This is one of those well-lauded books that I felt a bit hesitant going in. I assumed it was targeted for a certain audience—either those who gravitate towards stories about complicated friendships, or gamers. I'm not sure either of those are me, so what would I get out of it?
And when I first started, I thought for sure I'd made a mistake. The first chapter was so overwritten, coming across as both pretentious and off-putting, and I cringed my way through it. I thought to myself, this is it. The book that everyone loves, I'd either have to give up on or end up writing a lowly-rated review and be subjected to comments about brain deficiency.
I took a break and then decided to give it another chance. Chapter 2 was a little bit better. And then we come to Chapter 3, and bam! I was hooked. It's not an understatement to say that the scene with Dov teaching the Advanced Games seminar class was my favorite of the whole book and it's what sold me on reading it.
From then on, every moment related to designing or making video games, I was totally there for. Before I started, if you'd told me that that would be the part I'd enjoy the most, I would've been surprised. I wouldn't categorize myself as a gamer since I've probably only loved one video game my whole life. (That was Animal Crossing, first on the GameCube and then almost 20 years later as Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Switch.)
But then when I think about it, I shouldn't have been surprised. The way this book talks about games, they're really presented as more like stories, albeit ones where the reader can participate in and influence the direction and outcome. And I'm certainly a reader of the most passionate sort.
I'm also a software engineer with a little bit of experience making video games on the side, so of course the technical aspects of Sam and Sadie's ventures totally appealed to me. Reading about their projects is more or less like reading about work—which I normally avoid like the plague—but somehow this book made it exciting.
I can't help but wish the games were real. I want to play them and capture the feelings reading about them evoked in me. And I also want to know everything that went into making them. If this were a biography on a real video game company, I would've loved it from cover to cover and completely gobbled it up.
But it wasn't, and as a result, this wasn't a perfect story for me. It very much centers around Sam and Sadie's friendship, and that was pretty much the weakest part. I didn't really connect with either of the characters. All their issues were the result of the dreaded miscommunication trope, where one or the other refuses to say what they mean, leading to misunderstandings. And this went on and on, through many years.
My other issue with the story is that it includes a certain development that comes out of nowhere, seemingly for no other reason than to beat down the characters, thus eliciting tugs of the heartstrings and upping the emotional ante. And I'm just not a fan. It doesn't add anything to the story and it left me feeling somewhat emotionally manipulated.
I also have to point out that the story at times feels like it's a bit too clever with its verbiage. Like at one point, this book conjured up the only two literary characters who know what "jejune" means and put them in a conversation with each other. While that's an impressive use of the thesaurus, it detracts a bit from the story being told.
But I don't think my experience with the book is typical. A lot of other readers praise the depiction of Sam and Sadie's relationship and declare their love for the book despite the video game segments. I'm pretty much the complete opposite. But even coming from two different directions, it seems we have all reached the same conclusion, and that's our collective enjoyment for this supremely interesting story. And in the end, that's all that really matters.
Readaroo Rating: 4 stars
This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.
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