Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
There is a beginning and a middle. The end it's up to you.
Hardcover, 401 pages
English language
Published July 5, 2022 by Knopf.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
4 stars
(152 reviews)
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 …
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.
People and Places
5 stars
This is a very good book about relationships of all kinds - familial, romantic, friendly - and the relationships that are harder to define in a single word. Sure, it's also about video game design, narrative structure, being empathetic and kind, and a little love letter to Southern California. It feels like the 1990s, and also timeless. Zevin writes wonderfully about gender, race, age, and all the ups and downs of those definitions across generations.
Very highly recommended, for people who like people.
I loved a lot of it
4 stars
I loved a lot of this: the deep character building; the reality-details; and the odd topic of early game development. I found at the end, though, that I didn't love it as much as I had while I'd been reading. I grew to dislike Sadie pretty strongly, and felt like her character didn't get as much development as the men, and therefore her choices and behaviors felt abrupt and awful. I'm annoyed that the one woman in the book wasn't treated as carefully and fully as the other two--it really spoiled the whole barrel for me. Having said that, the story and the writing are pretty amazing in how they pull you in and don't let go.
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I didn't feel like there was any clear plot driving this story. I didn't like any of the characters, except Marx. In fact, Sam and Sadie are at each other's throats for the majority of the story. Both holding grudges against perceived slights that have been blown way out of proportion and exacerbated by refusing to talk through their issues. I dislike stories where the main conflict is caused by miscommunication.
I enjoyed the discussion of game design and I would love a chance to play Pioneers!
Aaron reviewed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
5 stars
I picked this book up after seeing it on the "best" list from the Washington Post, and was not disappointed. I am not a gamer. But this isn't really a book about video games -- it is about the fascinating friendship which grows among the main characters. To reveal too much about how these friendships evolve would inevitably give up the
The characters in the book are roughly the same age as me, and there is a lot in this book that will speak to kids of the 80s and 90s. I was practically offended when, on page 99, the Zevin writes that Chris Cornell was "the lead singer of the grunge band Soundgarden." Who else would it be?! Kidding aside, I never felt like this book dragged, and watching the evolution of the friendship felt true. A great read.
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A beautiful novel about work, friendship, love, and identity. I suppose it's about video games too, but not really; it could just as easily be about any creative act. I loved Zevin's writing, the melancholy story, and even the characters (although they've been maligned elsewhere). For me, the work is only diminished by the knowledge that she used concepts from some real-world games (e.g., Train) without credit. It would have been so easy to fix.
My Review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
5 stars
I had heard almost zero criticism of this book prior to reading it, so I went into it with high hopes, and expected to enjoy it. Not only did I enjoy it, but it's one of the best books I've ever read, and it's the type of book I could see myself doing annual rereads of. It was that good, and it had its hooks in me from the start.
Despite the three main characters being about a decade older than me, I found myself easily identifying with them, and feeling like they could have been friends of mine. The camaraderie the three of them shared was a delight to behold, as they navigated their 20s and 30s and dealt with the normal issues 20 and 30somethings deal with, in addition to their own demons. Sam and Sadie's relationship is especially turbulent at times, and they sometimes made me want …
I had heard almost zero criticism of this book prior to reading it, so I went into it with high hopes, and expected to enjoy it. Not only did I enjoy it, but it's one of the best books I've ever read, and it's the type of book I could see myself doing annual rereads of. It was that good, and it had its hooks in me from the start.
Despite the three main characters being about a decade older than me, I found myself easily identifying with them, and feeling like they could have been friends of mine. The camaraderie the three of them shared was a delight to behold, as they navigated their 20s and 30s and dealt with the normal issues 20 and 30somethings deal with, in addition to their own demons. Sam and Sadie's relationship is especially turbulent at times, and they sometimes made me want to scream, but their friendship and love for each other always won out in the end. Marx was the glue that kept it all together, and for me was the star of the story, the hero that Sam, Sadie, and others in their orbit needed.
I could go on and on, but it's best if you just read it for yourself. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is many things. It's smart, funny, empowering, nostalgic, and even tragic. To me, the word that describes it best is masterpiece.
A beautiful book about friendship
5 stars
Wow, what an unexpected gem. I saw this book on a bunch of best-read lists for 2022, and I was drawn in by the description. I thought I'd be reading a fictionalized version of the history of building video games, like Console Wars, but I got this beautiful book about friendship instead. The closest comparison I can make is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. Regardless, this book deserves all the accolades it has been receiving.
Overrated
3 stars
A lot to like but it didn’t live up to the hype for me.
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Thoroughly enjoyed this read. The alternate history with firm moorings in actual video game development timelines made it feel very grounded and relatable. The principals are all folks with whom I would enjoy having as friends, making it all the more wrenching as they encounter their various heartbreaks and difficulties loving each other as well as they might wish. (And I want to play most of the fictional games!) The Sadie/Sam "we love each other deeply but are never together romantically" angle was refreshing; that sort of dynamic seems underexplored in fiction. Great stuff.
Sarah reviewed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
friendships and games
4 stars
I liked this. I might not play enough games to fully appreciate it? But I was very into the complicated friendship and the emphasis on the rarity of that connection.
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
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 …
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.
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
This fucking book. I felt all the feels. And not just all the good ones but the bad feels as well, the icks as the youths would say. Technically, I shouldn't like it, and in many didn't think it'd work, which I suppose is also a meta feel also likely intentional and also annoying in it's frustrating accuracy. I feel a bit like Emily I suppose. Which is all the point, no?
This fucking book. I felt all the feels. And not just all the good ones but the bad feels as well, the icks as the youths would say. Technically, I shouldn't like it, and in many didn't think it'd work, which I suppose is also a meta feel also likely intentional and also annoying in it's frustrating accuracy. I feel a bit like Emily I suppose. Which is all the point, no?
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A fun read. I came for the Kings Quest IV references and stayed for the complex relationships.
At one point the characters explicitly reference the title and explain its meaning - felt a little on the nose.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
3 stars
This is the first book I've ever read that I think I am actually too old to appreciate. I'm not a gamer and lack the familiarity with that world that might help me better grasp the literary Easter eggs. I'm sure I missed a few. It's a lovely tale, well-written, with characters I cared about.
