Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

This book is my first read by Gabrielle Zevin and I absolutely loved it. I knew from the beginning I was going to like her writing style and the tone of the book came through instantly. Sam, Sadie, and Marx are some of the best developed characters I’ve met in my reads this year. You will like them, love them, and be frustrated by them in the best way. Yes, there is lots of talk about video games and gaming in this book but don’t let that lead you astray. This book is also about the ups and downs of lifelong friendship, college life, careers, romance, grief, misunderstandings, and so much more. It is witty, clever, emotional and I’m already looking forward to a reread. Thanks so much to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sam and Sadie, childhood friends who grow apart, run into each other in college and just like in childhood seek each other out to heal the scars they carry. Beautifully written, Zevin is a master of evoking emotion and character building. She will make you root and simultaneously question why you even like all the characters. They are so tangible and you as the reader really feel immersed in this epic novel. Set in the boom of video game designing you don't have to be an avid gamer to appreciate the references, though it certainly doesn't hurt. I cannot say enough good things about this novel I was ravenous for it.

The best book I've read this year and I am already tempted to reread it. The scope and creativity is so exciting but it is the characters and the intimacy of these relationships with friendship at the center that I truly loved.

From the author of, “The Storied Life of AJ Fikry,” Gabrielle Zevin brings together two characters in Sam and Sadie that are often in love but not lovers, who meet as children and find success in creating a world in their love- through video games.

For those of us close to the same age as Sam and Sadie, who grew up in the 90s, the nostalgia around gaming brought back memories. But Zevin goes much deeper than the kids that start off bonding over a shared love of games and explores race, gender, disability and love through the years that Sam and Sadie come together and grow apart.

I love a good character driven novel and this one will stick with me for quite a while. Highly recommend you give this one a read. Thanks to #netgalley and #knopfdoubleday for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet sweet one from Netgalley. All the loves for always providing great ARCs!!

Im feeling delirious. I haven't read anything quite this good in long while. Truly a stroke of genius!! I'm crying in a corner😭. This. This deserves all the love and recognition in the world.

On the surface, this book is about a relationship between two childhood friends who grew up to make video games together. But make that relationship intricately complicated yet endearing and also terribly gut wrenching.

Two flawed people shoved hard into shitty life with shitty situations. I could defend Sadie and Sam with my life, but they're both to be blamed too. It's pain that drives them together, and pain too sends them apart.

The complexity of the characters is mind blowing. I especially had the best time trying to read Sadie. Most of the time she's nothing but supportive. Then she also is so full of ego, she's intolerable, hard headed but the way she bends for Sam melts my stone cold heart. Sam on the other hand, it's impossible not to feel sorry for his pain. He's lovable yet self damaging, ambitious yet selfish, but he never gave up on Sadie 🥺♥️.

They're both assholes to each other. But I believe people don't turn to be assholes just because they feel like it. They're assholes because they're too depressed to function. They're assholes because they're in unbearable amount of pain. They're assholes because they could feel nothing but overwhelming sadness.

What first seems to be a coming of age story, then turns into a walk of adulthood. Brilliantly touches on blinding desire to excel, search of identity, self doubt, survival, to name a few. Immensely strong plot and wonderful pacing. I thoroughly enjoyed devouring this book from beginning to end.

I am not a gamer but you don’t need to be in order to greatly appreciate this well-written and engaging novel. It is a story of growth and self-discovery, love and friendship. Sam and Sadie meet when Sam is in the hospital recovering from a terrible accident and Sadie is visiting her ill sister. They bond over video games and later, while in college, begin a successful collaboration. They are reflected, to some extent, in the games they create and that’s a fascinating part of the story. But it is their human interaction and their actions, or lack thereof, that makes this a very special read. We come to know the fascinating main characters quite well and sometimes wish we could give them a bit of sage advice but they need to learn and grow on their own. The supporting characters (parents and grandparents, friends and lovers) are interesting and human and contribute greatly to the fullness of the story. The writing is skillful, the story is special; it is a good read! Thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

what a beautiful book. the story of 2 main characters and their NPC who tames the horses.
I am not a gamer,. it is easy to get lost in some of the game creation aspects, but the main thing is learning how to love, forgive, grow and play. I enjoyed this with all my heart.

Title: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Knopf
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:
"Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

My Assessment:

The story was wonderfully delivered to the reader about how this starting gaming process as it started for the three friends... Sadie, Sam, and Marx. The read is long but will keep your interest as you turn the pages to the end. The author did an excellent job at keeping the story and timelines as the reader understood the compelling narration of what was going on between the characters. The story will not be all happy, and there will be 'complexities, love, relationships, death, stress, growing up, friendship, and grief' along with some exciting video games presented in this story. It was interesting to look behind the scenes that go into coming up with how these gamers work hard to develop these games. The story will keep one captivated. This was my first time reading about gaming, and I was indeed impressed by this reading.

Thanks to Knopf Publishing Group and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my review.

In Gabrielle Zevin’s ending “Notes and Acknowledgments,” she writes “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a novel about work…Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is equally about love.” Those may be the bookends, but between them is a sweeping masterpiece of the lives of young friends over three decades. It spans not just time of those tomorrows and tomorrows and tomorrows, but also the vibrant world of gaming and gamers, to diverse geographic anchors from coast to coast. Sadie Green and Sam Mazer meet in their teens at a time of tragedy and suffering for Sam, opening a door to a life-altering friendship through their affinity and life-saving outlet of gaming. Marx Watanabe enters in their college years as Sam’s roommate, and the three meld into a solid friendship. They start their own gaming business “Unfair Games” after their creation of blockbuster game Ichigo. What follows are the years of the company’s successes and failures with the interplay of lives and love of the three friends.

The writer brilliantly takes us into the world of worldbuilding and gaming even for the totally ignorant, enticing us to long to play Ichigo, Mapletown, and famous games. We sit with them as they devise, walk and talk through the creation process -- right onto the business aspects. Woven in are the three’s complex relationships, at times fractured, healed, or maturing. No aspect of the book seems extraneous. Family relationships, hopes and fears, sacrifices and ambition, forgiveness and longing, disabilities and diversity, identity and culture, societal risks and geographic differences, literary and drama references, loyalty and betrayal, the past and the future—and always gaming—layered, blended, or transposed seamlessly. The gaming world, the stages of the characters’ lives, and the immersed reading experience are intertwined so the reader may feel one, not three, worlds. Near the end, without prefatory explanation, we are dropped into a game at a time that is risky for the writer, unforgettable and alluring for the reader, and perfect for this story, these characters, and the magical experience of gaming. About three-quarters of the way through the book, a tragic event happens, to which I had to put the book aside for a day before I could continue.

Writing a review for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow has been difficult because of the sweeping artistry, talent, and imagination of this writer, as well as the immense and inedible effect it left. I had read and treasured Gabrille Zevin’s The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry in 2014 and without question was eager to read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (especially with this title, and how Macbeth or that poor player on the stage is connected). This goes beyond any expectations I had. This is best book I have read in 2022 and I will never forget it.

For the early access to this book, I am grateful to NetGalley, Knopf Doubleday Publishing, and Gabrielle Zevin for the opportunity to read this splendid book. My opinion is all my own.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin
Knopf
Publication: July 5, 2022

Zevin has created a whip-smart novel of love, work, and video games. The story centers on two main characters: Sam Masur and Sadie Green. They meet in a hospital hospitality room where they take turns playing Nintendo. Sam is recovering from a car crash that killed his mother and that mangled his foot. Sadie is visiting her sister who is in the hospital for Leukemia. Sadie continues to visit Sam to play games even after her sister is discharged. (They are children at this point.)

Years later, they meet in the subway in Boston where Sam is attending Harvard and Sadie is attending MIT. They re-connect and collaborate on a complicated game, Ichigo, about a young child who gets swept away in a storm and returns home years later as a ten-year-old. Sam’s roommate, Marx, helps them as they work hard to finish the game. They have great success with the game and soon, with Marx as producer, the three have their own gaming company, Unfair Games.

Sam and Sadie have love for each other but they have arguments and don’t speak at times. This causes friction at the company and things become complicated. I don’t want to spoil the story so I’ll leave it at that.

Other characters I loved are Sam’s grandparents Dong Hyun (Grandfather) Bong Cha (Grandmother). They provide much needed wisdom and love to Sam and play vital roles in his life. A side note: They have a Donkey Kong game in their pizza shop.

I love how Zevin honestly portrays how women functioned in the gaming business. It reminds me of Brenda Romero (yes, wife to John) who is one of the few women pioneer female game designers. Was there a nod to her game Train when Sadie’s first MIT game dealt with Nazi’s? She wasn’t mentioned in the notes, but in my world, it is a nod to Brenda.

This novel is about love and work and video games. It is a fantastic book and I’ll be reading Zevin’s other works to see if they hold up to this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Knopf for this electronic arc in exchange for my honest review.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is the story of Sadie and Sam - two childhood friends who bond over video games. Their lives continue to intersect until they create their own video game. Overnight they are hugely successful but their trauma continues to follow them.

This book! I laughed. I cried. I was so mad I had to put the book down and walk away. I haven’t felt this many emotions in a book for a long time. The character development and growth is fantastic. This is heavy on the video games and I can see how it could be a bit tedious for some readers. In the end though it’s a story of love - how to love and be loved. How to accept love when you aren’t sure you love yourself. Truly one of the best things I’ve read all year.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this book. Rich and deep with meaning. Characters were realistic and the video games enriched the stories in compelling ways. Would highly recommend to our customers.

*This* is now my favorite book I’ve read this year, if not longer. It’s epic, in the literary sense, but also in the “spanning years and continents, lives ruined, blood shed, EPIC” sense. I laughed, I cried, I screamed out loud in protest when a character made a decision that broke my heart. My husband and I got into an actual fight because he interrupted me during a pivotal moment. I couldn’t read any other book for a week after I finished it - I just started this one over again.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is ostensibly about video games, but it’s also a meditation on the creative process, or maybe more accurately the creation process. The labor and logistics and compromise and collaboration that go into turning an idea into something tangible. It’s about love and family and friendship and the types of deeply impactful partnerships that defy labels. It’s about the joy and intimacy of play, and about the pain of living in a body or a brain that can’t do what you want it to. It’s about art and genius, and about the people and structures without whom geniuses couldn’t happen.

It has the beautifully fleshed out cast of characters and unique perspectives of an Emily St John Mandel. It weaves in the reflections on the fallibility of human memory and the stories we tell ourselves of Kazuo Ishiguro. This book is infuriatingly good, and I love it so much.

I received a digital ARC from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group via NetGalley.

This story will stay with me. At it’s core it is a story about family, friendship, and life. We watch the characters grow up, and change. Do not be intimidated by this book if you feel you do not like or understand video games. It isn’t. So much about the technical side of making games, it’s about the experience of playing them, and the reader is brought into that.experience.

This book tells of the lives and lifelong friendship of Sam and Sadie, people who dearly love and care for each other even though they don't always understand each other. The story spans thirty years, although the shift in time periods is easily made and placed in areas of the book that make sense and add dimension. The friends welcome another friend, Marx, to make a trio, who go on to start a successful business creating video games. The video games reflect what they experience in life and demonstrate their hopes, fears, values, losses and longings. This books is intricately detailed, emotionally moving and meaningful. I need to read more of this author's work! Highly recommend this read!

Oh goodness, this one is a stunner. I've heard from so many early readers of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin that they liked or loved this book *in spite of* the fact that it is about video games, with assurances that you don't have to care about video games in order to enjoy it. I wasn't worried about video games being involved, because I have enjoyed playing them occasionally (mostly just Stardew Valley, to be honest, but I've played others) and my husband and kids love them so I'm used to seeing them and understand how great they can be. What I didn't expect, however, was how much even my limited knowledge of video games enhanced my appreciation for this novel. There is actually a LOT about video games in it, with explanations of the storylines of the games they create, all of which sound absolutely amazing and wildly creative. I loved this book so much more because of the video games, and that truly surprised me. Add to that the references to Shakespeare (I figured the title was referring to MacBeth, but didn't expect to encounter Shakespeare otherwise) and the unique sections in the middle of the book that told the story in creative ways, and I'm in love. The book is primarily about the central friendship between Sam and Sadie, but I absolutely adored Marx and I was fascinated by Sam's mother Anna. Such beautiful characters and relationships. I think I'm going to have a book hangover for a while.

I devoured this book. The characters are wonderful and it didn't hurt that they are close to me in age, and came of age in the same era I did. I wouldn't call myself a "gamer" but I do enjoy and appreciate video games. Though I don't think you have to, to enjoy this book. It's about friendship, success, failure, finding yourself (losing yourself and finding yourself again), creativity, love, art, relationships, grief, growing...and so much more. For me, it read like a cross between Meg Wolitzer's "The Interestings" and the TV show Mythic Quest—particularly its fantastic flashback episodes. Highly recommended.

An epic, sweeping, timeless tale of love and friendship and all the intricacies of life, spanning over thirty years.

𝘛𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 begins when Sadie Green and Sam Masur strike an unlikely match in the hospital where Sam's recovering from an accident and Sadie is present to accompany her sister. After a minor betrayal, however, they lose contact.
Fast forward fifteen years, they reconcile over their shared love of videogames, and Sam presents Sadie with an opportunity to to build games with him. Thus begins the start of a striking and remarkable friendship.

As I'm writing this review, my heart is heavy and I'm overwhelmed, whether it's over the grief of finishing this book or the honour of having read this masterpiece? I don't know.

I'm also confused as to how to make sense of this review so we'll start with the beginning and work our way towards the end.

1) As I mentioned, Sadie and Sam meet at the hospital and connect over videogames. Now, videogames are a major emphasis of the plot. Personally, I've never played a single game discussed in the book or a console game ever but miraculously I could follow their programming lingo easily (I guess years of watching youtubers playing videogames payed off eh?).
I'd recommend watching atleast one gaming competition finale for reference and if you're a gamer then this'll definitely be your comfort book.

2) A few aspects of the book that may be an issue to some are the timelines and the alternating povs which don't have an order. Not necessarily frustrating but you never know when the plot changes into the past or the future and which character's perspective you'll get next as the povs aren't limited to only the MCs.

3) The writing was above my paygrade.
The vocabulary felt way too advanced but new words are always welcomed so I didn't mind. Though, I will say, the dialogue writing especially for the first half of the book felt a lot like reading historical fiction for some reason? Probably because of how proper it read and sounded.

4) I still haven't gotten over Marx. He's the bestest friend one could ever be blessed with.

5) I would also like to mention that the love Sam had for Sadie and Sadie had for Sam exceeded the limits of platonic love but they never were lovers. And that, I found was a beautiful emphasis. They've always loved each and always will, even or especially in the worst of circumstances.

Another aspect that I found intriguing was the generational difference. As someone who wasn't even alive in the 90s, it was rather interesting to note all the wildly different social constructs.
It's probably the most Gen Z thing I've ever said but how did people get by without constant access to each other? The thought is wild to me.

I'll conclude by saying that this story was exceptional and I hope I'll come back to it one day to reread and take away even more than I'm doing now.

Ps. I'm deducting one star because I'm still grieving and I will 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 get over him (iykyk).

- ~ -

4.32 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘧 𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I can’t believe that I am just now experiencing this author, what a clear, beautiful voice they have. I loved every bit of this immersive, intensely human story. The multiple viewpoints all coming together to share this story provided a very well rounded and comprehensive tale of love, life, and friendship in a very real and honest way.
As someone that is wholly unfamiliar with the world of gaming, I was a little nervous at first about being able to relate. Thankfully, that turned out to be completely misguided . It was a fun peek into a world yet unknown to me, but was very much just a backdrop for the real center, the relationships we find and nurture. Be that with family, or chosen family.
Lovingly written, and a pure joy to read, this one will stay with me for a while.

