devon young

This book triggered me. I've had some really bad friendships in the past and this reminded me of so many. To call this a "love letter to platonic friendship" is really worrying. The book never really shows the relationship between Sadie and Sam as supportive or comforting. Dov is a creep and at no point does that ever really come around, making it seem like it tacitly endorses the relationship, not as terrible abuse of power but as a bit of an oopsy. Marx is described by how he makes people feel but not by his actions, which are that he is a womanizing coward who has to trick his girlfriends into breaking up with him (I've never seen that not be a asshole move). Sam is constantly invading Sadie's life in a way that shows he doesn't trust her to make her own decisions. Sadie, Sadie is a piece of work, she never takes any agency in her life but then blames Sam for any problems she has with anyone else; shes mad at Sam because she thinks he knew she was being abused and manipulated her (she never points this anger at her abuser, who she has dinner with on multiple occasions and is super friendly with him even at the end of the book), she blames him for her baby daddy's death (not the gunmen or anyone who could have helped), she gets mad at him about not getting enough credit (even though he asked her to do the rounds with him), she gets mad at him because his part of her game idea was more liked (even though he gave her control of the project) and at no point do any of these things really getting resolved they just get forgotten. And the answer to Sam asking why they never got together was idiotic. "Lovers are common but true collaborators are rare" would have been a beautiful end to the book if the book had presented this as being shown at all, and to have Sadie say it is worse because she at no point acts like that, at the end of the book she only really starts to talk to Sam because her abusive ex (whom she is having dinner with) tells her to. I mean nothing screams "Lovers are common but true collaborators are rare" like your ex lover telling you to talk to your "true collaborator" who you have been mad at for 4-5 years. This book makes me think most people have really bad friends and think that's normal