This book chronicles Sadie and Sam and their tumultuous relationship. Despite the humorous inclusion of a variety of cultural flashbacks and more video game references that I could ever possibly know, it really comes down to this being the story of two people who really care for each other but have learned to be protective of themselves. This is seen in how they react to each other and those around them. The book is easily divided in to two halves and I am not sure if the audience is the same for both halves; however, the reader couldn't be as engaged for the second half if the first half weren't there to set the stage. The first is heavy in video gaming, young college life, and learning about what makes Sam and Sadie bond. The second half focuses on the two and those around them after they have become successful. The second half is much more emotional, in my opinion, and personal. Not that there wasn't still gaming and programming going on, but instead of it being the focus of the story it was moved to a somewhat supporting role as the characters took over center stage. I do not think a reader needs to know anything about gaming to enjoy this book. I do not think this would turn off someone who doesn't like romance. This fits perfectly in that niche of quality character development in a unique and interesting story.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a book that is meant to be read again, and again, again. Zevin tells the story of childhood best friends Sam and Sadie. They meet as tweens in a hospital in Los Angeles and they are united by their love of video games. Their friendship ends abruptly due to a misunderstanding and they are reunited 10 years later in 1995 at a Boston train station. Sadie is one of few female students at MIT and Sam is studying at Harvard. Their friendship blossoms once again and they decide to temporarily quit college and create video games together. Their creative partnership's first game is a major success and their passion becomes their career. Sadie and Sam are the best of friends, but they are not a romantic couple. Communicating their feelings to each other is not their strong suit. The plot itself is like a video game that allows Sam and Sadie to travel multiple paths. All of the characters are interesting and relatable. Life, like video games, is about the choices we make. However do overs do not come as readily in reality.

I really loved this story. I’m not a gamer, but I was a woman in tech in the 80’s and 90’s, and so much of this book rings true for me. Sadie, Sam and Marx feel like people I might have known and loved. The book is set in Boston, New York and LA, not cities I know well, but as we drive the freeways with Sam, ride the T with Sadie, or walk the streets with Marx, Zevin makes the cities come alive with specific details. The love stories at the center of the book are heart-breaking and wonderful.

Lately, all the mess of our current world seems to have flooded into my reading life as well. Mass shootings and all. This book has a dystopian “feel” at times, but mostly it’s about humans and how they tend to each other even in the midst of trauma and tragedy.

I didn’t always enjoy this book despite it being a quick and easy read, but it definitely took up space in my psyche. I’m sure I’ll continue to think about it for a while.

The last 5% of this book shone brightest for me. The protagonist discusses the generation following her own and the differing values and approaches both in work and in life. She observes that personal traumas are shared more and even used by those who followed her own generation who more often hid vulnerabilities. It’s fascinating to hear millennials analyze and critique Gen Z! As a Gen Xer, who professionally works closely with many younger people, I nodded my head in agreement. I also nodded when the protagonist states she doesn’t like making such broad generalizations. I don’t either. I do very much admire the generations that have followed my own “latchkey raise yourself “ unremarkable generation.

Much in this book is one or two steps removed from my own experience. An abiding friendship grows from a shared love of gaming. I barely know what gaming is, and have no curiosity to know more about it, so that part I had to imagine is just as the author portrays it.

Beneath all of the gaming are some very real traumas and some authentic and caring friendships. I loved how Sadie develops as a character and matures in her view of Sam. In fact, almost every character “grows up” and becomes more self aware. You can’t help but root for the friendship between Sadie and Sam. As grandpa Dong notes. there is a lot of love in this book.

You have heard the saying, "life is like a box of chocolates." Author Gabrielle Zevin would say, "life is like a video game," with the hope that one can press "restart game" when relationships don't work as expected. This was the case with Sam and Sadie. A video game brought them together in a hospital, as children, when Sam was recuperating from an automobile accident and Sadie was visiting her sick sister. As adults, their friendship, and love of gaming evolved into a partnership to create video games. Along the way to success, they had to navigate various relationships. In videos games, and in life, you have to make choices. But, it's only in a game, can you get another life. I give this book 5 stars for it's unique and engaging story. Best book I have read so far this year!

I've been thinking about how to review this book and have just landed on this: imagine if A LITTLE LIFE and READY PLAYER ONE had a baby. And there you have it. I've contemplated just leaving that there, because it pretty much speaks for itself but I can't and this will likely be the longest review I've ever written about a book lol.

This is not action-packed like READY PLAYER ONE. But it is about video games, and also like RPO, you don't have to be a gamer or even like them to enjoy this. The 80s/90s nostalgia is also strong and so much fun.

This is not nearly as emotionally difficult or traumatizing as A LITTLE LIFE (the characters here are only about a third as traumatized as our friends in ALL). But I haven't read characters that feel as real and lovable and flawed as Sam and Sadie since I read A LITTLE LIFE.