" 'Isn't it obvious?' Marx said.
It was not obvious to Same or to Sadie.
'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.' '

An amazing example of literary narrative storytelling. I could not stay away from this book. You have died from a book hangover! :)

Did you like The Interestings (Meg Wolitzer) or the fantastic The Animators from Kayla Rae Whitaker? This book is probably for you.

I loved how this book was not at all what I expected, it was so much more. The story weaves and contracts and expands, telling the at times messy, intersecting lives of Sam, Sadie, and Marx, as well as a few others along their young adult lives. I loved the multiple narrators, it really made this book work and I loved how later in the book more voices and styles were introduced; I think it takes a strong writer to engage a reader with a few different voices and to find creative ways to move a story forward while honoring the unique relationship that Sam and Sadie have. It was Marx though who really one me over and I loved how the book developed his voice and place in the story in unexpected ways.

The video game theme should not put off non video game players, I am not a gamer at all, because this book isn't really about gaming, it is about relationships and figuring out adulthood. I found the video game theme served is a bigger motif for a focus on storytelling, self growth, and a quest for connection with each other and with the broader changing world around them as well as at times a journey to tell and explore, examine their lives, their past and present, their grief and joy and their love.

I want write more but I feel that I would spoil the wonderful journey of reading this book, embracing the complicated and not always likable characters, seeing their mistakes and feeling their emotions, celebrating their passion for games and stories. I hope many readers embrace this wonderful book and love it too.

I've just finished this book early morning of my 44th birthday sitting here thinking how to adequately review this that will give it even a sliver of the justice it deserves.

The description I could give makes it sound not all that compelling: young friends connect over video games and go on to become quite sucessful game programmers together. Sure, that's the story at 30,000 feet. The journey, the characters, the depth, the pain, the love, the trauma, the human experience, friendship, connection, grief, nostalgia....those are the indescribable parts of this absolute masterpiece that can't be summarized in a review. I was captivated by this story and in only mere moments after finishing I miss those characters terribly.

Thank you so incredibly much to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the perfect book to finish on my birthday. I will hold this near and dear to my heart for a long long time. I would recommend this book to any reader who enjoys strong character driven novels with complex relationships, like The Hearts Invisible Furies.

This is already easily in my top 5 favorite books of 2022. It's one of those novels that the more you think about it the more you love it.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is ostensibly about video games but really it's about friendship and how humans are intrinsically flawed and often downright awful but also capable of so much love. It's the story of Sadie Green and Sam Masur who meet in a hospital and bond over video games and then reconnect while in college to create one of their own -- and become monstrously famous as a result. The book follows them throughout their lives and the ups and downs of their friendship and their relationships with those around them.

I can't say too much about my favorite parts of this book without risking spoilers but let me just say, the way Gabrielle Zevin plays with time and narrative format in this book is (excuse my language) fucking genius. The way she foreshadows upcoming events and makes you think they are one thing, only to have those events unfold in a completely unexpected way is absolutely brilliant.

The characters are so nuanced and multi-faceted. I legitimately hated Sam at some points during this book -- because he is a legitimately bad person at times -- but I always understood exactly why he was doing the things that he was doing. He is simultaneously so flawed but also sympathetic. And I just loved Sadie. I have felt so many of the things she felt in this book and her struggles as a woman in a male dominated industry were highly relatable.

This book will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will absolutely break your heart (but also leave you super hopeful). The ending is absolutely perfect (when in another author's hands could have ended up being trite or overly neat). I cannot say enough good things about this book.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a beautiful and moving book. Partly about video games, but mostly about real life, this is one of the more emotional books I have read in quite a while. Sadie and Sam's friendship is perfection. And I do not mean perfection in that it is perfect without flaw. I mean perfection in the realness of the care, love, and development that it takes them create a lifelong friendship. The story feels real and organic and the integration of video games into the story supports and represents the lives of the characters.

Sam and Sadie meet in a hospital during their youth and bond instantly over their love of video games. Their friendship develops from this point onwards and the story takes them through many decades of their lives. In college, the two meet up again and decide that they want to create their own game together. First childhood friends, and now collaborators, the two have to learn how to work with and support one another.

I do not want to give too much away in this book, but I loved seeing the progression of Sam and Sadie throughout the years. I cried in parts (both happy and sad) and each of the characters had so much personality I just couldn't help falling in love with each one. Just read it. I think you will enjoy it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for granting me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I am not sure I can fully explain how lovely this book is. It’s a story about love and friendship set with the backdrop of video games.

I really enjoyed the progression of everyone’s - Sam, Sadie, Marx - relationships. Their friendships and deeper feelings. There were moments throughout the book when I didn’t love Sam or Sadie. I sometimes wish they would talk about their feelings and actually address their stuff instead of letting it fester. Despite these moments, I still loved them and rooted for them. I think my favorite character was Marx and how he supported everyone.

This book just gave me good feelings, even with some of the more challenging parts. I read another review where it was compared to A Little Life and I see it. It’s similar in some these but isn’t quite so sad.

Basically I would definitely recommend this one. You don’t have to like or know video games to get the story, so don’t let that impact you decision.

[cw - workplace shooting, suicide, death of parent, childhood cancer, teacher/student relationships, traumatic car crash, BDSM]

I had my doubts going into this book; I typically don’t like character-driven books and I’m not a big gamer, so I didn’t think I’d connect to this book. I should have trust Zevin, given how much I love two of her other books.

I was completely hooked from page 1. Zevin is a master at character development to the point where you don’t need a clear plot to enjoy her novels. I cared so deeply for the characters and flew through the book.

I highly recommend this book!

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is going to be in contention for my Book of the Year, it's such a slow burn filled with vivid colours, sounds and details, but I wasn't bored one minute. I was lingering on each page when I sensed the book was going to come to an end, I could have read about Sam and Sadie's professional life and personal life, for another 400 pages , and be equally enamored.

Sadie and Sam are probably one of the best duo characters I ever read, they seem so much like real, brilliant, vulnerable, stubborn, passionate, prideful, , so flawed and so lovable, so wonderfully written. And poor Marx, I should have known things were about to go down hill when the book switched to his point-of-view.

The games, from Solutions, EmilyBlaster, Ichigo to Counterpart, to Mapletown, Pioneers, I want to play them all.

I loved this book.

Such a unique and memorable story. I loved following these characters over the years through their childhood when they met and into their adulthood when they became wildly successful in the video game industry. While the plot is mostly about the relationship between Sam and Sadie, there are many other characters we get to know well and care for. Along with their success there is also pain and tragedy. This is a lovely story of a friendship that I felt fully invested in until the last page.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. This is my unbiased review.

I was so happy to receive an advanced copy of this book. This book covers the friendship between Sam and Sadie through childhood, college, and as adults. They became friends through playing video games and then found success in creating them. The level of detail Zevin puts into developing the world of the video games they created honestly made me wish I was a gamer! At the same time, I didn't need to be in order to enjoy the book. I loved that it showed the storytelling aspect of games, along with the idea that stories and escapism have transformative abilities when it comes to dealing with grief and trauma.
The friendship was extremely well developed and authentic; the love that they had for one another and the way that love manifested into moments of tenderness as well as anger/resentment felt extremely real. I loved that the text demonstrated that intimacy doesn't necessarily need to be romantic, that sometimes friendship and "play" are what's most important. The characters were flawed, but developed; seeing their growth was satisfying and well-deserved. Overall, great book! Loved the world that Zevin created and will definitely be recommending! Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I received a free Advanced Reading Copy via NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.

One of the best books I've read in a long while.

This is the review I will post on Amazon when reviews are allowed. Thanks so much for the opportunity to read it early!!!!

Such a great read!!! Brilliant, sad, uplifting, imaginative, incredibly absorbing … only a few of the descriptions that immediately come to mind!

This novel is many things, and all of those things are done beautifully. It is a modern coming-of-age story in the burgeoning world of technology and gaming, a fascinating glimpse into the world of Creatives, where hope and despair cycle continuously throughout each page. Though very much a love story, it transcends the tired tropes of sex/drugs/entropy to showcase the human need for connection, approval and forgiveness with those we love.

Each character is perfectly formed and trustworthy in a way that few novelists have the chops to carry off. Beautifully written, the words themselves and they way Zevin chose to combine them fascinated me at times. Endings more than anything else often form my final opinion about a book — I did not want this story to end, but found myself delighted with the pitch-perfect final chapter.

Don’t pass on this book - it is as close to perfect as a novel gets!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a must-read. I loved this book and I hated this book. I loved the characters, the storyline, the writing. I hated one major thing that happened. But I hated it because I loved the characters and felt like they were my friends, too.

Zevin tells the story of Sam and Sadie, two friends who meet in the hospital while children. Sam is there to have many surgeries to repair his shattered foot. Sadie is there because her sister has leukemia. They develop a fast friendship, forged over video games. Their friendship thrives until it doesn't. Coincidentally, they both end up in Boston for college (Harvard for Sam, MIT for Sadie). Coincidentally again, they run into each other a T station in Boston. Sadie gives Sam a disk with a video game she designed on it. Sam plays it and their lives change.

Sam, Sadie and Marx, Sam's roommate and surrogate big brother, start a video game design company over the summer. We follow them as they create the game, through the ups and downs of video game design and starting a company.

This is not a book about video game design. Well, it is, but it is ultimately a book about friendship, family and how our choices affect those we love. There was some technical information strewn throughout the book, but it did not detract from the storytelling. At times, I didn't even realize I was reading about video game design.

Zevin does a masterful job of creating these characters. From the beginning of the book, I was engaged in the lives of Sam and Sadie, and eventually Marx. I got angry with them when they made stupid choices. I cheered for them when they succeeded and commiserated with them when they failed. Zevin drew me into their lives seamlessly. Life is complicated. And so are Zevin's characters. Ultimately, the characters stayed with me for days after finishing their story.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an ARC of #TomorrowAndTomorrowAndTomorrow

This just might be my favorite book of 2022.

It spans decades of a complicated friendship between two ambitious people: it follows their childhoods, their partnership as they build their game company, and all of their ups and downs. Everyone is flawed, making the characters feel real and relatable.

You don’t have to love video games to love this book. I’m not a gamer, but Sam and Sadie so genuinely love and are excited about games that it was fun to see.

The writing is my favorite kind of writing: it’s crisp and flows well and is beautiful and interesting without being flowery or overwrought. There were also lots of lovely literary references.

Along the way, the book seamlessly explores loss, racism and cultural appropriation, living with a disability, sexism, abuse, suicide, and gun violence.

<I>Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf!</i>

I did not think that Zevin could do better than Aj Fikry, but this amazing thrilling novel is one of my best of the year.

Ooooof! This novel hit me so hard. A novel about video game writers that goes deep into the weeds sounds like the complete opposite of something I’d enjoy, but this fabulous novel grabbed hold of me and didn’t let go. Loved the different styles, voices, and POVs here. Beautifully told.

This is a book that will stick with me for a while, and is one I can’t wait to discuss with friends - it would make a great book club pick. Like many reviews mention, this book is hard to describe, it is at times heavy, complex and layered. A story of friendship, love and play, but also a story about grief, tragedy and challenges. There were times I despised all of the characters, and times when I loved them all. This book is lengthy, but worth the reading investment.

Sensitive readers, content warnings apply.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy. Featured in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Summer Reading Guide, which is what originally made me also me to add it to my TBR.

Do you know when you read something that hits you so hard that you just want to live in the world of that book a little longer when you're done? Like you refuse to say goodbye to those characters? Well, let me tell you, this book did that to me. And I was an emotional wreck. My husband had to calm me down and remind me that Sam isn't real. But can't I just give Sam a freaking hug!?

If it's not already clear, I *adored* this book. It was so smart, so deep, so beautiful. I was teary eyed through the entire story and still feel like I know these characters personally.

This one is honestly hard to describe. Just know it's filled with moments both sweet and heartbreaking, It offers so much representation. It's just such a special book. I dare you not to love it.

all the hype about TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW is real.
This is a story of friendship and love, of life and journeys, and videogames.
Truly, if you read one book this summer, TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW should be it.

Wow, this book was stunning. I was pulled in right from the start, and didn't lose interest at any point. It's absolutely gorgeous, about so many different things, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

I don't spoil anything directly, but if you're worried about spoilers, you might want to skip the next three paragraphs. The final three paragraphs don't have any spoilers.

A weird thing about my experience of reading this book was that by the time I was halfway through, it felt like I'd read an entire book--like maybe it should be done already. And I want to be clear I don't mean that in a bad way, like the book felt too long or had poor pacing. It just felt like some books could have ended it there, and been interesting and relatively satisfying overall.

But because I knew I was only halfway through, I started getting worried: yes, this book had complicated relationships, and things that frustrated me, and heartbreaking tragedies. But what if something even worse was going to happen? What if this book was actually devastating, and I just didn't know it yet?

Reader, this book was devastating. My intuition was right, but I had no idea what was going to happen until it was too late. I sobbed through a large section of this book, and was teary-eyed through the whole rest of it, all the way until the end. I already liked this book, and felt it was emotionally deep and moving, but then it just absolutely gutted me.

This book was moving in so many ways. Emotionally, the characters and their relationships are so rich and real and complicated and messy. No one is perfectly likable all the time, and you're not on one character's side the whole way through. But also creatively, this book was so inspiring. I don't play a lot of video games, and know very little about making them, but I do write poetry. At one point I had to stop writing to frantically write down an idea--I'd been waiting for a breakthrough epiphany about something for over a year, and this book finally helped me crack it open, at least a little.

The quotes I pulled from this book to save for later are gorgeous, and the writing is superb. I love the way the book plays with time, and how the future is so casually and distressingly referenced. In a way, it lulled me into thinking I knew what was coming, without ever revealing the worst part.

I tore my way through this book, and basically spent a whole weekend in this world. I'm so grateful to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the chance to read and review this ARC.

This book is brilliant, imaginative, complicated, and memorable. So much of it is about video games, which I have limited interest in, yet I was captivated from the first page. Sadie and Sam are video game developers and the book follows their lives over 30 years. It’s not a romance, but it is about love.

I was originally put off from this book because I thought it would be too intellectual for me. And while I did have to look up several words, and a lot of the video game speak went over my head, I was invested in these characters. The storytelling is incredible. All of the characters are well developed, even (especially) the side characters. This is a book that I'll think of often.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Release Date: 7/5/22

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow tells the story of a livelong friendship between Sadie Green and Sam Masur. We follow the two from ages 11/12 to their late thirties as they go through phases of their relationships from childhood friends to not speaking for 6 years to collaborators on video game projects to not speaking again. The two friends share between themselves wins and losses, tremendous grief, and undeniable love.

Words cannot describe how much I loved this book! This was a book that I had a very difficult time putting down, it was so good! The writing was amazing! The characters were phenomenal! I was emotionally destroyed in more than a few parts (don't want to put a spoiler in here but you'll know it when you get to them). It's a touching story of love and heartache and just growing up and trying to figure life and yourself out.

Thank you to @netgalley and Knopf Double Day publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was excellent. I devoured it as quickly as real life allowed. It was beautifully written, the characters were so fleshed out and well developed even when unlikeable (Sadie!), and I was so engaged despite the plot revolving around video games and me not being a gamer. It was merely a plot device but in no way detracted from my ability to follow, be pulled in, process and enjoy. I don’t really know how to articulate what the book meant to me but I feel impacted by this book, and I know the characters will stay with me forever. That’s how well they were written. What a beautiful love story chronicling platonic love at it’s most poignant.

I loved Gabrielle Zevin’s Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and Elsewhere, and only recently discovered that she writes adult fiction too, which prompted me to read this book. The plot is so unique, it is difficult to discuss without spoiling. At its core this is a book about friendship and video games, although video game knowledge is not necessary to enjoy it. Sam and Sadie meet in a hospital as children, and have a long, complicated friendship as they build a company together. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” portrays the tension of friendship better than any other book I have read. Some readers might not like the writing style - I think it keeps the book interesting to switch between perspectives and formats. I think the tone and writing style are very similar to Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Thanks to Knopf Doubleday and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

" To allow yourself to play with another person is no small risk. It means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt."

