But it is worth noting that to be good at something is not quite the same as loving it.

This book perplexes me. It started off with a slow pace but I was engaged. I enjoyed the book but I wasn't sure where it was heading. However, I felt my reading speed was equivalent to a story with twice as many pages. I also wondered if the story was going to be a slightly less entertaining retelling of Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid but for video games.

I never considered stopping but it was as if I was treading in quicksand with the progress I made, and then something changed.

Either the character stories coalesced, the story became more enjoyable to me, or I was able to read for longer in a single session. Whatever happened it flipped my thoughts about the book around and I understand why this book was a Goodreads 2022 winner and has such a high rating.

The knowledge and experience we have - it isn't necessarily helpful, in a way.

I like video games. I haven't played as much as I did when I was younger but I recall a certain joy and nostalgia with the games that shaped my youth. The book has a heavy focus on video games, but not blatant on references like Ready Player One. Rather the story is a homage to the evolution of games, the struggles of an artist and realizing that you will have failures in your life.

Considering my many concerns about credit, it turns out that no one remembers who's responsible for anything.

Video games are a heavy focus in the beginning but then the story shifts to the characters, their friendships and complications. The relationships are complex. The characters hide their traumas and unintended slights cause a crack to appear that causes people to drift apart. Nothing is straightforward and nothing is easily repairable.

I liked how the video game development mirrored the narrative (eg: the development of Both Sides showing a compare and contrast with Sam and Sadie). I was reminded of how Fonda Lee wrote the characters in the Jade Wars and how the most unlikeable or insignificant character could have an emotional impact. What Gabrielle Zevin did for Sam, Sadie and Marx is stunning.

The way to turn an ex-lover into a friend is to never stop loving them, to know that when one phase of a relationship ends it can transform into something else. It is to acknowledge that love is both a constant and a variable at the same time.

The story is about friendships over the course of their lives, through the highs and lows. I was frustrated by the actions of Sam and Sadie in one chapter and then deeply moved in the next. Zevin did a wonderful job on developing these characters and maturing them over the course of the book and I was a little sad to see the book end when it did.