Enjoyed this wonderful story of friendship told through the voices of three friends. The common element of video games created a bond that endured for many years. Even if you know nothing about video games, Zevin has created unforgettable characters and a plot to withstand the ages. Highly recommend.

Wow! I am not a "gamer" so it took me awhile to read this after I downloaded it. And I thought it was kind of slow as it started out, but when I hit about 39% it suddenly got interesting for me. So, don't give up! Yes, it is a story of a group of friends making games and opening a business, but the book isn't really about the games. It is more about the friendship that started between Sadie and Sam when they were very young, and how, no matter how many fights they had and after many misunderstandings, they somehow always found their way back to each other. Is it a love story between them? Yes, but they never really connect in a romantic way, and their friend Marx is also always there for them. I was glad that I finally got around to reading this book. Thanks, NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the chance.

Loved this novel about friendship, love, and the power of storytelling. There's something in this book for everyone, and the carefully drawn relationships were a highlight, as were the conversations about romantic vs. platonic love, gender dynamics, and grief. I've already recommended widely!

I really loved the first 30% of this book. Found the prose to be devastatingly beautiful. I ranted to everyone who would listen how beautiful this book was. I loved the direction it was going and I would still recommend this book to others but I felt that it dragged on too long. It was much too long, it created a messy world in the end and the pivotal moment where things changed... without going into spoilers kind of ruined it for me. Maybe it's the state of the world and where we are that it felt too gratuitous but I didn't love that and felt like I had to drag myself to even finish after that.

Everyone became unlikable, the charming coming of age story I was enjoying turned bitter and the dynamic between the characters lost its luster for me. Also, the forward looking reviews etc were a little distracting.

It seems like I'm the last person on the internet to have read this book but at last, I made it. I was unsure about picking this one up mostly because it's a book centered around video games and quite frankly, that's not my thing. However, everyone on earth had incredible things to say about this so I couldn't be left out. Let me start by saying I loved this book in the beginning- it immediately felt like YA but for adults somehow, if that makes sense. I thought it would continue with the typical young kids turn from friends to lovers while becoming coworkers vibe, however that's not what this was. In general, the writing was good and I ended up being really intrigued by the overall game production parts despite having no interest in video games whatsoever. I liked these characters at surface level but there was so much jumping from character to character and from past to present that it left a lot to be desired since I didn't have the time to invest myself in each story before jumping to the next. I realize this is totally a personal preference and it's not that I didn't like this book; I did. It just wasn't my taste. I'd still recommend giving it a try seeing as I'm seriously in the minority on this one!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a beautiful depiction of a male-female friendship's evolution, from the Harvard campus to the gaming industry in LA. As a university student, I related deeply to the parts of the novel where the characters where in college.

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow / creeps in this petty pace from day to day / to the last syllable of recorded time…”

🕹👾🎮

I loved this book. I gave it all the stars. I made family and friends read it. I’ll probably listen to the audiobook before the end of the year.

You don’t have to love video games to love this book. It’s a love story to them, sure. But, it’s so much more than that. It’s a tender portrayal of friendship. Oh, and it’s a love story of a kind as well.

🕹👾🎮

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this gem with me. All thoughts are my own.

“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.”

Quirky, immersive, and wholly unexpected.

Drenched in hardship, this {non-romantic} love story was even more compelling because of its foundation in the need for evolution.

I finished this book in July and have been thinking about it ever since. It has sat deeply in my soul in a way words cannot properly express… though I’ll try…

Tomorrow x3 is told at a meandering pace. It’s meant for contemplation. With stunning prose, the writing is richly detailed and multilayered. Deeply emotive, the novel journeys through pain, overcoming, grief, and loneliness, yet finds hope throughout.

While I’ve never been much of a gamer, Zevin’s usage of it as a vehicle for storytelling was compelling. Gaming provided a unique platform of discovery and connection between Sam and Sadie that felt organic and authentic and not achievable otherwise.

There’s so much more I loved about this book…
Dynamic side characters (Marx!!!)
Coming of age focus that made me sentimental
That 80s, 90s, 00s nostalgia
Look at the evolution of relationships over decades

Hyped books are often hard to judge, but the hype is well earned in this one. This book will stay with me tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

I partnered the physical and audio version of this book. Narrated by Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi, the depiction is well executed and adept. But overall, I preferred the physical book, particularly in game play sections.

Many thanks to my partners @prhaudio and @librofm for #gifted audiobook.

I really liked this book about of Sadie and Sam, who meet as 12 year olds and sustain an on-again, off-again friendship and business partnership over the course of their teens, 20s and 30s. I like how throughout the course of the book you get to learn more and more about these two, as well as about the third main character Marx. At times the book got a little to clever/gimmicky for its own good - no spoilers, so I won't describe those parts here - but I am willing to overlook those because the story itself was so good. You do not need to be a video gamer or into computer programming to appreciate the inside look into that world. We chose this for book club and it lead to some good discussions.
Recommend.