A touching novel about love, grief, and of course games. I found Zevin's prose delightful, descriptive and emotional but not overly tedious, the novel was over 400 pages but never felt like a slog. Sam and Sadie were well crafted characters, flawed individuals who often played their cards close to their chest brought together by a shared love of games. I enjoyed the gaming references, but this is first and foremost a character driven novel and you can definitely enjoy as a non-gamer.

This was not the kind of book I usually read. But the promise of a love story, though not one I've ever read before, intrigued me.

I absolutely adored the book. The writing was brilliant, the characters well-wrought and imperfect, flawed and young, selfish and vulnerable and human. As in love, there is never a 'right' or 'wrong' when trying to connect with others. There is only the option to be our true selves with others and work to become better people, preferably inspired by those with whom we spend our days. Sam and Sadie may not have set out to do that, but they made each other better, at so many things.

The video game references felt familiar, and the designing details gave a texture to the book that I enjoyed. The book was many stories within a story, with lustrous language and all the pain and joy of being human and finding one's way, one's people and one's purpose. I've already pre-ordered copies for friends and family who I know will love it as well, and am looking forward to reading Gabrielle Zevin's other novels.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
By Gabrielle Zevin

This story is about game creators and their games – and the difference between games and real life. Sadie Green and Sam Mazur meet as children in a hospital where Sam is slowly recovering after a tragic and life changing accident. Their connection starts with the video games they play together. As the years pass, their paths cross and then separate repeatedly, but their friendship, while sorely tested, always brings them back to each other.

The world of gaming holds great appeal for many people because it allows them to "do over" when things don't work out. Unfortunately real life doesn't work that way, as Sadie and Sam discover. Sometimes you really DO have to play the hand you are dealt!

I enjoyed this book as I have previous works by this author. Gaming on this level is not something I relate to, but Ms. Zevin manages to keep my interest anyway.

Thanks go to NetGalley and Knopf Double Day Publishing for an ARC of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.

I loved one of Zevin's previous books and was interested to see what was up with this one.

I've had to take a day to process after reading because there is so much going on with this novel. It's a bit like Forrest Gump because of the span of time but with a lens focused on the gaming world. It's also a bit like When Harry Met Sally because Sam and Sadie keep reconnecting over the years. Interestingly, I'm not a gamer at all and still was sucked into the book. I think this happened because Zevin introduced the characters first and didn't slam me with gaming facts and myopic details.

There are so many things I loved about this book. Now, there were sections hard to read, but isn't that like real life when faced with challenges. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow shows how we each have our own narrative in our lives. What we experience is different than others even when in the same place.

Political, social, and interpersonal situations are explored. Themes include love, relationships, found family, personal growth, disability, and how women have worked in a "man's" field. I'm going to say that games as a subtle teaching tool is also a theme. We often learn from games as children, and that can extend into our adult lives. There are also romantic elements, but this is not a romance.

I consider this book to be one that hovers in that special space of commercial and literary fiction. It will interest readers from a broad audience. This is a book for adults. The sexual content isn't a play by play, but it's there. One of Sadie's relationships made me very uncomfortable—however, that was the intent.

I became so vested in this story, I read it in a few days. The characters felt like real people even though they're fictional. As you can imagine, I'll read Zevin's next book.

And if you don't know the reference of the title, I won't spoil it for you. But I loved the connection.

Lovely exploration of relationships and how they change over time. Each character was thoughtfully rendered, and it was a joy to follow them through their creations and obsessions and longings. Marx was my favorite, and I grew to understand Sam and Sadie even if I didn't always like them. Thanks for the ARC :)

I loved Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I was awed by the depth of the characters: how well I felt I knew them and their pains, how tightly wound their bonds were, and how, following them over so many years didn't feel too long at all. For some reason, A Little Life kept popping to mind - the last story I remember reading where the friendships felt so deep, complicated, and tangible.

Sam Mazer, aka Samson Masur, has a bum foot. He has surgery after surgery, which means tons of hospital time. Sadie Green's sister has cancer, so she has hospital time, too. The two meet playing Mario Brothers. Their relationship with each other and with video games extends decades. A third character, Sam's college roommate Marx, enters the scene. He makes up the other side of their isosceles triangle.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is about friendship. How hard it is, how wonderful it is, how bittersweet and joyous and full of sorrow it is. Gosh, I loved them and it all.

I'm not a gamer, but I was swept up in the games. I think these three could have been friending, working, and collaborating over anything and I would have been rapt.

The writing is great. I wanted to highlight so many passages. There are a ton of 50-cent words. I was grateful for the Kindle's e-reader dictionary because I looked up at least 10, probably more. Sometimes that feels pretentious to me (I'm an avid reader; I know lots of words), but in this case, Zevin's use of uncommon words felt so accurate, I couldn't begrudge it. I'd see the definition and think, 'yes, that's a perfect word for this sentence.'

Highly recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I loved Zevin's Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. I can't wait to read more of her!

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is so smart, fresh, deep, wise, and meticulously crafted. I am in awe of how Gabrielle Zevin is able to so deftly create totally unique and disparate worlds in each of her adult novels. It keeps her work very interesting, and with her latest, she may just be one of my favorite writers out there today.

I went into this novel about video game designers with a strong background in the industry, as my husband and several of our long-term friends all designed MMORPGs for a large corporation for 15+ years. Zevin's descriptions of crunch time and launches and behind-the-scenes power struggles were captivating and accurate. I am obsessed with how she connected various aspects of video games to the challenges of everyday life in the real world. There is so much wisdom in this book. I highlighted dozens of passages because they were so touching and true. I'll never look at video games as "just a game" ever again.

But what really makes this book top-notch is the relationship between Sam, Sadie, and Marx. My heart is both swelling and breaking as I type their names. This is one of those novels that makes you love literature. It's just so rich. It's a gift to the reader. I wish I could put more coins into a machine and keep watching their lives unfold until they run out of hearts!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Knopf for the eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. And thank you to Gabrielle Zevin for creating this magical book that I'll never forget!

Brilliant! I almost didn’t read it because marketing says it’s a “gamer” novel but it’s so much more than that! While creating video games is in the center of the story it is also about friendship, love and grief. One of the best books I’ve read in recent years.

Without a doubt the best book I've read in a long time. I'm new to this author, but the John Green blurb was all I needed to request a galley. So glad I did. The characters are fully formed. The emotions are raw and true. The author goes deep into gaming history—and, incidentally, what it was like to grow up Gen X—and nails it without getting too deep in the weeds. For Gen Xers who got hooked on gaming with Pong, Pac-Man, Zork, Myst, and so on, "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" will bring back a lot of memories. Ironically, the pre-internet friendship dynamics reminded me of what it was like going to college before screens took over our lives. There's a lot to unpack in this book—in a good way.

As John Green would say, "I give 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' five stars.

This is a beautifully told story about love and friendship, and how those two terms can both describe a single relationship. Love, work, and love of work are central themes.

The story focuses on Sam and Sadie, who meet as kids, by accident. They are a couple of brilliant introverts with a common interest in video games. Years later, they run into each other again, by chance, and it is Sam who is determined to stay in touch, with the specific hope of making games with Sadie. Eventually, they do just that, and by this time, there are other people in both of their lives, especially Marx, Sam’s college roommate, foil, and protector. Marx is an extroverted thespian into Shakespeare who coaxes Sam into bonding with him.

Sam has known trauma and adversity, is awkward socially, and is also self-conscious about a physical disability. Sadie must navigate the challenges of being the only woman in a room of gamers and struggles to be taken seriously in her career. She is also preyed upon by an important college professor.

After Sadie and Sam take a semester off school to produce a game that is ready for prime time, they launch their own company, called Unfair Games. Marx becomes their producer, a role for which he is perfectly suited.

Though Sadie and Sam are extremely close, their pasts and their insecurities will inform how they perceive each other over time. Misunderstandings, missed opportunities, along with their different perspectives make for a very unusual and rocky love story. And, through it all, Marx has an ever changing relationship with each one of them. He is the calm, happy one, providing support to them and keeping the company running.

The story of Sadie and Sam involves a tragic turn, to which they each react very much according to their characters. And author Gabrielle Zevin cleverly relates the games they play to the journey and choices make in real life.

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and Netgalley for this amazing experience.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow is an unforgettable, exquisitely written story about Sadie, Sam and Marx, characters developed so authentically I ended the book in tears. The book follows Sadie and Sam from their chance meeting in a hospital as children and throughout their partnership as gamers. Their friendship and love for each other face obstacles, pain and grief. As the characters grow and evolve, so do the sophistication and maturity of their games. Learning about gaming was very interesting and kept me engaged. It was their relationships, the pain and loss and joyful celebrations that made this book excel. Five easy stars and my strongest recommendation to put this on top of your "to read" list. Thanks Netgalley,publisher and author for this over the top reading opportunity.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is magnificent! This is a complex and haunting novel that explores human connection and the beautiful yet fragile nature of a unique love between two people. The two main characters, Sadie and Sam, meet accidentally as children in a hospital. They're both facing difficult medical challenges, Sadie through her sister's cancer and Sam through his badly damaged foot. They soon find out they have a magical connection through gaming that will be a source of both pleasure and pain through the many years explored in this story.

POV changes continually between Sadie and Sam, and later with Marx, a third character who plays a critical role in the story. The three are partners in a gaming business that starts as a gaming design dream of Sadie's and Sam's. They are helped by Sadie's brilliant teacher and secret lover, Dov, Zevin returns to the theme of the use and abuse of sexual power by an older man towards a subordinate young woman she also wrote about in Young Jane Young. Another continuing theme examined here are the affects on children by an absent or deceased parent as seen in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

Zevin's homage to two great cultural icons is brilliant. For the book cover, she selected The Great Wave by Japanese artist Hokusai, which depicts the drama and unpredictability of a fateful moment, just like her characters often experience. Also, both Sam and Marx are of Asian descent, further solidifying Zevin's careful selection of every element. The novel's title, the other homage, is to Shakespeare's Macbeth with the use of the haunting soliloquy "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" given by Macbeth on the cruel and meaningless nature of life. These two elements are contrasted expertly with the heart of every video game itself--the game can infinitely be replayed and, as Sam says, "the hero never dies."

Zevin's text is so beautifully written--rich and full of unique words and references. The world of gaming and Pop Culture is enhanced with continual references to actual games throughout the novel. Zevin has been quoted as being a lifelong gammer herself, so this is a familiar world to the author. Her inclusion of Sadie and Sam as characters in an actual game was a little weird at first until it became clear what Zevin was trying to accomplish.

A reader need not be a gamer to really enjoy this book! Sadie and Sam are both exceptionally talented designers, consumed with gaming. They are also exceptional humans who will stay with the reader for a very long time.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this exciting novel.

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. I have loved everything I have read by Zevin (especially The Storied Life of AJ Fikry), and I had high expectations for this one. I wasn't disappointed. I am not a gamer, but somehow the fact that this book is all about games didn't distract from the amazing characters and how they evolve over time, while basically staying the same. This is one of the few books I know I will be reading again soon.

I really wanted to read this book because I loved Zevin’s book “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” and I was not disappointed with “Tomorrow.” I couldn’t put this book down. When I did put it down, I couldn’t wait to pick it back up! This book revolves around video games which I honestly have no interest in. However, this book is about so much more than gaming. It’s a book about work, love, relationships, survival, and secondarily video games. I still have no interest in gaming but loved this book. I highly recommend it!

Sam and Sadie meet when Sam was in the hospital and Sadie was visiting her hospitalized sister. They played videogames together which launches a long-term friendship. They both loved to compete and videogaming fulfills this love. Sam has a disability which frequently tugs the reader’s heartstrings. Sam overcomes many hurdles in his life, and Sadie has her own concerns. Friendship is a major theme of this book and makes one realize how hard it is to find that special friend. The journey of having a friend through life’s ups and downs are prevalent. Back to the videogame aspect, there are numerous lessons embedded in the videogames that Sam and Sadie’s business develops. Lessons that we can all learn from. The author does a superb job with character development and storytelling. Read this book! You will not be disappointed!

Thank you to NetGalley and the book’s publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, for an advanced reader’s copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What to say about this absolutely beautiful piece of art? While most of the description say this is a book about two friends who make video games together, I’d argue it’s about three friends who make video games together: Sam, Sadie, and Marx. We see more of Sadie and Sam as their friendship started when they were just children in a hospital game room, but Marx is just as integral to what they create together. As many reviewers have already said, you don’t need to be a gamer to appreciate this story but in reading it, it felt as if the games, and the worlds of those games, were real. If they were real, I might even be tempted to try some of them out. But the games aren’t real and they weren’t created by three brilliant minds but just one- Gabrielle Zevin. And that is why this book blew my mind.

Yes, the games seemed like they could have been real, but more importantly, the characters felt like real people. Zevin has an obvious talent for dialogue, creating jokes between friends without it feeling forced, staging arguments that you might overhear in Ikea, writing tension and love in palpable ways. I knew I was reading something great pretty early on but by 75% I was so invested, I felt some emotions viscerally in a way that I haven’t with a book for as long as I can remember.

I recently defined my star ratings and said a five star is one that I could re-read, would need for my shelf, and would recommend to everyone. I don’t know if I could bear to read this a second time, that’s how hard it hit me. I also don’t know that it will be a fit for every reader out there. It’s not a light read. But, if you want to read something that feels incredibly real, by which I mean full of the sorrows and pain of real life and the ups and downs of real friendship, then please pick up this book. The point being, this book is absolutely deserving of five stars because it is an incredible piece of fiction and probably the best book I have read this year and possibly last year too.

This book is already appearing on all sorts of lists and I know it’s going to make huge waves in the literary community when it comes out next month. I feel so lucky to have gotten an ARC from @netgalley and @knopfdoubleday.

Oh Zevin, Zevin, Zevin. To this day her book The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry is the book I recommend the most to friends and family. I trust her and her ability to make me care about her characters and the story she wants to tell.

Zevin has an ability to create a village of characters that you quickly care deeply about - you are invested in their choices. I cannot wait for you to meet Sadie, Sam, and Marx.

We are given a book about friendship centered around a mutual love of gaming. Or perhaps the opposite could also be said. Regardless, the story is rich with complexities about relationships and choices they make at different stages of their lives. Sure, it’s a book about gamers, gaming, and world building - but it really is so much more. I might have been looking too much into certain aspects, but much like the games they created, there seem to be hidden messages throughout. I found it interesting how similar the names Sadie and Sam are, then when Sam changed his name to Mazer, how similar it was to Marx. The names and the relationships that each character had to one another changed too. The floating Anna Lees sprinkled throughout allowed in grief, and hope, and mystery. I guess it’s all up to interpretation, but I’m interested to hear how that hits others. I absolutely loved this one. Instant classic for me.

Thank you for the ARC!

When I discovered that this is literary fiction about video game creators—with a Shakespearean title, no less—I was intrigued and moved it to the top of my list for the summer. I’m happy to report that, in my opinion, this book lived up to all the hype.

The story follows Sam and Sadie, who meet at a hospital as adolescents and bond over video games. After a falling out, they reunite fortuitously years later and begin to create video games together. We follow them through their successes and failures, both personal and professional, and through the betrayals and heartache that threaten to tear them apart.

I devoured this book. I’ll start by saying that I do enjoy video games—my siblings and I grew up gaming together, so there’s a lot of nostalgia there—but I don’t think it’s necessary to love video games to get hooked into this story. The platonic love and creative partnership between Sam and Sadie is what drives the novel. Gabrielle Zevin does a wonderful job of capturing the messiness of people and relationships. Her characters are so complex and real, her writing is smart, and she does some interesting things with structure and perspective.

