The first quarter of this book was a dream—endearingly told childhood backstories, effortless humor, a sense that all this build-up would lead to something big. And it did...at first.

Sam is in many ways the quintessential self-pitying narrator that everyone likes to pretend to relate to. He suffers from chronic foot pain from a car accident, which draws the caretaking instincts of college roommate Marx. He is bitter over his own lack of confidence, wishing he could confess his deeper feelings towards his best friend, Sadie. All of this is understandable at the beginning, but it begins to wear on the reader around the halfway point of the book.

At the heart of the story is the tale of how Sam, Sadie, and Marx beat the odds and build their underdog gaming company into a commercial success. But the flow of events are all too predictable: there are small feuds between Sam and Sadie over credit assignment, resentment when games flop, the awkward fallout of coworker romances. The overwhelming trajectory of the company is unbelievably positive though, and the metaphors between gaming/programming and life often feel forced and stale over time.

An example: "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." (Blech.)

At its best, the tone reminded me of Richard Powers'—calm, delightful, and just wonderfully orchestrated. This had so much potential to be a winner if it had about a third of the day-to-day, predictable content cut out. I wanted to root for the characters but at some point their development just stalled and I couldn't justify reading on.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me access to this advance copy.

This was a little slow for me. I found myself not wanting to pick it up and struggled to pay attention.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the story of Sam Masur and Sadie Green, their friendship, their video games and so much more.

At first, I was skeptical about whether I would be able to relate to this book. College students making a video game didn't really seem like a book that was going to speak to me, but I loved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by the same author so I thought I'd give it a try. I don't regret even one page of this book! It is absolutely a beautiful story about relationships and the bond of friendship. The characters are so well written and developed that you travel the 30 year journey of this friendship right along each bumpy beautiful turn. This book is full of all of the emotions a life long friendship has and I am so thankful that I got a front row seat.

If you are looking for a novel to dive into and think about the friendships you have had over the years, this is a wonderful book. I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, based on early reviews, but overall I felt disappointed when I finished. I love the themes of lifelong friendships, game design and creativity, personal battles of sexism in the classroom and the gaming industry, with disabilities, and just life in general. The details were brilliant and interesting, especially the family relationships, but I got lost in the slow pace of the book and some of the more tragic events. I also didn't fully buy into some of the relationships (I don't want to say more, in order not to give anything away). Overall I would recommend this book to people who like more serious themes, but if you are looking for a fun, light read, this might not be the book for you.
Thank you NetGalley for the early copy.

Wow! Zevin's writing was so unique and creative, the character development was laid out so nicely and the emotional aspect was a pleasant surprise. The video game talk was very prominent, but the way it was integrated into their lives was so compelling. Sadie and Sam's friendship is so special. It had me tearing up at the end. These characters will stick with me for quite some time.

I enjoyed this book although it took me a bit to really get into it but I am glad that I stayed with it!

While it was a good read, I am not a gamer/coder so certain parts that I just didn’t vibe with. BUT the friendships in this book were AMAZING! The bond that can last decades - being able to pick up where Sadie & Sam left off each time they came back to one another, it really made me feel all the feels! I had a love/hate “relationship” with each and every character but that made this book that much more relatable. To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the love triangle…I loved Marx and I enjoyed his character more when he was with Zoe

This book is well written but at times it took longer to read because of the extensive vocabulary that was used. I was looking up definitions a lot! Thankfully, I was reading on my kindle because the dictionary option really came in handy with this book! I also feel at times the technical gaming parts of the book could have been a little less lengthy/descriptive. I definitely enjoyed the first half more than the second half, it seemed to drag out more and was a little all over the place.

I would rate this book at a 3.5 star but I am rounding up to 4 stars because the friendships are so relatable!

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf Doubleday Publishing & Gabrielle Zevin for this copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

2022 isn't over yet, but I can confidently say that this is the best book I have read this year. Not only is Zevin's writing style witty and beautiful, but her storytelling and ability to construct complex characters is absolutely gripping. This story kept me on my toes, and I quite literally could not put it down until I finished it.

I have always enjoyed Ms. Zevin's books, this one was well written and draws you in and as a gen x er, I can relate to most of the start of the book. All the experiences are defined and fully engrossing. The characters are multifaceted. Sadie and Sam are real people with flaws and with true selves. They make you grimace and laugh and cry due to realness. The most frustrating part of this read was the constant flow from friend to enemy. The setting of both the real and the game worlds was very cool to get immersed in. The story is one that I could relate to and truly enjoyed.

This is a book that sticks with you beyond Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I became fully invested in these characters, perhaps as a gamer myself, it was bound to happen. It was beautiful to read about something that I can relate to in terms of forming connections over video games and continuing to nurture that friendship over time. I would encourage anyone to read this book, gamers and non-gamers alike. I think there is something to be shared here, for everyone.