NOTE: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh heavens, I really adored this book. It's rare for me to be frustrated and annoyed by a protagonist while still rooting for them & being engaged by the story, but that was absolutely the case here (with Sam). My husband is an avid gamer & I have never fully been able to understand the pull of the activity, but after reading this book, I find myself second-guessing my antipathy towards it. This is a beautiful story about love and friendship and art and skill and hurting people you love on purpose and also hurting them not on purpose, and about the way that game play is metaphor for real life, but in a totally not cheesy way. Hope this one gets the movie treatment!

A delightful surprise. I'm so glad this came recommended to me, because it's not something I would have been drawn to otherwise. I loved how long this book followed Sam and Sadie. I loved getting their different perspectives on the same events. I loved Marx, what a character. I found I had enough knowledge of video games to pick up on quite a few of the references, but I can't imagine how cool this book would be as a real gamer.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
By Gabrielle Zevin
Gabrielle Zevin has written, again, (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is another favorite of mine) the kind of book I hated to finish and can’t wait to talk with someone about. Wonderful, complicated characters that I loved dearly, and a smart, contemporary world that understands the influences of technology on not only the people who play video games as youth, but on anyone who ever tried to control a character with a joystick. Sam, Sadie, and Marx are all college kids when they decide to create their first video game. Sam is a poor, orphaned and disabled, multicultural character, Sadie, a wealthy Jewish girl who is one of the few who not only understands programming, but it’s possibilities, and Marx is Sam’s also multicultural, well off, kind roommate. The three of them are perfect counterparts, playing off each other’s strengths and weaknesses and creating something magnificent. Tragedy, romance, and real life are their motivations, and they use each to find their own way to adulthood.
The writing is beautiful, and though it’s been years since I played a video game, this book reminds me of the way alternative, virtual worlds, can open possibilities to everyone. I love this book and this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the review copy. The book published on July 5, 2022.

I received an ARC of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow from Knopf Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

There’s a scene in the Mike Mills’ film 20th Century Women in which the characters are having a conversation about The Raincoats. One character claims they’re not very good, to which another character replies: “It’s really interesting what happens when your passion is bigger than the tools you have to deal with it. It creates this energy that’s raw.” If that sentiment were to manifest as a novel, it would be Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which is a sort of throwback to a kind of literary fiction that largely doesn’t exist anymore (if it ever did). It’s a story that is big and bold and beautiful—and unabashedly nerdy; a story that is intimate in scope but epic in theme and structure; a story that inhabits the liminal spaces of genre in a way that will generate disinterest or discomfort in many readers. But the difference between The Raincoats and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is that the latter is very, very, very good.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow follows Sam Masur and Sadie Green, two friends who begin making video games together. In the aftermath of the initial success, their relationship fractures along the fault lines of gender and disability as they diverge in creative design and their reaction to fame, and as they navigate the relationship between platonic and romantic love. I don’t often fall for fictional characters the way I fell for Sam and Sadie. Even when they made mistakes, or when I was upset with something they did or how they treated each other, I always understood what had driven them to their decisions and could relate or sympathize, even when I didn’t agree. They are human in all the best and worst ways. What more could you ask for?

The supporting cast, too, is an embarrassment of riches, ranging from charismatic charmers to scumbags you love to hate (even if there are characters in the novel who hate to love them). It’s a diverse group of people who populate this book—characters of different races and genders and sexual orientations, characters who are disabled, characters of different ages and cultures and religions, and every aspect of their identities contributes to the crucible that defines a central thesis of the novel: learning how to love someone requires interaction, in much the same way that learning how to play a game requires engaging with its systems and finding out how they fit together. Zevin handles all of this with a delicate but deliberate touch, allowing her to illuminate the injustices upon which our world is constructed without descending into didacticism.

Sam provides the book with another thesis: “There is no more intimate act than play, even sex,” and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow offers up a convincing defense of that assertion. The relationship between Sam and Sadie is never reduced to romance, but I can’t remember the last time I read about a pair of characters who had so much chemistry. Even though they spend much of the novel angry at one another, the love they have for each other saturates every page, and at no point did their deep and complex friendship strike me as anything other than genuine. I want more stories about platonic love—that’s a drum I’ve been beating for a long time, and will never stop beating—and this book delivers, and delivers, and delivers. Hallelujah!

Let’s talk about video games. The game development aspect of this novel has generated an amount of hubbub I find somewhat baffling (even my ARC started off with a strangely defensive note expressing a variation of “You don’t need to be a gamer to enjoy this book!”). I am a gamer. I love games. I feel strongly that gaming, in the past decade, has far surpassed every other form of artistic media in its ability to develop empathy, showcase fresh perspectives, and construct engaging narratives. “Thankful” is not a strong enough word to express how grateful I am for a major work of literary fiction in which games feature prominently and without shame. This is all to say that I can never know what it’s like to experience this story as someone who isn’t a gamer.