It’s not a perfect book, and it won’t be for everyone. The main characters are pretentious, and they make some poor decisions that will drive some readers crazy. Also, if you hate video games with a burning passion, maybe pass on this one. But this is a good fit for fans of literary novels that span decades and focus on the development of flawed, realistic characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC. I was over the moon about receiving this one!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the first book by Gabrielle Zevin I've ever read, and good lord, it was amazing. Somehow, it took me by surprise how much I loved this, because I really didn't know what to expect. Is this a story about videogames? Is this a story about friendship? And it is a story about both of them, but it's also about love, and the ups and downs through the life of Sam and Sadie, who met when they were kids and develop a friendship that spans almost 30 years, where the main constant are videogames.

I love how the characters are developed in such a complex but realistic way. Sadie and Sam are both stressful, arrogant and with lots of flaws, but they are also very easy to love. Sometimes, their minds go from 0 to 100 in less than a second and it can be a little difficult to follow their lead, but it just shows more about them and their creative, always working minds. Sam goes through a lot during his life, from the death of his mother and the accident that changed his life, to the painful days of his adult life. He also has a physical disability, and the way the author develops it was, for me, proper and respectful. Sadie is a woman in a world made by and for men, so she is constantly underestimated and faces a lot of inequality in various situations. But she's a genius, she loves and hates and suffers and it's very stubborn, and she's probably the character that's gonna stress you the most during the book, but I still loved her so much.

The rest of the characters have a lot of importance for the story too. They all are very well developed and we get to know enough about them to feel sympathy or despise them, depending of who are we talking. I loved Marx so much, he's literally the best friend in the world, and how he was always there for Sam, even when Sam didn't want him to be.

The book has a lot of videogames references, it's true, but that doesn't stop you from enjoying it even if you don't know a thing about videogames (I know a thing or two, I played many of the games mentioned during the book, but the ones I didn't I still understood because they explain it to you as a part of the story). The writing is very dynamic: it doesn't have long, boring descriptions, it goes back and forth in time so we get to know different aspects of the characters, it can change the point of view a little too fast sometimes, but it always keeps its pace. At some point, I didn't want to stop reading at all!

So give this book a chance. Because it is a book about love, friendship and videogames, and the unlikely chance that you'll find that childhood friend you haven't seen in year on a random day in the same train station you always pass, and how that can change the rest of your life.

Gosh, I loved this book. It’s not the gamer aspect per se (I was only a casual gamer, mostly just loved trying to beat my previous high score on Tetris). The book his some great nostalgia notes for those in the late Gen X zone. And I loved all the many different types of love, family, and friend relationships this book explored. And also realities and worlds and perceptions and the ways we unintentionally limit ourselves and project on others. I found the cast of characters rich and the plot compelling. One of the best books I’ve read this year.

Big thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the eARC, in exchange for my honest review.

I actually was not entirely sure how this book would land for me, as the synopsis doesn’t tug at my personal interests. HOWEVER, this hands down is going to be one of my absolute favorite books of the year. I immediately felt sucked into the vortex that is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and fell in love with the characters; development does not lack in plot or character. This was my first Zevin, and I immediately went to order all backlist titles. Highly recommend this enchanting and quirky novel.

And big thank you to Knopf for my ARC.

A beautifully written book on true friendship. The highs and lows, disagreements and loves we share. I just loved this book. It's rare to finish one and just smile because it was just " that good".

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Zevin. I love the writers style and voice. Character development and plotting were excellent and it was hard to put down!

Sadie and Sam meet as adolescents and form a friendship based on a shared love of games. Later, in college, they meet again and develop an intellectual partnership. Sam's roommate, Marx, becomes the third member of their group, and his thoughtfulness and practicality combine with Sam and Sadie's technical and creative prowess to form a successful collaboration. But as time passes, the trio struggle with uneven success and the balance of their relationships. Ultimately, the games that brought them together can also tear them apart.

This is the kind of novel that rekindles one's faith in the written word. It has beautifully-crafted sentences and sharp-yet-inevitable turns of plot. The characters are so well-realized I felt I had met them in person, and their - and the book's - intelligence illuminates the pages. The story is grand in scope but intimate in scale, spanning twenty years but lingering in momentary details.

If I have any complaint about this novel, it was that it ended too quickly. I would have happily read this story for another hundred pages, and I think it would have been improved by expanding its second half. As with a video game, we can always hope for a sequel.

This is an epic love story for all the nerds out there. Whether you are a drama nerd, game nerd, or good old well rounded nerd, this is a love story for you. It’s the Shakespeare, it’s the Atari game that you love growing up. Life-long longing for a person that stands right next to you could not be described better than how it was done in this story. You are so close, yet too far.

Two friends who met under very unusual circumstances… They parted ways some time ago but managed to find each other on the streets between Harvard and MIT. They decided to forget about what separated them in the first place and decided to build a game together. And what a game that was! These two along with their theater loving third wheel found themselves in the middle of a dream: they were successful, they were happy. This was until emotions and an unfortunate event took control over their lives. Gaming was their love language; it will be their savior.

I just cannot get over this quote from one of the games that make this book amazing: “"And what is love, in the end?" Alabaster said. "Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else's journey through life?'” Forget about romance, give me more of this!

Sam and Sadie are best friends, who met as children in a hospital in California. After a falling out, they meet again when he's a math major at Harvard, and she's an engineering student at MIT. They join forces to create a video game and rebuild their friendship, and make new friends and colleagues. This doesn't make it sound very interesting but it's a compelling read. One of the best books I've read all year.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow has quickly jumped to the top of my list of favorite books. The characters are so complicated and unique. I was also very impressed by the information I learned regarding the video game community. There is a beautiful balance between the light-hearted nature of reading video games and the messy human interaction that grounds all characters.

Wow. Just wow. A deep dive into lifelong love and affection for a close platonic friend over the course of 30 years more or less. Seen through the mists of gaming, a childhood fascination that becomes a lifelong pursuit for these characters. There is so much meat in these relationships and realistic looks at the people behind them, the randomness of life experiences and how people reinterpret those experiences over the course of a life. Sam and Sadie define a certain period of gaming history while at the same time defining platonic love and affection. Incredibly moving. A book worthy to become a classic.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was not what I was expecting at all. It’s a love story, but not a run-of-the-mill love story. It enraptured me from the first page, but it was a slow read for me, I think because there was a lot to digest and maybe some part of me never really wanted it to end.

***Spoilers follow****

Sadie and Sam have a complicated relationship. Friends since they were preteens, they bond in a Los Angeles hospital game room over video games. Trust issues are a problem for them as kids and this obstacle falls into their collective path many times in the future. After several years of not speaking to each other, they run into each other in Boston, this time as students at MIT and Harvard. And Sadie has created a video game, which she hands off to Sam for him to play.

They pick up their friendship where the left off and things escalate as Sam asks Sadie to make a game with him. Marx, Sam’s roommate and friend, enters the story as does, Dov, Sadie’s college professor (and not-so-secret married boyfriend). The story spans 30+ years with flashbacks to the lives of loved ones and defining events and sees Sadie and Sam through the creation of not only their first video game, but an entire company.

I’ve never considered myself a gamer, more of a dabbler, but this book has lit a fire under me, making me want to know more about the gaming industry. But more than that, I fell in love with these characters and with all their foibles and imperfections. I absolutely adored this book and feel like it will stay with me for a long time to come.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a stunning novel that takes place over the span of a couple decades following two friends from one coast to the other. It’s got lots of layers, lots of symbolism, and lots of depth. It takes place within video games, within city’s, in memories and hospitals and it’s just an incredibly stunning novel.

The characters themselves are really complex and realistically flawed. The balance between plot and character development is perfect. I was even able to forgive the miscommunication going on because it’s very on brand for the characters and it added another element to the book. By the end of the novel I was both in awe and incredibly frustrated with all the characters, but also very pleased with where they ended up.

The video game element is just the cherry on the top of an already stunning book. I can already tell this is a book that i’m going to think about for years to come. It’s going to stay with me for sure. There’s not a single thing I would change.

If you love character development and drama that takes over the span of decades this is easily a great book for you to read. It reminded me a lot of The Nix by Nathan Hill. If you liked that one (like I did) I highly recommend you pick up Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

4.5~5★
“With his sweet, roundish face, light-colored eyes, and mix of white and Asian features, Sam looked almost exactly like an anime character. Astro Boy, or one of the many wisecracking little brothers of manga. As for his personal style: Sam looked like Oliver Twist, during the Artful Dodger years, if Oliver Twist had been from Southern California and a low-level pot dealer instead of a pickpocket.”

This has some of my favourite elements of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, A Little Life, and Ready Player One. People who make their own families. It is just terrific!

Sam, Sadie and Marx are much like the artistic, adventuresome trio of Kavalier and Clay with Rosa.

Sam Masur (later Mazer) is A Little Life's Jude, whom everyone cares for while he hides his pain (although Sam's suffering isn't on the level of existential anguish that Jude’s is).

Plus, there comes a time when Sam can connect with Sadie only through their avatars in online gaming, much as Wade, through his avatar Parzival, connects with others to solve the riddles in the virtual world of The Oasis in Ready Player One.

The gaming world reminds me of the popular Choose Your Own Adventure series, where readers could pick another ending. In gaming, your avatar dies and then begins another life, so it can start over and over again, tomorrow after tomorrow.

Eleven-year-old Sadie Green meets Sam Masur, who’s wearing pajamas, in the games room of the hospital, where she’s visiting her older sister. He has crutches nearby and is engrossed in a Nintendo game. She enjoys just watching this boy who plays so skilfully. He seems oblivious to her until he completes a battle.

“He paused the game and, without looking over at her, said, ‘You want to play the rest of this life?’

Sadie shook her head. ‘No. You’re doing really well. I can wait until you’re dead.’

The boy nodded. He continued to play, and Sadie continued to watch.

‘Before. I shouldn’t have said that,’ Sadie said. ‘I mean, in case you are actually dying. This being a children’s hospital.’

The boy, piloting Mario, entered a cloudy, coin-filled area. ‘This being the world, everyone’s dying,’ he said.

‘True,’ Sadie said.

‘But I’m not currently dying.’

‘That’s good,’ Sadie said.

‘Are you dying?’ the boy asked.

‘No,’ Sadie said. ‘Not currently.’ ”

They continue to play and laugh and chat about his Korean grandparents, who have a pizza restaurant in Los Angeles, until it’s time for her to leave. On the way home, her mother tells her that those are the first words Sam has spoken to anyone since he was in a horrific car accident six months earlier.

The hospital asks if Sadie would consider visiting Sam again. She is supposed to be doing some community service for her Bat Mitzvah next year, and this would count. She considers.

“To allow yourself to play with another person is no small risk. It means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt. It is the human equivalent of the dog rolling on its back—'I know you won’t hurt me, even though you can.’”

She agrees to go but never tell Sam, and thus is their friendship born. He draws mazes all the time, which his therapist encouraged, and now he slips them in her pockets. The story is told in the third person, and flashes back from time to time or foreshadows future ramifications of a situation. It makes for an interesting overview of their lives.

Sam has had countless operations on his mangled foot, and a lot of the story hinges on his health and what allowances need to be made for him. Walking is a problem.

“Sam did not think of it as a disability—other people had disabilities; Sam had ‘the thing with my foot.’ Sam experienced his body as an antiquated joystick that could reliably move only in cardinal directions.”

They develop such a strong bond through gaming and gaming language, that they are almost living on, or in, another level of life. The become game inventors and developers who are so intensely absorbed that you wonder if they will ever manage to let anyone else into their lives. They have different skill sets and attitudes.

“While Sadie experienced this period of indecision as stressful, Sam didn’t feel that way at all. ‘The best part of this moment, he thought, is that everything is still possible.’ But then, Sam could feel that way. Sam was a decent artist and he would come to be a decent programmer and level designer, but remember, he had never made a single game before. It was Sadie who knew what it took to make a game—even a bad game—and it was Sadie who would do most of the heavy lifting when it came to the programming, the engine building, and everything else.”

You don’t need to be a gamer or understand gaming to enjoy these people and their relationships, but it must be even more fun if you do. You can read a terrific Dick Francis mystery without knowing much about horse racing – he fills in the necessary blanks. My knowledge of sailing is minimal, but I always used to love stories set on the high seas. I probably didn’t know what was happening to the ship half the time, but it didn’t seem to matter.

Same here. Sam is the artist, Sadie is the programmer, and both argue and contribute to the story and design. Sam’s college roommate is Marx Watanabe, the son of a wealthy, Princeton-educated, Japanese father and an American-born Korean mother. He takes an interest in the business and gives them his apartment to use for free. Now they’re a trio.

Sam changes his name from Masur to Mazer, so he and Sadie become Mazer and Green. Their first famous game character, ‘Ichigo’ is a little Asian child, and the public is convinced it is Sam. Mazer becomes the better-known name behind the business, so Sam is the one the public wants to see. Marx, as the producer, is an essential part of it all, too.

There are tugs-of-war in all directions, love, heartbreak, tragedy, betrayal. There are other family members I was glad to meet. These are very complete people. There are a couple of slower places in the middle of the book, but all in all, I think it’s wonderful. I don’t know how Zevin pulled this off, but I’m glad she did.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf/Doubleday for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted (so quotes may change). It’s due to publish in early July.

Well, I think I just read one of my new favorite books ever. I inhaled this book in a single day, because the thought of putting it down was too unthinkable. It's heartfelt, emotional, brilliant, brutal and beautiful. It's a love letter to games, to creativity, to friendship and to the power of people coming together to make beautiful and messy things. I found myself desperately wishing that Sam, Sadie and Marx lived in my world, that I could play their games and feel the impact of their lives on my own. But I suppose I still get to, because fiction, whether found in novels or in games, has the power to do that. I am just, too stunned for words to express how much I loved this book, how much I loved the way it throws you in with these lovely, flawed people who are driven to create, who can't seem to help themselves in hurting each other, loving each other, and making amazing things all the same.

I can't recommend this one enough.

First and foremost I would like to thank NetGalley, Gabrielle Zevin and Alfred A. Knopf for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of Gabrielle’s latest novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which is scheduled to be published in early July, 2022. This is the first book of Gabrielle’s I have had the pleasure to have read, but most assuredly it will not be the last. Although the book ostensibly centered around the world of making and playing video games, of which I have only a peripheral amount of knowledge having raised children that grew up gaming, I enjoyed the book immensely. It also delves deeply into interpersonal relationships, physical and emotional pain and healing, love and friendship, life and death, and family. It actually brought me very close to tears in a few crucial moments.

The book makes a lot of twists and turns as it navigates its way through the lives of its two main protagonists, Sadie and Sam, whom we first meet when they are 10 and 11 years old. We do also come to know Sam a couple of years prior to then, as well. We follow them as their lives diverge and reconnect several times well into their 30’s, meeting various lovers, associates, family members and friends along the way. The writing is superb, taking us inside the minds of the characters, while sometimes even veering off into and immersing us into the game-worlds themselves.

Outstanding 4.5 star read that at the end of book had me questioning everything about the characters. This story is about two friends, Sadie and Sam who become friends through playing video games while Sam is at the hospital recovering and Sadie visits her sick sister. The friendship starts out on mistrust and therefore the whole plot of the book surrounds mistrust and trauma. How much does trauma shape your life and the choices you make after such a traumatic event? Sadie and Sam are both dealt a great deal of trauma throughout this book. The book follows the duo from childhood to college and on to adulthood.
The character development and writing was so intricate and beautiful and what truly made me enjoy this book. The story is also about gaming and video games which is probably why I struggled at times with the book. However, don't let that turn you away from this read. The plot of the book was so unique with the use of gaming and not something I have read before. If you love a story about complicated friendship, frenemies, lovers, success, failure, family, and trauma then this book is perfect. The story as well as the characters of Sadie, Sam, as well as Marx will stick with me for along time. Also looking to read other books by Zevin as her writing style is beautiful and interesting.

