metaverse. Its spooky. It begs the question - What is real?

Overall, entertaining. I think it will stick in my mind. It is too bad you don't get a lot do-overs, and tomorrows where you start back at the save in the real life. ( )

Modern, great plot, interesting characters, a good read ( )