Zevin drew these characters so well that I loved them and got frustrated with them and wanted to scream at them - but not in a way that felt contrived or even intentional - it felt REAL. They felt like real people, flawed and lovable just like everyone in my real life that I love. She also did an amazing job of teaching me (someone who does not game at all) so much about building and playing video games, but in a way that was fun and felt special.

The form of this book is also super interesting - switching POVs, being dropped into other worlds, etc. Sometimes that annoys me and takes me out of the book. Not here. Here, it works and I loved it because it felt a little messy - just like life.

I don't know how to end this other than to say read this book. It's about games but it's really about relationships and love and friendship and life. It's one I'll be purchasing and re-reading for sure, because I feel like Zevin played a game with me here - that there are Easter eggs I missed or different things I need to take from this book.

Having read and enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, I was excited to receive a review copy of Gabrielle Zevin’s newest book, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Ultimately, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a story about friendship, the story of the friendship between Sam and Sadie, who meet during a difficult time in Sam’s life. Over several decades, they experience many highs and lows together. Their relationship begins as a friendship but also becomes a business partnership as the two combine their talents to create video games together.
It’s kind of odd, but to me, this book had a Daisy Jones and the Six vibe. Both stories showcase people collaborating over long periods of time, which leads to a lot of drama and tension. The characters go through a gamut of feelings as they experience love, betrayal, hate and sadness.
I am not a gamer but I really enjoyed the aspect of collaboration and building the games. This was all new to me and it gave the book an interesting flavor. That being said, I think this book will really appeal to gamers because many video games from the nineties are part of the story. Not being a gamer, I did not realize until the end, that the games mentioned are actual games.
I enjoyed the cast of characters and the development of the relationships. The story is very well thought out and it shows how people can feel alone while having a support system, as seen through struggles experienced by both Sam and Sadie. As a reader, I really felt for Sam and Sadie, while circumstances and stubbornness kept them apart.
It was interesting to see how different perceptions of events impacted their relationship.
This book has received a lot of positive buzz. I really enjoyed the book, but found it to be a tad long. At over 400 pages, I think it could have been somewhat shortened, but overall I highly recommend.
Thank you Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I was really excited to get the ARC for this one after seeing lots of great reviews, but I could never get into the story. I know a good part of this is me—my life is busy right now in a way that makes reading focus difficult, so I tend to be more successful with audiobooks I can listen to as I get ready and do other activities. I just never latched on to anything in this story and often found myself lost between flashbacks and real time and confused. Again, I know it’s more me, but I’ve also been hit and miss with Zevin’s other work. I’m sure lots of people will love this one, just not for me.

Sam Masur first meets Sadie Green in the game room in the children's ward of the hospital. Sam was an inpatient, having been in a bad car accident that required multiple surgeries on his shattered foot, and Sadie's sister Alice was a cancer patient there. They bonded immediately over their shared love for games, and that was the beginning of a on-again/off-again friendship that would span the next thirty plus years and counting. While they were still in college, they reunited and built a game together, then went on to form a gaming company, along with his college roommate, Marx. 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.
This book is about love, friendship, heartache, dealing with disability, struggling to fit in, grief, gun violence, video games, and so much more. It was well-written, and the character development was excellent. I only have two complaints and they are small ones. One, is that the book is SO long. Granted, it did span over 30 years of the characters' lives, but at times I felt like I would never finish it. The other complaint is, there was a section towards the end where all of a sudden, the writing was from the POV of a character in a video game, and that threw me for a loop, until it explained itself later on. In the meantime though, I was just really confused, and felt like I was reading an entirely different book by accident. Other than those two small issues, it was an excellent book, and one that I can definitely recommend.

I’m not a gamer, but you don’t have to be to enjoy this novel. While the characters are immersed in video games and the story is told in and around them, the book is about love—all the kinds of love we humans experience.

I struggled with this story. I feel like I spent more time looking up definitions than really immersing myself in the story. I'm all for learning new words but they didn't really flow, it felt forced most of the time. Overall though the story was good, I just can't stand being yanked out of the zone like that so many times.

Although I'm still amused with the word grok, that's a fun one.

I'm a bit torn about this book. As a whole, I think it's beautiful. The story of the friendship between Sam and Sadie is so tender and sweet, despite the highs and lows, that it pulls the book through the toll of the boring parts. The gaming stuff--the boring stuff TO ME--just slogged.

I'm not a 'gamer'. I never was into it. I played Oregon Trail like everyone else, but I preferred and still prefer books. We had a family computer, but I choose to read rather than spend time playing games. We never had a video game console, my sisters and I played with Barbies. So allllllll of that stuff was just lost on me. HOWEVER, Sam and Sadie's passion for their games, that wasn't lost. I understand it.

