A book about life, love, and video games. I honestly didn’t know what I was getting into when I started this book, but by the time they described the twist behind Sadie’s first video game in the second chapter I was hooked. Some people may be put off by how the characters and the third-person narrator talk about video games as a high art form but I love hearing and seeing how digital media can expand our artistic horizons rather than shrink them.

A friend who read the book around the same time described it as “a romance, I guess?” and that ambiguity is at the heart of what makes this book feel real. As we follow the main characters from their college days into their thirties, the ways their views about the world and each other change does a lot towards making the characters feel like real people.

Ultimately I got a lot out of what this book had to say about friendship. It’s natural for miscommunications to accumulate into misunderstandings over the years despite our best intentions. What’s important in the end is to remember that it’s never too late to return to the foundation and try to grow something new.