Thank you to @netgalley and @knoph publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. It was like nothing I have ever read before. It brought to life the development and growth of video games from the 80's through with brilliant and complicated characters. It was funny and witty, observant, smart, and hopeful.

WOW - I loved this one. While not much of a gamer myself, this book is about what bonds us together, whether that be games or something else. I especially enjoyed how the book showed how the bonds of friendship and partnership can truly transcend romantic relationships.

Another stellar novel from Gabrielle Zevin! Her characters are so relatable even though I really have nothing in common with them (Ok, maybe I'm close in age/era, but my life is far from the Ivy league educated, west coast raised programming geniuses of the story). Yet, their struggles, their "trauma" if you will, feels tender and familiar. Zevin weaves incredible vocabulary with gaming lore and the ebb/flow of life we all fail to appreciate as we travel through.

MOVING & WITTY!
Zevin has proven she is the master at making you care for her characters & her skillful ability to pull you right into this story won't disappoint! This was a story about friendship, love, & video games.
Sam & Sadie meet in a hospital when they are both younger & bond over gaming after dealing with their own tragedies. They drifted apart but in college, they meet up again by chance at a train station in NYC. They start talking again & come to find out they each still share the love of gaming. They eventually decide to make a game together. Sam's roommate, Marx, also comes along for this ride & the trio are a tight group. They all move to LA to start their gaming business. At this point in the book, I couldn't put it down.
The characters are so complex & well developed that I couldn't stop caring about all of them!
You don't have to be a gamer to enjoy this book. The 80's & 90's refrences were great. The story is also packed with many obscure, Zevin-like words that I highly enjoyed! (grokking, hirsute, bloviating, & ersatz to name a few)
This story had me smiling, laughing, & crying. I think this is her best novel so far. This book gets to the heart of friendship & love.

Thank you to NetGalley & Gabrielle Zevin for generously providing me with an ARC for my honest opinion.

I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. Like many other reviewers, I’m not a gamer but the plot just sucked me in. I learned a lot about the process of making video games and it was super interesting. I also loved all the characters. They loved, suffered, and persisted through successes and failures. I think the middle seemed a bit too long but I was sad when I finished the book. It’s my first by this author but I look forward to others.

The last time I played a video game was years ago. When I read the blurb for this novel, that wasn’t the impetus to request an advance copy from NetGalley. First, I am a fan of the author’s work. Also, I was curious about two people coming and going from each others lives and of course, the title grabbed me. Shakespeare always draws me in. As I write this, I know I am going to come back in another week and say…wait. I just realized there was another layer I missed. To say this book was well written and clever is an understatement. Metaphors run deep here. I stayed up until 2 am last night to finish it.

Before I picked this up, I had zero understanding about how the gaming industry worked or how complex writing a video game could be. I mean it’s just code, right? I was so impressed with the author’s ability to move effortlessly in this world that I began to wonder about the similarities between video games and fiction writing. The two are so similar, I don’t know why I never thought about this before. As I discovered in the author’s acknowledgements, she is indeed a gamer.

When we meet Sadie and Sam at age 11, it brought to mind that young girl in The Queen’s Gambit. They are both kind of adrift for totally different reasons but gravitate towards each other forming a concrete bond. Sadie and Sam have that same kind of intensity only their world is not chess but gaming. But you could argue, strategy is strategy. We follow them thru reality and non-reality, and thru other influential relationships as they drift in and out of each others lives. How tragic that the book title lends a kind of resolute futility to their plodding. I was glad to see that hope resurrected itself at the end. Because in the end “the freight is proportioned to the groove.” The burden of the love that Sadie and Sam share is heavy, but doesn’t break under the weight of the burden.

In the final analysis, this book and its characters will stay with me. I found it to be both interesting and multi-layered. I highly recommend it.

Gabrielle Zevin writes the most relatable, poignant books. Her ability to understand humanity and our deepest emotions is unparalleled. Another hit from this author. I think high school students will love this book.

I received an ARC of this book from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

WOW. Let me make something clear. I would not in any way consider myself to be a "gamer" or even remotely educated on the world of video games, but I am not being dramatic when I say that this may be the best book I have ever read in my life. Yes, this is a book about video games, but its also a book about friendship, disability, love, grief, equality, and everything else that is important in life. Anything I could possibly say in this review will not give this book the justice it deserves, but I can't think of a single type of reader that this book wouldn't be perfect for. I am left with the feeling that I know every reader hopes for when starting a new book: a sadness that the experience is over and and overwhelming sense of gratitute for having come across a book that is just so special.

A big thank you again to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this amazing book!

This is a beautiful, sweeping novel that follows two friends from adolescence into mid life. They go in and out if friendship, through college, becoming business partners, and more. A truly beautiful book that shows the nuances of friendship and life in general.

This was a great book for throwback gamers and people who love coming of age stories. It’s the story of Sadie and Sam, who met in the hospital when they were 12. We follow them through a couple decades as they lose and find one another, create games and a company, and discover themselves.

I enjoyed the shout outs to games of the 80s and 90s as well as the details of game creation. For those reasons alone I have recommended this book to a lot of people. And then the friendships and relationships between the characters was so refreshing and complicated.

What can I say, this was so good - bittersweet, funny at times. All of that and a whole lot of heart. This was a winner for me.

My thanks to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story spans from coast to coast and shows that business success isn’t everything. This author knows people so well.

A wonderful book about a two brilliant gamers who are lifelong best frenemies, never quite lovers, and the amazing games they create. It almost made me want to play games myself (but not quite). I would give this to people who loved the gamer part of "Overstory," "Ready Player One" and "Little Brother." I bet this wins an Alex Award (for adult books that teens will like). I read it in advance through NetGalleys and was grateful to do so. I love Gabrielle Zevin.

So good. Creative, smart, heartbreaking, and touching. I was immersed in the world that this book created. The story moves along quickly but it also develops each character so well.

It’s been awhile since a book has surprised me. I am not a gamer. Not even much of a board game lover. My children would testify to this. I would let them play video games but rarely joined them, and family members have often begged me to round out the number of players so a board game could be played. So, when I started this book and realized its protagonists are video game lovers and creators, I quickly doubted it would be for me. But I fell under the spell of Sam and Sadie and Marx. And in joining their journey, I began to see what people may find in video games. I began to understand their very construction in a way no textbook could probably ever explain. This is a great read. And when I realized that its title was inspired by a Shakespearean quotation, I was further chastised for too quickly regarding video games as “sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Read an ARC.

Demolished this book, simply could not put it down. There is a lot of video game content and references but unlike Ready Player One, it uses some iconic games like Oregon Trail to add depth to the story. While there are a lot of details about making video games, it isn't until later chapters when it starts to consume the story (as work sometimes consumes middle aged adults).

This story has so. much. depth. Spanning several decades it follows Sam and Sadie from the hospital where they meet as kids (he's being treated, her sister is sick) through a chance connection across the country and as they grow together then apart. Both characters are so authentic and so incredibly plausible, I can see why this has spread like wildfire.

There are some really heavy concepts discussed throughout. I did struggle a little with the NPC section for personal trauma reasons. Then reading through it, remarkably, near the end Sadie does say something similar about the generational differences in handling trauma. Incredibly powerful to feel like I could have a conversation with a fictional character.

Spectacular. Highly recommend to anyone looking to lose themselves in a book for a week.

“A glimmer of a notion of a nothing of a whisper of a figment of an idea. “. This was my favorite quote from this novel. I saved it, because I just loved it and I didn’t want to forget it. I so enjoyed this book. I am not a gamer. I grew up with Atari, so I’m a little older than the main characters, and am not a gamer, but you don’t have to be to enjoy the dynamics between the three main characters. Once I started I was caught up in their lives. It was so well written that I will be reading more books by this author. Thank you for a great story.

Wow, I devoured this book. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, is a multilayered novel about friendship, love, and video games but is also so much more.

Sadie and Sam meet when they are kids and bond over their love of video games. And the book follows their friendship, relationship - professional and personal over the next 30+ years. We see them and other characters work their asses off to launch a game, go through the highs and lows of their friendship. We see them fall in love and out of love, we see them through their successes and failures.

Its really a beautiful book and even though its a book about video games - I am NOT a gamer and I was entranced. The writing didnt turn away a non-gamer and made me wish I was more into video games!

There is love, happiness, tragedy. You laugh out loud, you cry. Full range of emotions reading this book.

I cant wait to tell everyone I know to read this book!

Gabrielle Zevin's new book, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, is a masterpiece. The three main characters are all early Millennials, and this is the best depiction of the generation I've come across in a novel. Setting the story with a gaming theme is perfect as so many Millennials grew up, like the book's characters, mastering the products of this rapidly evolving industry (including my seven children). It's the perfect foundation for layering the complicated relationships and societal struggles this group faces.

And you don't need to be a gamer to enjoy the book. If you have absolutely no knowledge of gaming (if you have never even heard of The Oregon Trail, for example), you may struggle with Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. But is anyone still out there who is totally unaware of video games? I'm not a gamer (I hate playing them), but they were a constant backdrop in our home for decades, which helped me engage.

Zevin's world-building was exquisite. Each character is wonderfully complex, broken, and gifted in their own way. I loved following them through three decades of their lives—the sub-characters add even more sun=bstance to the story. Further, Zevin masterfully rendered Boston and LA, giving them a true sense of place and time. All the small details added to my enjoyment as a reader.

My only criticism pertains to the author's occasional use of overwrought vocabulary. It felt like she had a "word of the day" calendar nearby and challenged herself to use each daily word in her writing. I'm glad, however, that I read with a Kindle, as I could (and often needed to) quickly look up word definitions.

Reader beware: This novel is not at all like AJ Fickry (which I also loved), so liking one will not guarantee you like the other.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so well written and the character building was just wonderful (loved Marx so much!). I feel like I will be thinking about these fictional people for a while, which is a testament to the author’s skills since I’m not a gamer and disagreed with many things in the book.
There is a lot of game talk in the book, which is unsurprising, but evidently is difficult for some people. I suspect that if you’ve never played any games, you may not enjoy it. But if you (maybe are near my age group and) just played a little Nintendo as a kid and Oregon Trail on your computer, you’ll probably be fine because the book is much more about the intricacies of life and relationships than it is about gaming.
The ending wasn’t everything I had hoped for, but there was enough to allow my mind to imagine what comes next in whatever way I’d like.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow does for the video game what one of Zevin's most well-known previous books, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, did for bookstores. In this case, the story centers around Sadie and Sam, who connect in a hospital where Sadie's sister is battling cancer and Sam is recovering from multiple surgeries on his foot. The two share a passion for playing video games and become great friends until a misstep by Sadie leads them down their own paths for many years until they reconnect in Boston. Sam proposes spending a summer building a video game from scratch, and the pair, along with Sam's genial and generous roommate Marx, end up having a success on their hands. This success allows the trio to have unbounded freedom to create video games, but creative differences, the emotional angst that both Sam and Sadie suffer from, and the inability to let each other see every part of themselves begins to drive them apart. A sudden, and unexpected event in their lives could end severing a once-in-a-lifetime bond the pair share if they can't figure out how to communicate and process their emotions. Both Sadie and Sam are somewhat emotionally stunted. It's like so much work went into their brains to understand programming, graphics and storylines that processing those trickier things IRL got skipped. Not surprisingly this leads to constant misinterpretations by the other half of the pair. Sadie thinks Sam caused her to reconnect with a toxic boyfriend purely to get code for their game, despite the fact that the decision to stay with him was hers. Sam overlooks how isolated and disrespected Sadie is in a world that is mostly made up of men. Sadie thinks Sam is slacking off because he won't tell her that his foot is causing him so much pain that he can barely function. In many regards this is reflective of games themselves - they tend to be entirely logical and people are almost singularly focused on accomplishing their goal that they begin to disregard anything else. I suspect this was deliberate on Zevin's part, which is why Marx is so necessary to balance out the other two, with his easy-going, grounded ways and positive attitude. There are points in the books where both Sadie and Sam are dependent on him to help them find themselves. Sadie and Sam may just drive you crazy, especially when you know that if they were willing to be more vulnerable with each other they'd avoid all the conflict they create, but you still can't help but fall for the characters anyway. Finally, I'm not a huge gamer, but Zevin does such a great job of "creating" the games in the book that it's hard to believe they don't actually exist. She does such a great job of building out Sam and Sadie's world that making their world about building other worlds seems perfectly appropriate. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Five stars for my favorite book of 2022 so far, which has been a year of great books! I became fully immersed in Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, thanks to the themes of friendship and connection, characters that were complicated and interesting, and a peek into the world of video games, a place I didn't know much about before. I loved entering this world. I loved the characters and all their faults and the messiness of their relationships, which all felt real to me. What an immensely satisfying reading experience! I have been telling my library patrons about this novel already and am excited to start handing it to them in July! Thank you, NetGaley.

Wow! This was a five star book that I read in 2 days. I'm stingy with my 5 stars as this is my first 5 star since 2020. I've heard in multiple places that you don't need to know or even care about video games to enjoy this book and I can definitely agree to that. This is a story about friendship - pure and simple friendship. The friendship isn't perfect and it isn't equal but isn't that what friendship is? It was written so well that it just sucks you in and doesn't expect you to do anything but read the words on the page. I am so very grateful for getting this book as a Read Now and happy that I had a chunk of time this Memorial Day weekend to spend time with Mazer and Sadie and my favorite....Marx.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the copy of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Thank you Gabrielle Zevin for writing such an amazing book. I can’t even express how much I loved reading this book. The story was engaging and I couldn’t wait to find out how it ended, and at the same time I never wanted it to end. I love video games and adored how they were an integral part of the story and the characters' lives. I didn’t always like the characters, but always felt attached to them and their wellbeing. Sam, Sadie and Marx will live with me for a long time. At first the length of the book was daunting, but the writing was so good I sped through it. The few parts that felt unresolved eventually got clarity as the book progressed. If you want to read a great book about friendship, work and life you should read this book. You won’t be disappointed.

I am an early millennial who of course grew up playing hours and hours of Mario, trying to get him to the very top of the flagpole. I played Everquest for years (Druid) and couldn’t put down the controller when a new Sonic came out. This book was not only a fantastic read, it tugged at my heart strings.

The relationship between Sam, Sadie and Marx took us on an amazing journey, while also incorporating some fun along the way.

This is an A+, must read for anyone.

I loved this book. The friendship of Sam and Sadie just pulled me in and I couldn’t put it down. I am not a gamer but that didn’t stop me from loving this book. All of the people in this book are so interesting characters that will stay with me. I laughed, I cried and I felt like this complex thoughtful book is way more about love and friendships than video games. 4.5 stars

Wow. I didn’t know what to expect going into this book, and it blew my socks off. I never imagined that a book about gamers would be such a deep, complicated, wonderful story.

I don’t want to tell much about the plot, because I loved experiencing the story unfold. In general terms, the story is about two best friends, Sadie and Sam, who meet as children and then later become business partners to make video games.

But really this book is about so much more than that. Sam and Sadie experience highs and lows, fall in and out of love, and try to figure out who they are as people. They are imperfect and, at times, frustrating, but so very real. I felt completely invested in what was happening to them and their circle of friends, and I already miss them!

I am not a gamer, but that didn’t matter at all. I imagine gamers would especially enjoy the nostalgic references to 80s and 90s video games, but as a non-gamer, I still really enjoyed being immersed in this world.

This book releases on July 5th, and I’ve got my pre-order in and a spot reserved for it on my favorites shelf.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing Group for the opportunity to review an advance e-book copy.

