Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is an onion with layers that just kept giving. Its characters are multidimensional: sharp, smart and downright flawed.
This was one of my favorite reads back when it first came out in 2022 and one that I like to revisit when I can. Perhaps this Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow book review will convince you to pick it up, too. You can get it at your local bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
Note: This review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is spoiler free.
The Details
Book: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Publish Date: July 5, 2022
Page Count: 416
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis
In this exhilarating novel, two friends–often in love, but never lovers–come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.
On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.
Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.
Rating and Review
My rating:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
This quote from Macbeth perfectly sets the scene for this video game novel. Now, I haven’t played a video game since The Oregon Trail or Mario Kart, but I think I kept up with the gaming in this book pretty well.
This is a beautifully written and smart novel that spans many years in the lives of main characters Sadie and Sam. The two met in the hospital when they were kids (Sam has a long-term foot injury and Sadie was visiting her sister) and bonded over video games.
The storyline of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow spans ~30 years. Sam and Sadie become estranged, then reconnect as students in university in Boston.
The relationship between the two main characters is described in the synopsis: “two friends–often in love, but never lovers”. Yet at the same time, the “will they, won’t they” bait carries throughout the novel.
There’s a third character, Marx, who complements the duo well. While Sadie and Sam are game players and developers, Marx is the facilitator who organizes the two of them and helps them create a successful gaming business.
I felt so in-tune with the characters and kept turning the page to know what happened to them. I like to say that I won’t pick up a book without at least a romance subplot, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of love to go around here.
A few moments step into dull territory – particularly when we actually step into a video game later in the novel. Though I have to say, developing a video game for one person specifically really shows dedication.
Even though I’m not a gamer, I view Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow as an ode to the act of creation.
What I Liked
- The nostalgia for video games. I’m not much of a gamer myself, but it made me want to find my childlike wonder in them again.
- Quality of writing. Zevin’s writing is crisp, evocative and beautiful.
- Flawed characters. There’s nothing I hate more than perfect characters (there are no perfect people), but Sadie and Sam are both infuriating. They’re also loveable.
What I Didn’t Like
- While I enjoyed reading Sadie and Sam’s journey, their friendship felt borderline toxic at times.
- The pacing is slow at times. If you enjoy beautiful writing, this might not be a problem.
Favorite Quotes
“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.”
“What is a game?” Marx said. “It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”
“If you’re always aiming for perfection, you won’t make anything at all.”
TL;DR
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a beautifully written work of fiction that celebrates the act of creation as well as friendship.