It's a lovely book overall, but I do think it reads a bit younger than I prefer to read. It's just...not that deep.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a beautiful novel about two childhood friends, Sam Masur and Sadie Green, who initially bond over video games but then become estranged after a misunderstanding. Years later, they find each other by chance at a train station across the country and their friendship resumes; this time, in addition to playing video games, they begin collaborating to create them, changing the course of their lives forever. As their careers take off and other people join their endeavors, they must navigate love and friendship, healing and growth, always wondering what might have been. Told in both current time and flashbacks, relationships (among Sam and Sadie and best friend Marx in particular) are the central focus, and video games are a close second. You don’t have to be a gamer to appreciate this one. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

Ever read a book where you wish the story didn't end? Where you could visit the characters everyday and say hello? That's this book by Gabrielle Zevin - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

"Sadie and Sam meet as children in a hospital. Her sister is being treated for cancer and he is recovering from a horrible automobile accident that also killed his mother. They form a connection over their mutual love of gaming.
Years later they bump into each other in Boston. Sam is an Harvard student and Sadie is at MIT. They decide to build a game together. It brings them fame and money and the opportunity to make the games they want.
But people change and struggle to open up. Then tragedy - but still hope."

Sadie will win your heart - and break your heart - and show some steel along the way. Sam struggles his entire life with his outward appearance even when he's so strong on the inside. And Marx is the rare person that makes people feel like they matter.
The story moves around in the timeline - Zevin goes back and forth to give us backstory. It's just the right amount.
There are several times where characters face a tragic loss. Zevin makes those characters vulnerable in showing their grief. The last is one that's almost unbearable - even for a fictional character. But there's hope at the end.
This is a book you will want to read this year. Zevin has given us a powerful story and some wonderful characters. One of my top reads this year

What a phenomenal book. I felt so invested in the relationship between Sam, Sadie are Marx. This book revolves around video game development and even though that's not something I'm interested in, I really loved the story that was told. You will not regret reading this book. I can't wait to read more by Gabrielle Zevin.

Thank you to Random House/Knopf, Gabrielle Zevin and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A beautiful story of friendship, love, and video games. This is definitely one of the best books of the year, and I would have loved for another few chapters of Sadie, Sam, and what comes next for them. The NPC chapter from Marx' POV is one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever read, but so wonderfully done.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is the story of two lifelong friends, Sam and Sadie. They meet in childhood while Sadie's sister is hospitalized for cancer treatment and Sam is recuperating from a horrific accident that leaves him with a long-standing disability. They bond over their mutual love of video games. Their relationship is complicated, with long periods of estrangement. They meet by chance while in college, and rekindle their friendship. With the help of Sam's roommate Marx, they create a highly successful video game and eventually a company. There are many highs and lows, successes, failures and tragedies. But through it all Sam and Sadie have a connection.


I am not a lover of video games. I was an adult when Pac-Man first came out, and most of the tech dialogue in this book was over my head. However, I loved this book. The characters are so well developed. It is a love story unlike any other. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow I’ll be still thinking about this book, and trying to find a book that moves me as much as this one.

I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

he tension of "will they or won't they" has done a lot of heavy lifting for stories through the ages, including many that wouldn't have been nearly as intriguing otherwise.

In the case of Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, that question is a touchpoint throughout the years for its characters, but the answer is so much more complicated—and interesting—than who ends up professing love to whom. More importantly, it presses its characters, and the reader, to decide what kinds of love and relationships count most.

Sam and Sadie meet in the children's ward of a Los Angeles hospital—Sam recovering from a devastating car crash that killed his mother and permanently disables him, and Sadie visiting her sister battling cancer—and immediately bond over video games. A little light deception and wounded feelings mean their friendship doesn't have the chance to grow it would have had otherwise. This is rectified, though, when they reconnect as college students in Boston, far away from home and dealing with their own struggles. They both still love video games, but Sadie has decided to make a profession out of hers by studying video game design at MIT. Sam is enchanted by her work, and convinces her to spend the summer making a game with him.

The game, eventually called Ichigo, ends up taking much longer than the summer, but also becomes something far greater than a student project. Along with Sam's roommate and the pair's sort-of producer, Marx, Sadie and Sam launch Ichigo into the world, where it finds a willing audience. A sequel helps build their little gaming company even more, and soon they're making big bets with real money on more game ideas. As the company flourishes, though, insecurities and jealousies threaten to derail both their success and friendship. When tragedy strikes, their relationship, both platonic and professional, is put to the test like never before.