This book tells the story of lifelong friends who make video games together. Which is true, but seems false, because it is also about work, and love, and the nature of life. I have never had any interest in video games, but I inhaled this book in less than a day.

from the moment i heard about gabrielle zevin’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, it felt possible that this was a novel i’d been waiting for my entire life. as a lifelong gamer and reader, i’ve craved writing that exists at the intersection of these two interests, that treat video games as i’ve always seen them: a form of storytelling just as transportive, life-saving, and formative for me as books, if not more so. in the beginning of this book, we meet sam masur and sadie green in their childhoods as they bond in a hospital ward over the escapism of video games. after reconnecting in college, sam and sadie—along with sam’s loving, charismatic roommate marx watanabe—form the company unfair games, kicking off a lifetime of game development, complex relationships, and the many beautiful and tragic intersections between them.

this is a novel that is deeply in love with the creation, playing, and existential effect of video games and i ache that i cannot play the games that sam and sadie develop in tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, which take inspiration from various games throughout gaming history, but which feel mind-bendingly original and impactful. given how much of this story is dedicated to showing the process of game development, discussing game history, and describing game mechanics, i can see how this book may not work for people who have no knowledge or interest in video games, but intertwined with the tumultuous path of unfair games, zevin has written one of the most gorgeous accounts of friendship, romance, betrayal, and humanity that i’ve read in a very long time. from sam and sadie’s friendship and partnership, sam and marx’s respective families, and all of their colleagues at unfair games, i found myself invested in every character that zevin put to page, all of whom felt like they could walk off the page at any moment.

what zevin does in this novel that i felt was particularly clever, however, was the way she took the losses, tragedies, and failures of life and balanced them against the eternal promise of video games. not only do video games offer comfort, escape, and wonder for those in need, they allow us to become anything we want to be—a lost child finding their way home, a hero of a fantasy realm, an explorer in the american west, a detective in elizabethan england—and do not limit us the way that life can. if you die in a video game, one click or press of a button reverses it. you get to try again, you get to remedy what went wrong, and you get to succeed in ways you feel you may never be able to in reality. there are save points, methods to heal, wondrous worlds to explore, ad infinitum. in life, there are only choices and consequences, but when you work in video games, it can feel like anything is possible.

so much of what makes this book work for me is that it takes my interest and curiosity about game development and creation and my love of intricate, character-focused stories and combines them into a sweeping, beautifully written novel about human connection, creativity, and what it means to put everything you have into your one brief and marvelous existence. tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow did for the gamer in me what erin morgenstern’s the starless sea did for the reader in me. it is, as i suspected, a novel that i’ve been waiting for my entire life. regardless of your relationship to video games, i implore you to give this book a chance. not only is this one of the best books i’ve ever read, i don’t think i’m ever going to read a book like it again.

I’m such a literary philistine that I didn’t recognise that the title Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, is from Shakespeare. Shame on me. Didn’t stop me loving it though! A contemporary novel about friendship in the world of video gamers, this was not an obvious choice for me - I can’t actually remember what led me to pick it from NetGalley - possibly a FaceBook recommendation. I’ve never been into gaming - beyond playing some variant of Pac-Man in the very early 80s, and getting sucked into Tetris on long-distance flights, they otherwise always seemed like a waste of valuable reading time. This is not to denigrate anyone that does play, it’s just not my thing, but this was not in any way a barrier to me becoming totally immersed in this lovely, elegant, compelling and moving book.

Sam and Sadie meet by chance as children in the mid-80s, and bond over loneliness, a shared geekiness and love of video games, becoming best friends. After a falling-out, they don’t speak again until they are both students in Boston, and join forces to start making the innovative games which will change their lives and make them rich. The book follows their ups and downs, loves and losses over the next twenty years, and explores the meaning of a unique friendship.

I had not previously heard of this author, but I loved her writing - even though I ended up having to look up more words than I have in years - I read it mostly on Kindle for Ipad so this was not a problem for me, and I actually appreciated the push to learn the actual meaning of words I knew but never fully understood, like ersatz. Do not let this put you off! I thought her three main characters were brilliant - realistically flawed and emotionally scarred - Sam by his disability, Sadie by the unlikely stress of being a pretty girl trying to be taken seriously in a clever boy’s world. And don’t we all want a Marx in our lives? I also liked the realistic diversity of her cast of supporting characters.

It is a long book, but, unusually, I didn’t want it to end - in fact my initial reaction to the slightly muted ending was to feel a bit cheated, but on reflection, it’s perfect. I SO didn’t want this to turn into a romance, there are not enough books written about friendship, and so many bookish happy endings seem to be conditional on the guy and the girl getting together. While this is a book about young adults, it’s not YA, and probably will appeal most to fellow Gen-Xers, with all the nostalgic 80s & 90s pop culture references - even if the gaming ones went mostly over my head!

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, is published on July 5th.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing for an eARC in exchange for a review!

I didn't really know what to expect from a novel about video games, and I think that made the experience all the better. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow took me by surprise, delighted me, and, at times, had me tearing up in public as I read. It is, at its barest of bones, a story where two friends conceive a video game together, and then the aftermath of that game's release into the world. Video games are absolutely essential to the story, yes, but the characters and the relationships between them made this shine.

The character arcs of Sadie and Sam were so beautiful and so visceral that at times I felt emotionally flayed alive, and watching them grow from children to full adults made my heart ache at times. The addition of Marx balanced the two extremely well, and the relationship between the three felt so real and messy that it gave this novel an extra emotional depth. I also really appreciated the focus on Sam and Sadie being each other's most important relationship, even though it was neither romantic nor sexual.

The other thing I could not get enough of was the experimental styles that Zevin employed: I will always love second person, so that chapter was always going to be something I enjoyed, but utilizing A and B sides, as well as spending a little time in one of the video game worlds made me gasp out loud at how good they were. I loved this book so much, and I cannot recommend it enough.

My last review was down on non-linear storytelling. Why did that not work and this did? Because this was mostly linear? Because the last book failed to bring the secondary characters to life, so the choice of a non-linear format made it even more difficult to distinguish people? It ultimately doesn't matter, but here I am, praising this near-perfect book about two flawed people who love each other and create together, but don't always know how to WORK together.

Zevin has grown into such a wonderful novelist. Every time I looked at how far into the book I was, I was SHOCKED; I felt like I had lived lifetimes, even when the characters had only passed a few years. How does she do it? Amazing. If this book doesn't end up on best-of lists, I will scream.

My first impression of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is it is Ready Player One meets A Little Life. There is an immersive video game culture and nostalgia element tied together by the tragic, beautiful, and complex relationship between the main characters. While reading this book I yearned to be a part of Sadie and Sam’s world and to play their life’s work. This is a book that will stick with you long after you read the final page. A must read of 2022.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin
Pub Date: July 5, 2022
Knopf
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
Two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners in video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.
I don't have much interest in video games, but I adored this book. I could definitely relate to the references to Oregon Trail and Mario. The reader doesn't need to know much about video games to enjoy this book.
There are also a lot of 80s, 90s, and early 2000s pop culture references mixed in. I loved reading the details behind creating a game and the gaming industry as I was introduced to a whole new world. It's a stirring meditation on the intrinsic hopefulness of games, and what they might mean for us all. Content warnings apply.
For fans of Free Guy, Grace Li's Portrait of a Thief, and Alice Elliott Dark's Fellowship Point.

Sam and Sadie, who met as children playing video games in a hospital, reconnect as college students and collaborate to create a blockbuster game and then a game design company. Their complicated relationship over the 30 years of the novel encompasses friendship, success, resentment, tragedy, and love - an everchanging variable. Glorious! I was *thrilled* to read another novel by Zevin.

This book was fabulous! I am not a gamer, and the parts of the book that talked about gaming did not keep me from reading and finishing the book. The characters were wonderful. I truly did not want this book to end!

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Multilayered and textured, Tomorrowx3 is a love story, a story about friendship, and a love letter to video games and their creators.
Sam, Sadie and Marx felt heartbreakingly real from the moment we meet them in the story. I had to ration my allotted pages per day because I didn’t want the magic of living through this story to disappear.
The writing is lyrical and full of insight and pathos. Zevin has once again created a masterpiece that transports readers to an alternate dimension inside her mind, where real characters live out rich, full lives.

I really enjoyed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. A friend asked why I requested this book because it is about gaming. As a 55 year-old woman, why would I want to read about the gaming world that I have no real interest in. First the book is written by Gabrielle Zevin and I enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Second, it is good to learn about something that is outside my normal and the Gen X world.

This book is so much more than a gaming book. It is more about coming of age, friendships, love, loss, and even business. It is easy to love the main characters Same Masur and Sadie Green, There relationship is complicated, in both business and in love. Their communication with each other is often star crossed and complicated.

The book is so well written and very difficult to put down. It is a book that will stay with you long after the last page. This is a book to savor. You will not get to read this book for the first time ever again.

I would like to thank Gabrielle Zevin for writing fantastic books and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy. This book should be a big hit in the summer of 2022. #GabrielleZevin #NetGalley #TomorrowandTomorrowandTomorrow

An epic story of life’s complexities, deep-rooted love, incredible grief, and video games. Regardless of infinite restarts, some games are just not winnable. Perhaps winning isn’t the point. This affected me in very much the same way as The Heart’s Invisible Furies (iykyk). The intricacies and tiebacks are so thoughtful and moving. I was fully immersed in Sadie and Sam’s tumultuous friendship and professional pursuits.

This is my top read of 2022 thus far, and I’m confident it will remain so.

What a wonderfully rare story about friendship between two people who love each other deeply, and not romantically. I loved the characters in this story, thought the writing was beautiful and the pacing was excellent. I am not a gamer and yet I found myself fully immersed in the world of these people who love gaming. The world building was so good, the traumas that each character experienced were so tenderly written. I loved the ending. I cried at least three times while reading this book, which for me, is always the sign of an author's mastery-- to evoke deep emotions is such a gift. I will be recommending this to everyone this summer!

"Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" touches on many elements of modern culture, from gaming to startups. The novel also captures some truths about love, loss and competition. At the heart of the story, we find Sadie and Sam, two exceptionally bright teens coming of age in California and, later, in Boston. Their friendship (and sometimes rivalry) spans decades and produces memorable video games. If, like me, you appreciate both Shakespeare and The Oregon Trail, you may connect to this book and its themes. Some of the strongest sections reveal how it's possible to share deep truths through games and also how we can sometimes close ourselves off from those closest to us.

I can't define why this story hit me like it did because it shouldn't have. I'm not into, nor do I understand the gaming world. There is no fantastical plot to drag you along. Nothing amazing happens, yet I was so wrapped up in this. I more than loved Sam and Sadie and Marx and all the side characters (Dong and Bong and Sadie's amazing and spunky grandmother with her practical words of wisdom). There is so much to unwrap here, yet I could not condense this down and tell you what this even about. If I had to say, it would be love. It's about all the forms of love and how beautiful and complicated each and every one of them is.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a book about friendship, love and video games but the overall theme is love but not romantic love as much as friendship love. Sam and Sadie meet in a hospital as 10 year olds but life gets in the way and they go years without seeing each other due to miscommunication but reconnect in college. Video games are part of the story but I am not into video games and I loved this book. It will probably be one of my top ten books this year.
Thank you so much NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for my ARC of this book, it's a keeper!

What an extraordinary narrative about the power of passion, creativity and relationships! Sam, Sadie and Marx - imperfect though they may be - are simply the best characters I’ve encountered in years. Not a gamer? Don’t let that stop you from entering this world filled with references ranging from Shakespeare to Japanese art to “ The Oregon Trail.”

If you are a gamer and enjoy character-driven sagas, this book is a love letter to you. If you are not into gaming, it does not make much of a difference because it is ultimately a story of three friends and their traumas.
The novel is quite a journey starting slow, then popping back and forth in time. It suffers from both too much detail and not enough. The pace picks up as the characters get older, events unfold and lives are irrevocably changed. I was initially very confused by the Pioneers section but it is “revealed” in the next section. (It is okay to skip if you are not into it). The last section seemed different in tone-a little rushed and dialog-heavy, but everything must have its ending sometime.
This is my first book by Gabrielle Zevin and wow, she is an amazing writer. I think we have a lot to look forward to in the future.
#NetGalley

Umm hello I LOVED THIS BOOK. And I'm not going to lie- I'm kind of confused as to why I liked it so much. The book is largely about video games. I'd say 80-90% of the plot is video game related (the main characters make games together, starting in the 90s I believe), and I don't play video games or care about them at all. It's kind of like Beartown by Fredrik Backman. I don't care about hockey, which is a huge plot point but I LOVED the book.

I think I loved how unique the story was, the unique writing style, the characters were all likeable yet flawed in their own ways. Their dynamics with each other. How their friendships evolved over the young adult lives. I'm hoping this will be a hit, but for those who need a fast moving plot, it won't be a favorite.

Spanning a 30 year friendship, this novel follows Sam and Sadie, childhood friends, co-workers, friends and gamers. I was so excited to read this new Zevin novel. I gobbled it up in less than 2 days!

This is not the type of story I would normally gravitate towards. The gaming world is not my niche but I was so enthralled in this world. This is a brilliant coming of age story that spans about 30 years. I never lost interest in the story of Sam and Sadie, their at times, wavering friendship, the games they built together and apart, and their personal and professional growth. Do not let the gaming setting deter you - this is a story about identity, disability, relationships, connections you make, betrayal, motivations, companionships, and surviving loss.

A couple interesting choices in this book - switching to second person POV and dumping you into a video game (not my favorite section), and quite a few obscure words I had to look up. This is also over 400 pages. It's long. However, while it did feel long, I also was ok with the length and being able to see these characters through decades.

This is a story I am so excited for and will be thinking about these characters for a long time. I cheered for their success, empathized at their failures, and wanted to see their friendship last through it all. Sadie struggles with the recognition of her work at times in a male dominated industry. Sam struggles with a physical disability, his racial identity, and finding companionship among his success.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing Group for my advanced copy. This book will be published July 12.

I’ve always enjoyed Gabrielle Zevin’s books, but this one is a REVELATION. If Daisy Jones and the Six and Ready Player One had a baby whose parents wanted even better for it than they had - that would be this book. It’s long - the story epic and spanning a significant chunk of time, but at no point does it feel like any of the words are wasted. I loved reading Sadie, Sam, and Marx’s story - this book will be with me for a long time. A favorite of the year for me, for sure.

As an avid reader and gamer, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a fantastic story full of humor, heart and video game references!

I loved how Gabrielle Zevin brought these characters to life and made them feel alive. Even when I was disagreeing with their choices I felt like I could meet these characters and the relationships between them make this story a must read! I loved how this story explores themes of love, death, stress and growing up and how video games are used to show Max and Sadie’s lives and experiences!

I am looking forward to whatever Zevin writes next because I loved Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow!!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a complex, character driven, dazzling, inventive novel spanning 30 years of friendship between two people whose lives intertwine in and around a shared loved of video games.

Sam Masur met Sadie Green when they were kids in the hospital and bonded over Super Mario Bros. From there, the novel switches back and forth between past and present events, recounting the many ups and downs of their friendship, love lives, successes and failures both professional and personal, and how their deep love for each other will always connect them, even when they are not speaking. Both are strong willed and head strong, finding faults in the. other when they might not even be there, all because of pride and the need to be the best at what they do, even when they don't get everything right. Sacrifices are made and tempers flare, but ultimately, Sam and Sadie are connected to each other for eternity.

