REVIEW

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ~ Gabrielle Zevin

READ IF:
* You played Oregon Trail as a kid.
* Your friends are also your soulmates.
* You think game design is an art form.

SUMMARY: Sam and Sadie were destined. When they met as children, they never thought they would be reunited again in a Boston subway station - but with the help of a magic eye photo, their partnership begins. Sam Masur and Sadie Green collaborate to create the video game Ichigo, catapulting them into video game stardom and all the good and bad that comes with fame.

A story told over 30 years from one coast to the other, Sam and Sadie explore the power of play, the trials of collaboration, and the true love that endures in a friendship that seemed destined from the start.

REVIEW: I can easily say without a shadow of a doubt that this will be the best book I read this year - in fact, one of the best ever. There…that’s the review!

No, but for real, Tomorrow x3 is a treasure, a beautifully written saga about the most important game we play - life. I was nervous about the heavy focus on gaming but it instantly didn’t matter. The video games frame the story in such a way that allows the characters to evolve and express themselves, separately and together. Gabrielle Zevin can do it all - suck the reader in, get them to care, put a smile on their face, bring them to tears, evoke all the nostalgia, and stir the heart to love and want to be loved.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a yes, and yes, and yes!

I adored Gabrielle Zevin's "Young Jane Young" and was delighted to hear great things about her new novel in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide. I was slightly deterred by the references to gaming, but I needn't have worried – I'm not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination, but this was one of the things that made this novel so original and outstanding. Gaming is such an excellent jumping off point for the themes explored in "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow", from love and grief, to work and creativity. Viewing familiar ideas through a completely unfamiliar lens made this such a refreshing and invigorating read for me and distinguished this from so many other books that ostensibly deal with similar issues.

This book is one of those rare gems that rewards close reading, but is also a page turner that had me gobbling up the pages for hours past my bedtime. I related to the characters deeply, was invested in the plot and admired the writing craft. The novel has a thought-provoking non-linear structure and a satisfying ending. I'd love to see it nominated for prizes – I could see it being a worthy winner of the Women's Prize, for example – but, more than anything, to see it make its way into more readers' hands.

This is one of the best books I've read this year and I'm so glad I had the chance to read it early. My thanks go to the publisher and NetGalley for a free advance copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It was a bit meandering, but in a way that kept me wanting to read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

before reading this book, id heard amazing things about gabrielle zevins work (not from that many people, but the ones who loved it, really loved it!) and im happy to say i think they were right!
tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow tells the story of a trio of young people in the 1990s who decide they want to design games. i love video games so i knew i had to give it a try (i was also pulled in by the wave on the cover, its one of my favorite works of art!) and i actually learned a lot of things i didnt know about games! i felt like the trio— sam, sadie, and marx— were my friends, not in the sense that i was *with* them (though i guess i could also say i did feel a bit like that) but i cared for them so much. rather than being next to them, i felt like i was watching their story from afar, and personally, i loved that feeling!
i have seen some reviews mention that they thought it was too long of a book, but i didnt feel so. i felt like i could read about the characters and their life for a loong while more. that may also be because im a more character-driven reader though! i know some people prefer novels where the plot is at the front, i think this could be considered a mix, but leaning more to the character-driven side!
i also feel like people closer in age to sam & sadie would enjoy this a lot! i personally cant say much about it since i was born later on hahah. i have seeen a few reviewers mention that they felt a great deal of nostalgia about games back then, and it seems like those games mean a lot to people. i didnt really play video games when i was a child but this made me wish i did!
i also loved how everything was tied to everything, the references to stuff that happened earlier/inside jokes amongst the characters throughout the book really made me feel like i was a part of their group.
im kind of having one of those things where you love the book so much but you cant write a good review for it except for “i loved it!”.
at a certain point in the sotry, i thought oh noo they made the wrong choice and it will all go downhill from here. and maybe they did make the wrong choice, but i still loved where the story went.
sorry for a review thats all over the place with an awful order of thoughts hahah.
thank you to the publisher, knopft doubleday publishing group, and netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I am very stingy with five stars so I debated for awhile about whether I was willing to go there with this book. In the end, I went with my first feeling upon finishing the book which included a sense of awe about something so beautifully written and uniquely told. I chose this title from NetGalley because of the author. I had read a YA book from her many years ago so I was surprised to see that this was an adult title as I began it. Sometimes that would be cause for me to DNF a book since I am a YA librarian and I am reading titles i can share with my students. But I was already intrigued by Sam and Sadie's relationship and where they were going. This is one of those books where the story and its mood affected my mood in real life. In addition, I was thinking about what had already happened and what was coming up whenever I wasn't actively reading. I used the highlighter over and over to capture lyrical sentences, and turned to the dictionary more than I ever have because of the SAT+ vocabulary. Everything was astounding, moving, and real.