There's so much to love about Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, but I'll try to be brief. Although Tomorrow is ostensibly about the relationship between two people whose lives happen to entwine more than most, so much of the story, and its conflicts, revolve around the creative process—including how its eventual audience understands or misunderstands it. Sam and Sadie are both phenomenally talented at what they do, and they do almost the same thing. But their backgrounds exacerbate the slight differences, and strengths, found in that "almost," which is where most of the conflict comes from. Sam's upbringing by his immigrant grandparents means he knows how difficult it is to break out of poverty, and will do anything he has to to stay out of it. Sadie's identity as a woman in the video game industry in the 1990s and 2000s means she feels her hard work is constantly dismissed and her ideas claimed by or ascribed to men. These two things clash more frequently, and more dramatically, than you might think, but it never feels contrived. Rather, it feels honest, and earnest, and achingly human.

Miscommunication is baked into the DNA of will they and won't theys, among other tropes. They're present here, too, but Zevin wisely keeps them grounded into reality—none of these tiny misunderstandings that could have been easily cleared up by a single text but are nonetheless blown way out of proportion. Characters do make assumptions about the intents of others based on these miscommunications, and while one in particular seems to be a bit of an overreaction, it is rooted firmly in trauma. What's more, when it is defused, the clarity doesn't suddenly mend the relationship. Feelings are still hurt from a litany of slights, the kind that seem like hardly anything on their own but can accumulate into crushing blows. 

While much of the attention in the throughline of Tomorrow is centered on Sadie and Sam (and I do adore them both), there's a good amount of well-deserved love left over for Marx, whose subtle thoughtfulness (and generous wallet) facilitates so much of what happens from those early days of Ichigo to the height of the successful company. (It is his love for Shakespeare that gives Tomorrow its name.) He is the sum total of the trio's emotional intelligence, and in his absence, Sam makes due by thinking about what Marx would say or do if he were there. More than that, Marx is a delight, and honest about who he is to his friends. At one low point, Sam tells Marx that he's the NPC (non-player character, or a character controlled by the computer) while Sam and Sadie are the heroes of the story. That's true, Marx readily agrees—and it's a good thing, because without NPCs, the heroes would just run around an empty world with nothing to do and no one to talk to. He is not without flaws but sees beauty and brilliance in all that Sam and Sadie do, and so often acts as the intermediary between them.

The plot is interesting and the characters are fascinating, but all of it is cemented together by Zevin's writing. The prose is strong, and the structure was perfectly suited for the story at hand. Now and then, an omniscient narrator pops in to explain or to foreshadow, and to great effect. Mostly little things, such as interviews Sam or Sadie would give years from their early beginnings, when those versions of themselves would be flush with success that they could not imagine at the time of the present action at that point in the story. This is no surprise; from the first line, before anything else, we know Sam reinvents himself in fame. Even when it forewarns of tragedy, the voice of it is so familiar that its warning seems gentle and expected.

But my favorite use of structure comes in the book's fourth section, during which the company is working on a game that splits player point of view between the real world and a fantasy setting. Zevin splits each chapter into two, divided into Sam's and Sadie's points of view, respectively, as their actions and frustrations unknowingly mirror the other's. The whole book reminded me of Austin Grossman's You, for more than the twin themes of friendships changing over time and deep meaning poured into video game creation. In You, Grossman also plays with structure in a way that fits the themes of the plot. Yet You cannot conceive of the gut punch that Zevin delivers in another section that plays with structure. I can't remember the last time I've been so moved by such a brief portion of a book.

John Green blurbed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and the overall vibe does feel like something you'd like if you cut your literary teeth on Looking for Alaska or An Abundance of Katherines. But it's also feels like spending time with people you almost know, like you could form a parasocial relationship with Sadie and Sam—and Marx—just by opening the cover. After a book filled with narrative promises and forewarning, the end feels almost as though it comes too quickly. In reality, the characters have simply caught up to the present day, and there is no narrative voice to tell us what comes next for Sadie and Sam, good or bad. All there is left is to keep going and see what the future brings. Will they or won't they? You'll have to look elsewhere for your spoilers.

(To go live on blog [first URL] 7/5/22 at 2:04 p.m. MDT; an abbreviated review appears on Goodreads)

I came for the 90’s nostalgia and stayed for the friendship between Sam and Sadie. I’m not much of a gamer, but I certainly played my fair share of Oregon Trail back in the day, so all of those references made me smile.

The beginning and ending of this book are really good. The middle was long and slow and could have been edited a lot. In the end, those chapters did add to the tension between Sam and Sadie’s friendship which then ultimately adds to the sweetness of their relationship.

Thank you to Knopf Publishing for a digital ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Sadie and Sam meet in the hospital as children and bond over video games. They reunite 8 years later as college students and develop a very successful video game together. Their relationship endures many ups and downs through the years. The employees at Unfair Games also play prominent roles in the development of the book, especially Marx.
Although I’m not a video gamer, I enjoyed the descriptions of the different games they developed and their interactions within the game. The story has a nostalgic vibe.
Sam, Sadie and their friends are so relatable and drew me into their story easily. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.