Beautifully written, Gabrielle Zevin is a master of words, occasionally dropping ones I have never heard of or don't remember seeing before, so be prepared to have your phone nearby to look them up. Clocking in at 416 pages, this book will either delight you or infuriate you, and not just because of the length. It addresses some very real issues that are just as important today as they were 20-25 years ago. She makes you laugh, she makes you cry, and I almost wanted to reach in and shake some sense into the main characters for how stubborn they are or for jumping to inane conclusions, It means I truly felt for these characters and will be thinking about their story for weeks to come. And I didn't know a book revolving around video games could do that to me, Yes, I played Nintendo and Sega games as a kid so the book drew me in for the nostalgia but it left me content.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing Group for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Complicated and Memorable

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, is a multilayered novel about friendship, love, and video games.

Sam and Sadie met when they are kids and quickly bonded over their love of video games. They develop a friendship that spans almost 30 years. The novel follows the highs and lows of their friendship, including falling in love, falling out, a love triangle, successes, and failures. Throughout it all, the one constant in their lives is video games.

The narrative alternates primarily between Sadie and Sam's POVs. Sam and Sadie are both loveable, arrogant, infuriating, and flawed. The dynamics of their friendship are complicated by love, jealousy, and misunderstanding. I got a little sick of the friends to frenemies cycle between Sadie and Sam (more of Sadie’s anger towards Sam, but I understood her point of view). I loved them, but I also wanted to shake some sense in them.

Sam’s mother, Anna; Marx, Sam’s college roommate; Dov, Sadie's professor; are some additional characters who make an impact. My favorite characters were Sam’s grandparents, Dong Hyun and Bong Cha.

The novel blends reality and game worlds, and parts of the narrative take place in a virtual open world.

All characters are well-developed and multidimensional. Even the avatars are multidimensional.

I am not a huge fan of video games, but this book made me nostalgic for the video games of my childhood. I got all of the Oregon Trail and Mario references, but there were times that I was a little lost, but I didn’t mind because I learned so much about gaming. The reader doesn’t need to know much about video games to enjoy this book (but it might help!). There are also a lot of 80s, 90s, and early 2000s pop culture references mixed in. I loved reading the details behind creating a game and the gaming industry as I was introduced to a whole new world.

This is a well-written, complex, thought-provoking, and original novel. I was invested in the characters, and some moments hit me on an emotional level. I got teary-eyed towards the end. I won't forget these characters; this is a book that is going to stay with me for a long time.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the perfect combination of fantastic multi-dimensional characters, old-school gaming, 80s and 90s pop culture references, and multi-layered friends, found family, and "real" family (for want of a better term.

As someone who started gaming in 1985, I have played so very many of the games that were mentioned in this book and it evoked such a feeling of nostalgia and a wish that I could play those games again. The insight into how games are coded, designed, and marketed was fascinating and I've already picked up and started reading one of the books about gamers that was mentioned in Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

I think this is a quirky, off-beat book that many will love if they give it a chance. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book. I think you'll be glad you did!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC at my request. All thoughts are my own.

I loved everything about this book! This book follows the lives of three friends and collaborators through childhood, college, and early career success until they are established professionals in the video game industry. The gaming references from the mid 80s and 90s were so much fun for me, being of the Oregon Trail generation myself. I think anybody who loves gamer culture will eat this book up, but I think the character arcs and messages about friendship, disability, trauma, grief, and moving forward after failure will connect this story to an audience far beyond the gamers. I found the handling of multiracial identity to be particular meaningful.

I had to wait a full day after finishing this spectacular book to collect my thoughts - man, this one is so good. So often, characters in books are written as a type: the selfish one or the damaged one or the one we are rooting for. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a novel with complex, nuanced characters who don’t fit in by one box. The author presents the complexities of people in a way that felt triumphant and as authentic as I’ve read in any book. I didn’t know a thing about this book going in - I hope you’ll read it that way, too. Books clubs! Choose this one. So many layers and meaty themes to unpack and discuss. I cried several times while reading - the beauty! The raw complexity of being human! Masterful writing and vocab choices that were delightfully-interesting. I loved it so much. What a gift from Knopf Random House - go read this one.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a story about love, but it is not a story about two people in love with one another. It is a story about the power of loving another person in every other way imaginable: as a friend, a kindred spirit, a counterpart. It is the story of Sam Masur and Sadie Green, and how video games kindled a friendship that lasts through the ages, despite everything that life throws at them. Sam and Sadie find themselves parted and brought back together again through circumstances, fights, moves, and throughout it all, their love never fails. I absolutely adored this story by Gabrielle Zevin, who penned a world alive with compassion, empathy, laughter and heartache. My emotions lay in a tumbled mess at my feet by the end of this book and I have not connected so strongly to a novel in a very long time. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes books, doesn't like books, passes me on the street or just stares at me for slightly too long. 10 out of 5 stars.

Love Love Love this book!
This is a very special story, beautiful, enthralling, spinning out and around and back - I just do not know if I can do it justice!

This is the story of Sadie and Sam, a story of kids growing up in the 80's, a story of game design, of work, of American culture and identity. I absolutely love rolling stories such as these, and this will forever be a favorite.

Sadie and Sam meet in a hospital. This is the ground zero to this story; the first miscommunication between the two main characters and a setting that Same can never seem to shake, From there, they meet again, and again. They collaborate on a game, or two. I won't tell you more -just that you will enjoy it.

There are tons of characters and concepts and discussions, and realizations! Realizations that I bookmarked to return to. You certainly do not need to know a thing about games or even enjoy them (like me:)) to hear the poetry of this book. If you like rollicking and rolling stories, stories that span decades, or stories that encapsulate our American experience then this is a book for you! #TomorrowandTomorrowandTomorrow #Knopf #Netgalley #Netgalleyreads

I accidentally read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, over a game convention weekend, while I spent the rest of my time demoing my games, playtesting a new game, and talking about game design. We also did a panel where my husband/co-creator explained his workflow as a wind-up robot, that gets keeps going and going, and I had to say that I have 10,000 ideas in all directions, but not every idea is a great game. Then I came home and read this story about gamemaking creativity and relationships.

In Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, childhood friends (and sometimes frenemies) Sadie Green and Sam Masur agree to spend a college summer making a game together. With Sam’s college roommate, Marx, as their producer, their first game, Ichigo, becomes a massive hit. This is the goal for all of us making indie games, but the novel is actually about long-term creative collaboration, not about the magic of a success.
Their game creativity is a special kind of work, there’s a lot of time between Cool Idea and Finished Game, and that’s when we see our characters grow and change, fall in and out of love, struggle to understand and be understood. I particularly loved how Marx, the producer, was described as doing all the invisible work that let Sam and Sadie do their work better. There’s a lot about inspiration and accidental inspiration, with game journalists making connections the developers didn’t see. The book has a couple experimental sections, and they’re not all quite as engaging as the main narrative, but I think in any book about game dev, a chapter set inside the game world is basically obligatory.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is not just about games, it’s also a story about disability and trauma and overcoming the past. Mazer’s injury, and the way he feels about his body play a major role in his personality. (It’s not exactly pleasant to read about his injury and amputation, but it’s not too gross, either.) We can see him developing and changing over the years. Overall, I think seeing our characters develop over time was one of my favorite parts.
You needn’t know a lot about games to follow the story, but some moments resonated for me, and maybe they will for other gamemakers, too. Sadie starts out making Solution, which is not exactly Train, but has a similar feeling (Weirdly, this same weekend I directed some younger game designers to this talk from Brenda Braithwaite). and EmilyBlaster, which is not exactly Stride and Prejudice, but has the same feeling. For me, this
made the whole story feel like it was grounded in real games.

Those of us in the Oregon Trail generation often joke about how the best part of playing games these days is a character waking up fully rested or facing only solvable puzzles, so I enjoyed the novel’s comments on the achievable goals and restarts of gaming. The characters are the right age for Oregon Trail memories too, and there’s a running joke about the classic you have died of dysentery line. But this is about friends riffing on a shared experience, this isn’t a book about getting the gamer jokes. I liked Ready Player One, but ultimately found the barrage of pop culture references exhausting. It started to feel less like fandom and more like a fandom test — did I like the correct cool things? was I the right kind of player? had the correct lines and bits of trivia made the correct impact on me? Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow uses games to tell a story about love and creativity, it’s not a story about liking the correct games.

Sadie and Sam meet by chance, and a common interest in video games. Their lives are filled with love and heartache while working together creating new games and a new gaming company. Gabrielle Zevin brings the story and games to life with her writing style. Great read for the weekend.

A very different book! I loved the story line, the characters and, though I’m not a true gamer, understood the passion and hard work it takes to create a company and make a dream into reality. This book hit every emotion possible. I got lost for a bit during the Pioneers segment toward the end but eventually realized what the author was doing. Please read this book. It’s truly about what being human means.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is a story of video game development but so much more than that. The reader does not need to be a player of games to love this book because ultimately the story is about love and friendship and work. I loved the way the author revealed bits of the characters’ stories from various points of views. It makes the reader understand each character in depth. I definitely recommend this book!

With tears in my eyes I type this review mere moments from finishing this book. Even before finishing it, I've reached out to reader friends to put it on their radar by describing it as follows. Imagine Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid and the movie Free Guy have a baby. Now, this baby doesn't really look like the parents, but looks just enough like the parents for you to not question the parentage. That's this book. The book follows a set of friends turned video game designers over the decades. There's love and loss and a friendship full of conflict and art and longing and so much more. This book leaves me breathless and makes this avid reader want to dip her toe into the world of gaming. I'm so excited to see this book launched into the world this summer and can't wait for it to reach level 100.

This book was epic! And by that, I mean a) in length, it was really long, b) it took place over several decades and 3) it was an original and BIG book covering so much. It's a love story, but not a romance, between Sadie and Sam who met and bonded over video games as teenagers when Sam was in the hospital after a severe accident and Sadie was visiting her ill sister. Although that part of their friendship ends in a bitter fight, the two meet again in college and resume a friendship that morphs into a successful career as game designers. I cared so much for these characters, as well as Marx and some of the other side characters, and my heart broke and was put together numerous times over the course of the approximately 400 pages! Don't let the fact that it's about gaming deter you because at its core, it's a story about friendship, forgiveness, and resilience.

I love this author and all of her books and this one was no exception. Ms. Devine has the ability to write complex characters who have many faults which makes them feel that much more real. I cried a lot while reading this book and that tells me it was incredibly well written. I highly recommend this one.

Where do I even begin with this review? First off, I need to say that this was the most beautifully written novel that I have read so far. There was no dipping a toe in the water here. I was playfully pushed into the deep end quickly, and let me tell you, it was worth it.

This novel spans the thirty years that Sam and Sadie developed their friendship, careers, and commitment to the gaming community.

Following these characters as they create their first video game together and the beauty and destruction that comes with their newfound fame, Zevin maintained the authenticity of each character’s struggles. And allowing the reader to peek into each of their pasts throughout the chapters helped create more of an attachment and empathy towards the character's current struggles and growth.

You don’t have to be into video games to appreciate the intricacies of the delicately woven narrative from each perspective. Every character is carefully inserted into the story and has a purpose in the overall plot. Even the “NCPs” are essential to the novel’s progression and aren’t just haphazardly thrown in to create an interesting shift in the story. I could tell there was some thought into who/what would bring some added sparkle to the book's overall theme.

With that said, I was hooked from the first page and can honestly say I was sad when the story ended. I don’t believe I have been this invested in a novel since “A Little Life.”
Bravo!

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was completely consumed by this story of love, friendship, and the very hopeful, very human desire for infinite possibilities that leads us to play. Sadie, Sam, Marx… I loved every minute I spent with them. I laughed. I cried. My heart is full.

I can't believe that this book is already going to be made into a movie by Paramount and it hasn't even been published yet! I'm so excited - while I'm not sure how well it'll translate to the big screen, I really enjoyed reading this book. The different narrative styles in each section kept my attention and the in-your-face "we are brilliant" vocabulary of the main characters definitely had me using the dictionary function of my Kindle WAY more than I normally do. I can see that this will turn some people off, but to me it fit with who the characters are. The cover is also perfect, I can imagine this book with black spine and the endpaper being a functional Magic Eye picture.

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

This book is going to be a major hit in the summer. It blends Ready Player One with a lot more heart and is a study on deep relationships. Zevin brings the same wit and ease of reading from her previous novels but goes further into her characters’ minds and motivations. The book dragged a bit around the 70% mark with a journey into a video game that was difficult to orient in, but it picked up nicely toward the end.

I am a real fan of star-crossed love story thing. Circle of Friends, Atonement, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Royal Tenenbaums… and on. I eat that stuff up! Throw in some brilliant characters and video game programming, and we have pure gold in the form of Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
Sadie and Sam are super-close male-female best friends, the weirdness of which Zevin captures perfectly. What is going on here? Aren’t you guys in love? What happens when handsome, charismatic Marx enters their creative partnership? Will their friendship and company survive?
This was a real treat, especially for lovers of language and video games. The author’s allusion game is on point. Her command of language is impressive.

This charming book is a story about video games and relationships and you don't have to be a gamer (I'm not) to thoroughly enjoy it. Sam and Sadie are brought together and driven apart again and again by their own disparate personalities and their love of video games. Their relationship is part business partners, part best friends, and romance is there but I liked that it's not actually that important. The cast of supporting characters are diverse and loveable, particularly their partner Marx. Zevin also has fun with form, narrating from multiple POVs, from the disjointed perspective of a character in a coma, and from inside video games. Recommend.

This book is FANTASTIC! Don't let the video game theme worry you if you aren't a gamer. I'm not a gamer at all, but I did enjoy the game aspect more than I thought. It's ultimately a fresh story about friendship and love. I loved the characters and enjoyed the almost thirty years we spend with Sam and Sadie, as well as supporting characters like Marx, Ant, Zoe, and others. I smiled, laughed, became frustrated with them sometimes, and cried. I'm already a fan of this author, but this book cemented her as an auto buy author for me.

This is a really special book. I can’t remember being so involved with three characters. Each was distinct and memorable. I really lived with them while reading this book and wish I knew what happened next.
There was tragedy as well as triumph and lives that felt real.
I would think there’s little question it will be a standout book of the year and be on many best of the year lists.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.” This was a beautifully told, nostalgic story about love, friendship, games, and finding ones life passion. Sadie and Sam are childhood friends turned frenemies turned friends again whose relationship isn’t easily defined. The way the author navigates their relationship and their relationship with others is true to life and genuine. The gaming references throughout are so fun to read about as my husband and I are both big gamers. I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from this author!

Oh, I loved this. Five giants stars - Social Network meets Kavalier & Clay and (almost) meets Daisy Jones. Sam and Sadie, and Marx - I miss them already. I can't wait for this novel to be out in the world - it was great.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I totally loved this book. I loved this book, I could not put it down. I am a gamer so this was even more special to me. Not many books touch on gaming. I really enjoyed the writing of this author and went and brought other older titles after reading this. It is a sweet story of love and friendship and it takes place over a few decades. To me it was just a great story that sucked me in and I loved every second of it.

You know how sometimes you read a book SO good, that hits you in ALL the feels, that you almost have a book hangover afterwards? This was me. I finished this book almost 10 days ago and I am just now sitting down to write a review. To be quite honest, at one point I said to myself, well that reading thing was sure fun and now I'm done.
This book is, in short, a masterpiece. The characters are the most diverse, interesting, well-thought out set I've encountered in awhile. At its core, it's a love story- but not a typical one, and that just barely scratches the surface. There is so much to this book.
It takes place in the world of video games. Do you need to know/like video games to understand the book? No. Does it help? Yes. At the end of the day, it's a beautiful story that just happens to be set in a video game world.
I absolutely loved this and wouldn't hesitate to recommend to others. I don't think I adequately put my thoughts into words, so just go read it for yourself!

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC!

While I'm not really into gaming, I still ended up really enjoying this book. The writing was great, and the characters and their friendships were quite heartwarming and believable. I think some of our patrons will really like this one, so I've preordered several copies for the library.