To start off, the cover of this book is SO my jam. My brief review of this is : this lives up to every word of hype written about it. John Green loved it. I loved it. Read it.

I adore this book. It will be on my best of the year list. My draft write-up for O Quarterly: Like the imagined worlds its protagonists are obsessed with, this is a book to dive into and get lost in. Sam and Sadie met and fell in fascination with each other as pre-teens with three things in common: a love of gaming, brilliant minds, and the need to escape the confines of the physical. Over the next three tumultuous decades, they become best friends, then business partners, then rivals, forging a platonic relationship more intense and intimate than lovers. This journey into modern friendship, tech culture, and art will sweep you up and you’ll be grateful.

I like how this book centers around the video game industry and how two young friends set out to create a game from scratch. It’s also a story about figuring out life on your own, and in a way it’s a come of age book as well. As we navigate through the lives of Sam and Sadie, we learn more about their aspirations and how their life decisions and struggles ended up reflected in the games they play and make. It’s a well crafted story loosely inspired by real life games (but purely fictional at the end of the day). I wish I could play Ichigo as well.

Fantastic, character-driven. I’ve already sold many copies. The main characters are an interesting arrangement of strength and weakness. This was an interesting foray into a world I took for granted — game creation.

One of the best releases of 2022! I will forever cherish Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and wish I could read it for the first time again. Thank you for such an amazing story.

An interesting look into the world of video games. I loved that the real love story in this book seemed to the love of creative, all-consuming work. Being in flow and creating art. As an artist and an entrepreneur, that really resonated with me.

I’ve read over 100 books in the past two years. None of them have actually made me cry until this one.

‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ follows Sam and Sadie whose love for video games bonds them from the moment they meet in the hospital to over 30 years later.

𝒁𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒌𝒆𝒊𝒕 is the feeling of being alone even when you’re with other people.

Sam and Sadie were loners who were able to find each other through unfortunate circumstances. It is not easy to find people you truly connect with in life. The relationships that are often difficult to find can also be the most worthwhile to keep.

For a 400 pager, this felt long but in a good way. I felt connected to Sam, Sadie, and Marx and the character development between them all was moving to see. So if you love character-driven books, this is for you.

“They had a rare kind of friendship that allowed for a great deal of privacy within it”

To me, this book at its core is a story about friendship. It evolves and can be challenging especially when success and failure are involved. We see them deal with working with friends, maintaining a successful company, dealing with their own insecurities, love triangles, grief, and the value of having an alternate world to escape to.

I am a sucker for full-circle moments and this book had so many. We do not live life in a vacuum and so many parts of who we are, whether intentional or not, come from the people we keep around us. I loved all the moments where Sam or Sadie picked up something they learned from with Dov or Marx or their grandparent.

I enjoyed the flips of POV and the unique perspective of feeling like a video game character. I don’t identify as a gamer but I did enjoy them growing up and any opportunity for escapism. Still do, but I think this has transferred to reading. But I still appreciated the moments in blending reality and the gaming world. So even if you have never played video games, I still feel you can connect with this story.

Life can be quite cruel and exhausting and it's truly the people in it, the ones that make you want to keep playing that make it worthwhile. The parts surrounding grief were so sad I cried. And tbh I’m still VERY upset.

I wish I could have Marx’s kindness and patience, Sadie’s talent, and Sam’s resilience.

Such a unique and moving coming-of-age story.

This book felt long, like 600 pages but in a good way. I’ll miss Sam, Sadie, and mostly Marx - the best character in my opinion. if someone knows where I can find a Marx, please let me know.

The writing in this book was exceptional. It was a novel of friendship and the challenges that a lifelong friendship may bring and it showed that anyone can start over. I loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and I’m not into gaming! I highly recommend adding this one to your TBR if you haven’t already.

I really enjoyed this beautiful book. The writing is exquisite and I wrote down so many quotes as I was going through. It's unlike anything I've ever read before and these characters and this gaming world are so special. It really makes you think and I love the message that every day is a new start. It was very long and it's not a book that you can fly through - you don't want to miss a word and it took me 2 weeks to read it (which is about 3x as long as I typically take to read a book). I'm both glad that I took my time with it and also found it a bit stressfully never-ending, haha. I used to like The Sims but that's where my knowledge and experience of gaming ends, and it didn't matter at all. In fact, this book almost makes me want to try gaming (almost!).

[4.5 Stars]

I found this to be a really great character study of a bunch of complex individuals. There were also plenty of topics (i.e. gay rights, appropriation, disability, mental illness, etc) that were covered. The only thing that I was continuously disappointed by was the lack of discussion around how they were forced to change Ichigo's gender from nonbinary to male just for the sake of marketing. I really wish that hadn't been as brushed over as it was.
Overall though, still a really really interesting read. I would recommend

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book! At first this book took me a while to get into the chapters were extremely long but the more I read the more entranced in the story and the characters I was. It was a heartbreaking sorry that I will never forget.