This book started out so strong for me. I absolutely loved the first half, maybe two-thirds of the novel. The last third was not as compelling and I didn't love where Zevin took the plot. It felt like she was trying to say something with the events but nothing really came across as a statement - things sort of happened that felt significant, yet then the book just moved along. I also had trouble with the characters. Sadie in particular was so prickly and as a character, not for me. But I love Zevin's writing and I love her creativity and I love how every book she writes is different from the one before it. She is not the type of author that puts out the same kind of things over and over again. I have enjoyed a lot of her YA fiction and I loved A.J. Fikry. So I wanted more from this book but I did love some elements about it and other elements were a disappointment. But overall, I'd probably give Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow 3.5 stars.

This was just too long for what it was trying to do!

So many readers loved this, I'm sure this review will have little to no impact. The characters were very likeable, the relationships felt real and impactful, and the writing was well done. But there's just not enough happening for this to be a plot driven book and not enough characterization for a character book. It teeters on the edge and ends up being a boring love story with a splash of video game references.

**Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the eARC**

e-Book ARC from Netgalley- all opinions are my own

I LOVED Zevin's last book (AJ Fickrey) and couldn't wait to read this one. All of the blurbs I had read about Tomorrow x3 said that while video games played an integral part in the plot, you didn't have to be a gamer or an aficionado to appreciate the story.

The bigger overarching theme of the book is Sam and Sadie's friendship. Their story is told out of order- between now, flashbacks of them as children, and interviews with them a few years into the future when they aren't as close- but Zevin does a wonderful job of weaving these pieces together well enough that the reader can easily follow along.

The book IS long (400+ pages) and there are a couple of "on again, off again" moments in the Sadie-Sam friendship that could have been skipped, IMO. But the book is very well written and worth the read :)

“Maybe it was the willingness to play that kept one from despair.”

What is play, or gaming, but “the possibility of a different world”?

“The possibility that you might walk through the door and reinvent yourself as something better than you had been before.”

An epic of a read, lushly-layered with historically-accurate details, of a time and a place and a culture and a mindset, so quintessentially capturing the 90’s when our story begins, that this reader (not a gamer) felt the unmistakable tug and draw of nostalgia.

Based on the intricately-intertwining developing history of two friends, Sadie Green and Samson Mazer - eleven years old at the onset of this tale, each dealing with their own experience of trauma, pain and fear - who connect and form a life-long bond, over the shared experience of immersive computer-gaming.

Sadie and Sam, divergent in backgrounds, yet each a high-school branded “smart-kid”, grow up at a time when a world of possibilities cannot help but present itself.

As Sadie and Sam enter college (Sadie - MIT, and Sam - Harvard) , their relationship develops beyond friendship and love, into something perhaps deeper, - a sort of energy which coalesces their shared gaming vision and talents into a tightly-collaborative and highly-synergistic professional creative team.

“I want to make something that will make people happy. Something kids like us would have wanted to play to forget their troubles for a while.“

As Sadie, a brilliant and successful IT-technician (ahead of her time and her gender), falls into an unhealthy and destructive love affair, she also falls victim to a persistent struggle (both culturally and more devastatingly, internally), surrounding her work, as the author explores themes including female marginalization, imposter syndrome, and the fragmentation of identity (still prolific, yet so much more centrally a fingerprint of past decades).

“Going to MIT in a female body was an isolating experience.”

Sam, on the other hand ( a character this reader found particularly poignant), isolated, physically disabled, in constant pain, yet seeking a new and brighter future, has struggles of his own. Locked into the rigid emotional constraints in place for those of his gender, unable to express his hurt or his feelings (including, tragically, those for Sadie), his professional freedom his only outlet - Sam, for one, is prepared to take advantage of the only tools at hand.

“It was as if all these years Sam had been waiting for an audience.”

A fascinating and unputdownable story, rich with psychological insight and heart-rending in its insights of an industry and its champions, - I loved this tale, these characters, their journeys, (apart and together) and the opportunity to visit a world as immersive, artful and experiential as the computer games that resulted.

A great big thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

This book is beautiful and perfect and brilliant. I want to read everything Gabrielle Zevin ever writes. I adored Sadie, I ADORED Marx, and I feel like the author did a perfect job of writing such a nuanced version of Sam.

What. A. Book.

Sam Masur and Sadie Green have been on and off again friends since childhood. Their friendship was formed in an unlikely way and their bond grew over video games. Their love of gaming would bring them back together as adults where they would form a partnership in a lucrative business. This book spans 30 years and follows the two as they navigate love and loss, highs and lows, and everything in between. The relationships in the story were beautifully crafted and I fell in love with every character.

There was a lot of gaming talk, but it wasn't too difficult to follow and shouldn't deter anyone from picking this book up!

Set in the world of video game design, this novel pulls from 1980s, '90s, and early 2000's pop culture. It does this really fluidly. But the novel's greatest strengths are its character development and the ups and downs of those characters' relationships over the course of the story.

I went into this book with ALL OF THE HYPE, I was really excited to read something different. And different it was! This tale of three friends who build video games together spans multiple decades and as many life changes. The relationship, both personal and creative, of Sam and Sadie is at the core. Some interesting literary devices pop up as well, flashbacks and parallels and even straight gameplay keep the reader on their toes. It’s not what I would call a warm story, and it took me a minute to get into it, but it certainly compelled me through.