That said, I found everything related to gaming to be the weakest part of the novel. Zevin goes out of her way to explain gaming concepts and terminology, but she makes these things so clear from context that they become redundant and ultimately don’t benefit anyone. I also struggled a bit with the fictional games made by Sam and Sadie and their relationship to the real games that are also referenced throughout the book. I think it’s safe to say that what the characters do in this novel would have fundamentally altered the trajectory of gaming history, and I don’t blame Zevin for not wanting to open up that can of worms—at the end of the day, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is about Sam and Sadie, not the games they make—but I have to admit that it still contributed to a small but notable amount of friction that I felt while reading. (There are, at least, a few fun winks that will give gamers a chuckle; even though it doesn’t make sense within the context of the book, I laughed at a reference to Gore Verbinski’s dead-in-the-water BioShock movie.)

This is an audaciously structured novel. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow reinvents itself over and over, telling its story in such a way that it reflects the games Sam and Sadie are making, and although the result is messy in some ways (fuzzy around the edges might be a better way to put it), it more than makes up for it in raw energy. This is live-wire storytelling, a shock to the system that literary fiction isn’t often capable of, and it makes the book feel invigorating without coming at the cost of immersion. And this is indeed an immersive novel: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow activated the same part of my brain that is activated by the best epic fantasy—the sense of a seamless fictional world that I’m visiting not for the story, but just to be there.

Thank goodness for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Thank goodness books like this exist. Although not without its shortcomings—the most prominent of which being its insistence on bending over backward to explain video games, even when those explanations are clear from context—Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow swept me away like few novels can or do. It has no tolerance for the baffling and backwards idea that games don’t belong in the conversation (you know, The Conversation™) that dictates “canonical” artistic media, and its characters stole my heart in the way only truly great characters can: because they’re messy, because they make mistakes, because they’re human. I loved every page of this big, bold, beautiful book. I hope you do too.

Infinite restarts in life just as in games. A love letter to gamers, but this book is so much more than that. Its complex and compelling with muti-faceted main characters as well as supporting characters, relationships, friendships, and subcultures. Their stories unfold and intertwine throughout the book spanning over decades. As in games there are key players in your life who play important roles, whether it be for a small passage of time or a lifetime, all players roles are important. Gabrielle Zevin's strong character development, word-building, complex real-life themes, relatable and flawed characters built this beautiful novel.

Sam Masur and Sadie Green might be my new favorite fictional ... relationship? Friendship? Partnership? Read the book to find out more.. This book chronicles their relationship over decades. They meet as children, have a falling out, reconnect in college and make incredible video games together. Both brilliant, creative, and driven, their relationship is not easy, but it is meaningful. This is a poignant, thought-provoking book told from multiple points of view. The story explores different types of relationships and their value and impact (friend, co-creators, lovers, partners, how do we decide which relationships are most valuable or impactful?) While Sadie and Sam's relationship is a through line of the book, it's also really interesting to dive deeper into the world of video games from the early 90's to present. There are other characters that add depth and perspective to the book. I loved it and am planning on recommending it to friends that I know will enjoy it. San]m and Sadie and their journey together will stay with me.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy. All opinions are my own.

I didn't know what the expect going into Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, but all I can say is that I was blown away.

This story follows Sam and Sadie (and others) over decades as they navigate friendship, love, success/failure, adulthood, and forgiveness. It is truly a quintessential character-driven novel that gives you all the feels. I was immediately intrigued after reading the Goodreads synopsis that stated, "Yes, it's a love story, but it is not one that you have read before." I completely agree with that.

I'd recommend this to readers that enjoy more character-development over plots and stories that span over lengths of time.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for an advanced ebook in exchange for an honest review. Tomorrow X3 is out now, so what are ya waiting for?

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a book about video games, and friendship, and, in some ways loss.
I liked the first third of the book a lot, but it kind of went downhill from there. Although overall I liked the book, it felt like the author was trying to check all of the diversity boxes but not address them in depth. I also had a really hard time liking Sam, and felt his possessiveness of Sadie was...creepy. Overall 3.5 stars.

A good read that seemed a little long by the end but was initially very smart, readable, and interesting.

This is the best book I've read this year and probably in my top ten of all time. The writing is beautiful and nowI want to read everything by Gabrielle Zevin!

Really great story. I have not read Zevin before, but I look forward to more. I loved the characters and was touched by each of them. I loved the cleverness of well-read authors and appreciate the reference to Shakespeare even though I haven't read much from him. I also loved the look behind video game design. I don't play much, but it's so interesting that it starts with story telling.