Really, it’s a story about partnerships and about grief, which doesn’t sound light, but the underlying plot lines of the games they and their company create keep it from getting too dark. I could have kept reading about what Sam and Sadie will make next and next and next.

CW: Gun Violence, Sexual Harassment, Grief

I received a reviewer copy of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin from the publisher Knopf Publishing Group from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Sadie and Sam are connected to one another over a love of video games, but have become exchanged. Then one day Sam and Sadie run into each other at a subway station and reconnect and endeavor on a path that takes them from creative partners to video games execs.

What I Loved: I don't know that there is a book quite like this. I heard a lot of people say that they didn't want to read this book because it's about video games. It's not. It's about two friends and how they handle relationships and continue moving on. This book is the story of how far you will go for your friend. The book explores disability and how it impacts a character and how they are seen in the world. The book explores being a woman in a field dominated by men (especially in the 90's where the book is set). This book It is an intricate novel, well plotted with fantastic storylines. Somehow Zevin manages to make this feel quiet and fast at the same time. Just a really good first book.

What I didn’t like so much: There are elements that I didn't love, for one there is a section that is kind of video game heavy that felt strange to me until the end of the chapter. But I think its still worth a read.

Who Should Read It: If you loved The Start Up Wife, I think you will love this. People who love character driven novels. People who love books that celebratge

Summary: A story of two friends and their connection to each other and video games.

I *loved* this book! Knowing it was about two friends and video games, I was a little hesitant going into it. I found myself really drawn to the world created by Zevin and very attached to the characters. My husband and I read this together and we both really loved it and keep discussing it weeks after finishing. A sign of a great read. If you like friendship stories, pick this one up.

I didn’t finish this one.

I adored The Storied Life of AJ Fikry, so I had high hopes going into this story. I am not a gamer, so I found the design aspects of the game very dull. It didn’t hold my attention at all.

I think gamers would really appreciate this novel, but it just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this terrific book, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was completely sucked in to this book from the very beginning - that feeling that I sometimes get of "oh, I'm going to really like this one" - and I was right. The basic premise is that Sam and Sadie met as kids, were good friends for awhile, until Sam realized that Sadie's friendship wasn't totally pure and he shut her off. They meet again later, in college, and begin working together on designing a video game. It's a hit, they make a lot of money, and together with Sam's roommate Marx and Sadie's exboyfriend and former teacher, Dov, form a company. This book follows their lives for the next 15 or so years.

There's no point outlining the whole book - life happens, and the characters have to deal with it. There's love, success and failure, misunderstandings and mistakes, and some tragedy thrown in. Parents and grandparents are involved in their lives, and in good, supporting ways. We see the characters growing and maturing. Sometimes you feel like smacking them, but you can always empathize with what's going on, and see the potential for growth and development. I loved the characters, and even the very tangential characters are so well drawn that they feel real.

And, just a note for those who might worry about it - while it's all about gaming and designing games, you really don't need to be a gamer or have more than a passing familiarity with them. The games are important, as a counterpoint to real life, a theme that shows up more than once, but the story and the characters work even if you don't know anything much about gaming.

5 enthusiastic stars for this one!

This book made my nerdy heart happy! I absolutely loved it! The characters and the story were perfect! Highly recommend!!

TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry) is a LibraryReads selection for July. This novel deals with … video games: "and this is the truth of any game – it can only exist at the moment it is being played. It’s the same with being an actor. In the end, all we can ever know is the game that was played, in the only world that we know." Sadie Green, and Sam Masur are the designers and programmers, Marx is the producer. They are all college students (Harvard and MIT) who eventually make it big with a successful game, but find their objectives diverging as they grow older. Plenty of questions here about identity and belonging, too. Sam (who is disabled due to a childhood accident) and Marx are biracial Asian Americans "and as any mixed-race person will tell you – to be half of two things is to be whole of nothing." Sadie struggles with self-worth and the anti-female culture of video-gaming. I still find my favorite Zevin novel to be Elsewhere and this latest is certainly more adult-oriented, particularly the sections where undergraduate Sadie becomes involved with an older, married professor. Called "a love letter to the Literary Gamer" by The New York Times reviewer, TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW received starred reviews from Kirkus, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly.

Such a well-written book with characters that feel like real people, even if they’re like people I’ve never met. I can see why this book is so beloved, and I really enjoyed it as well.
Sam and Sadie each go on their own very human, very realistic journey as they navigate their identities, their friendship with each other, and their partnership creating video games in the 90s.
It was a heavier book than I’d anticipated, but very effective, and while gaming fans will appreciate all the details, non-gamers will not be put off. I found the whole world of video game design fascinating, though I rarely play them myself. I love learning about various industries, and the book doesn’t overwhelm the reader with information. It’s truly a book about relationships.
The book made me sad, but not sad enough to stop reading. It took something out of me, and I’m choosing to see that as a success for the writer.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.