I loved this book in the same way I loved Elsewhere; I loved this book in a completely different way from the way I loved Elsewhere. When I was telling my husband about it, I realized that some of the themes are similar: these are books about life, and looking back, and choices. But this book, more than that, was a book of friendship and betrayal and inspiration and those who we find INTERESTING above all. It was about the ways that we love and mistrust and find each other again, all set against the backdrop of gaming in the 80's-00's.

"Promise me we won't ever do this again," Sadie said. "Promise me, that no matter what dumb thing we supposedly perpetrate on each other, we won't ever go six years without talking to each other. Promise me you'll always forgive me, and I promise I'll always forgive you." These, of course, are the kinds of vows young people feel comfortable making when they have no idea what life has in store for them.


Is this a book for gamers? It is clear that Zevin did her research, based on the copious books that she lists in her end note, so in some ways I'd say yes. (The author's background and characterization of Sam and Sadie felt so complete that part of me wondered if she was involved in developing games in college.) But it's not a book for gamers in the way that Warcross was a book for gamers, or Ready Player One, or books by Cory Doctorow. Those are books about a character playing the game, so if you are looking for a book that emulates that experience, I would not necessarily recommend this to you.

This is a book about making the game: about the worlds we build for ourselves, about the choices we make, about life and death and the different ways we are reborn.

We are all living, at most, half of a life, she thought. There was the life that you lived, which consisted of the choices you made. And then, there was the other life, the one that was the things you hadn't chosen.


I loved it. I don't want to tell you all the parts I loved, because SPOILERS, but this comes out to the general public right around my birthday. The timing is appropriate because reading this was an absolute gift.

Quotes are taken from an Advance edition of the book, and may not match the final copy

I absolutely adored this book. I think it will be the book of the summer. I know our company (B&N) will be heavily behind it because that is where I heard about the book. It's sooooo good and right up my alley. It gave me the same feeling as Ready Player One with all the pop culture references. But the characters are what really hooked me. How can you not fall in love with Sam, Sadie, and Marx. Just a brilliant book that I can't wait to hand sell to our customers.

Sam thinks crowds are foolish and that made me automatically like him. This book had me constantly smiling just with the first few pages. Such heartfelt clever writing that I’m completely smitten. Gabrielle Zevin is now one of my favorite authors. The story mainly follows Sam and Sadie with their precious and rare friendship. This doesn’t mean everything goes smoothly when you find a kindred spirit, we are complex beings and Zevin wrote this exquisitely. We get to know Sam’s family and his loyal protective friend, Marx, our NPC. There are no games without NPCs and he is the tether to Sadie and Sam when things are difficult. I was so swept up in Marx’s last POV in the book. It was truly beautiful. This story spans over decades and brought me back to my childhood in the 80s and 90s. Growing up playing video games with my mom and brother, even though they loved video games way more than me. It is a story about gaming and a lot of it, but you don’t have to like gaming to love this book. If you are a fan, this will be a treasure.

This story has so many layers of the ups and downs with friends, creative partnerships, lovers, family, school, careers, grief and just the uncertainty of life. It encompasses the strength and fragility of humans. I loved how Zevin wrote about creativity. How painful and exhilarating it can be to creatively work with someone, striving for success. And when the meaning of success being different from one another, one thinking popularity and the other wanting it to be authentic art.

This story also touches on identity, trauma, medical trauma, racism, appropriation, homophobia, sexism, disability, sa grooming, and more. It is a very dense story, but so incredibly written. Everything was handled with care from the author.

Zevin’s writing made me think of viewing people as if they were Magic Eye posters. Seeing them from different viewpoints as you let go of your control on who you think they are until you get a clear view of who they really are. We are all working our way through this maze in a game we call life. I hope we don’t give up when we get lost and find others who want to play in the many pivots of searching for solutions.


A big thank you to Knopf Penguin Random House Publishing and Associate Director of Marketing, Kelsey Manning for this e-ARC via NetGalley.

This is one of my favorites covers of the year, and I loved the book just as much. I was a huge fan of THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY. This is such a different story that still has the same heart.

The inclusion of video game development was really interesting, and you can tell Zevin knows her stuff. It's a send-up to some of the most iconic video games of all time, and Gen X/millennials will enjoy the nostalgia (I certainly did).

But it's mostly just a beautiful story about Sam and Sadie, and how their lives and relationships grow and develop over 30+ years. It's also a study on disability, which is so important, and under-represented in new fiction.

My one criticism was I felt the book kind of dragged in the middle. It's over 400 pages, and I think it could've been closer to 350 and been a tighter story. I still really enjoyed it. I could see myself handselling it through comparisons to READY PLAYER ONE andTHE ANTHROPOCENE REVIEWED. Could do extra well with HE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY coming out soon(ish?).

Thank you Netgalley and Gabrielle Zevin for the opportunity to read the eARC of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow!

This was a terrific and solid novel novel about the complications of life, especially for a younger generation. I was so impressed how the story flowed so well and did not find long or dragging in spots. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I will post my review on Netgalley, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Goodreads and Google play

I adored this book!

Zevin created an epic story of a friendship and the games they played, the roles they inhabited, and the worlds they created together and apart.

I loved that it was partly set in the 90's and was about gaming and so much more. There were so many layers to this novel - it was about relationships and love in all types of partnerships, but it also tickled my intellect in it's references to plays, secret Hollywood roads, doppelgangers, questions of cultural appropriation, class differences, gender expectations, and living your life through imaginary narratives.

The characters were very well done- they felt real in that cliché way that causes you to miss them when the book is done, and wonder how they're doing every once in a while, and then having to remind yourself they're not real.

But Zevin is also great with humor and tragedy- making this a book packed with heart and wisdom that will appeal to anyone who wants to read a well-paced, engrossing and fun book. Fans of playing video games will eat this up, as well as those who like books set in the 90s.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4658810189

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the book that pulled me out of my reading slump. The story is a love story, but not the way you think. It is a story about friendship and gaming and Gen X. Some of my favorite things. Sam meets Sadie in the game room of the children's hospital where he is recovering from a shattered foot after a car accident. Sadie is there with her sister, who is receiving treatments for cancer. Sadie and Sam bond over their shared love of games after Sam teaches her how to make Mario reach the top of the flagpole. Sam and Sadie are inseparable, best friends until they are not. After a fight, they go their separate ways, not speaking until several years later, in Boston. Sam is attending Harvard and Sadie MIT. They run into each other while waiting on a train. This chance meeting restarts their friendship and, along with Sam's roommate and best friend Knox, launches them into the world of game design before they even graduate from college.

This book is definitely about gaming, both creation and love of. The characters always go back to their favorite games at times of stress and depression. Like a comfortable blanket. I found myself wishing some of these games were real. I really want to try Ichigo.

This story is about the power of enduring friendships even after successes, failures, betrayals, tragedy, and depression. It was definitely a different kind of story, sometimes switching POV to side characters and even dropping into a game at one point. It won't be for everyone, but, it is definitely a 5 star unique read. Thank you Netgalley and Knopf Publishing for the chance to read this book.

Honestly, when I read the publisher’s opening statement about video gaming, I thought I had made a HUGE mistake in requesting this book from NetGalley. While I don’t often find my mistakes to not be errors, in this case it was a wonderful ‘mistake’. While gaming is vehicle that drives the characters, this book is truly about young adults trying to understand themselves and each other. As we all do, these young people not only made great successes, they also made great mistakes. The author had been reading it as fast as I could-sometimes she had me laughing out loud and sometimes she brought tears to my eyes. But, throughout the book, she kept me engaged. I don’t like putting spoilers in my reviews so you’ll just have to read it for yourself.

I am, and always have been, terrible at video games. Even Atari “Pong” was challenging for me. I never really played them as a kid, and the role-playing games are definitely way beyond me. So, I was really surprised to be as absorbed in and unexpectedly moved by Gabrielle Zevin’s TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW, which centers around two video game obsessed characters, Sadie and Sam. They meet as kids, when Sam is in the hospital following a horrific car crash that has completely mangled his foot, and Sadie is there because her sister is undergoing cancer treatment. They spend hours (609 hours, to be exact) playing games, and go on to become wildly successful video game designers as adults.
Of course, what makes the novel great is that it really isn’t about video games, as much as it is about the fact that life is complicated. Friendship is complicated. Love is complicated. These are all universal truths we can relate to. Disability is also complicated, and as a person born with one, I felt a special kinship with Sam, and was thrilled with the sensitivity and accuracy with which Zevin depicts what it’s like to have permanent limited mobility. Zevin’s writing throughout is clearly carefully thought out, layered with meaning and small bursts of beauty. But it all feels so completely organic and effortless. I came to love all the characters and was really sad when I got to “GAME OVER”.

While video games are a key element of the plot, I didn't feel it was necessary for someone to play them to enjoy this book. I don't play video games but my son does and this book actually gave me a lot of insight into everything from the designing to the marketing, all of which was presented in such a natural way, as part of the overall character development and story, that the story was still completely relatable.

Ultimately, this is a story about relationships - the ones that come easily and the ones that are incredibly complicated, the ones that we learn from and the ones where we become the teacher. It's about enduring friendships and characters with real flaws who are doing their best to navigate their way through life. At times hopeful and at others heartbreaking, it was a beautiful story - raw and real.

I just loved this book. A story of love and friendship that incidentally centers around the collaborative creative process that is game development. I honestly think it's my favorite thing that Zevin has written, and that's a pretty high bar when I look at some of her other works I've loved.

I'll post a longer review closer to publication. I plan to keep up intermittent social media coverage in the months before release.

I am admittedly not a video game person, yet this is one of the best books I've read in years! If anything I gained an appreciation of the craft that goes into creating a game as well as the marketing tools that fail to give the creators all the credit they deserve. Zevin captures college life in the 90s/ early 2000s with pitch perfect accuracy, right down to the Magic Eye posters.

This such a deep story of love and the friendships that endure against the backdrop of creative and technological growth. I loved these characters and never wanted it to end!

4.5 out of 5. This was a book I was not supposed to like. I do not like video games, I actually kind of dislike them. However this book got me hooked. It is not about gaming, it is a book about lives, relationships and what makes us whole. What our passions are and how life gets in the way for better or for worse. Life is a game and we are just players. two of my favorite quotes from the book stem from that:
And this is the truth of any game - it can only exist at the moment that it is being played. It is the same as being an actor. In the end all we can ever know is the game that was played in the only world that we know"
What is a game? .. its tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Its 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
<p>I loved the characters, i loved the supporting characters and the descriptions are so vivid they came alive in my head. I actually felt i know how the games were and again I don't even play games (save for my daily wordle and solitaire adventures)
Why doesn't it get a full 5 rating - it did go a bit long, the whole inside the game section at the end was a bit tedious and it just made me want to fast read. Also i wanted an epilogue - I want to know more! all this talk and we get an ambiguous ending. I admire the poetic beauty of it but tell me what happened!

one of those books where the characters are real; these lives feel lived. the details do not feel like they came from an imagination, too crisp and specific to be fiction and yet it is. a masterpiece.

I loved this book! Part videogame drama like Ready Player One, part romance, and part drama, I was captivated from the start and loved all the twists and turns. It was creative and captivating at the same time.

It is really hard to summarize on its face fiction story about a couple of a game designers but it’s so much more just like a game at has multiple levels. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and couldn’t wait to get back to it every single time. I really enjoy technology fiction and this sets among some of the best I’ve read. They were plot twists that I won’t give away, and I didn’t see those coming but that was enjoyable too. I can’t wait till this is out and I can buy it as a gift for people. Definitely worth reading.

#TomorrowandTomorrowandTomorrow #NetGalley

I loved this book - consumed it and consumed by it over the course of 4 days (would have been fewer if I hadn't had to live my life instead of immersing myself in theirs).

I requested an advanced copy of this book after having been almost equally swept up in the world of AJ Fikry in Zevin's previous novel. I'm sad that this book hasn't even officially published yet, as it means that the next world that Zevin creates is that much farther away from publishing.

This book is about characters who create worlds as game designers, but regrettably (am I projecting with this word choice?) also have to live in the real world. It is about friendship, secrets and vulnerability, and growing up.

This is a wonderful novel spanning three decades; great characterizations. Even though this was a long long novel, I was so involved in the lives of the characters. Sometimes they go years without talking to each other. Video games play a huge role.

Items at the beginning such as the Magic Eye pictures and the Glass Flowers are brought up again towards the end. There’s a great explanation for the title of the book “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.”

Many thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for introductions me to the author Zevin. I want to read her other book about A.J. Fikry.

4.5 Stars

It’s impossible to wrap up what this story is about in any one sentence since it is a story that covers several decades. It’s about childhood, betrayal, friendship, motivations and aspirations, alliance and cooperation, companionship and love, confidences shared as well as withheld, life-altering achievements, reinventing and/or reclaiming our lives, jealousy, and so much more. It’s also about video games and a friendship that begins when Sadie is young, and she and her mother are visiting her sister, Alice, who is in the hospital. She can’t imagine a world without Alice in it, she’s her favourite person. While visiting Alice, Sadie is encouraged by a nurse to visit the game room where she meets a boy who is playing Super Mario Bros., a boy, Sam, who, like her sister, is obviously a patient.

A friendship begins that day, and when her mother comes to find her, she sees Sadie visiting with Sam. On their way out, Sadie thanks the nurse for letting her know about the game room, mentioning she’d met Sam. On the drive home, her mother shares that the nurse had hoped that Sadie would return and spend time with Sam. It would help Sam, and also could be used toward her community service for her Bat Mitzvah in the coming year. Two birds…

And so Sadie goes to visit Sam the next day, and the days that followed. Sadie goes because she enjoys his company, and playing games with him. They each share stories about their lives, and over time, know everything there is to know. He taught her some things, and she taught him things, as well.

After a misunderstanding, they lose touch. Years later, at a subway station, a crowd has gathered, and Sam turns to see what they all seem to be collectively observing. That’s when he sees Sadie. He’d thought about this moment happening for years since they last saw or spoke to each other, wondering when she went off to MIT, and he to Harvard how long it would be before they ran into each other. He calls her name, surrounded by strangers, and calls it again, and then shouts out her full name in one last attempt, and she turns, smiling when she sees him. Before leaving, she hands him a disk with her email on it, a game she’s created.

Eventually, their friendship restored, the passion they share for gaming and for creating games is their focus, a partnership is formed, and their first game is a hit.

You don’t need to be a video game enthusiast to enjoy this. While this is, in part, about video games, it’s also about life, and finding the people, places and things that make the difficult parts of life less difficult, especially during difficult times, and the memories that remain.

Eight years ago next month, I read her The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, which I enjoyed. This is only the second story by her I’ve read, but this is one I’ll be thinking about for a while.


Pub Date: 05 Jul 2022

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group / Knopf

I am in awe of Gabrielle Zevin and the way she is able to create each of her novels out of whole cloth, each bearing no resemblance to the other, but each equally fascinating and delightful in their own way. TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW introduces us to Sam and Sadie, childhood friends who find each other once again as young adults. Together they create a fantastic video game, but when it comes time to take things to next level (pun intended) things begin to go awry. This novel is a deep exploration of friendship, love and how we show up for each other as adults. I loved every minute of it!

Who would have known a book titled after one of the most depressing lines in literature could be so utterly wonderful? I’m so glad I knew nothing about this book other than it’s by the same author of a favorite- The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. If I had known this was the story of two video gamers maybe in love but not dating…will they? won’t they? I would have NEVER picked this up, but I loved it so much.

The copy jacket states it’s a love story, but not one you’ve read before. I found this to be very true. And it’s definitely not a comedy. I don’t want to say anything about the plot, it’s best just to dive in…but I found this story to be propulsive, surprising, and simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming. It’s a tad long, but I completely devoured it.

Was this a bit sentimental? A few times, yes. But I didn’t care. Similarly to AJ Fikry, I was so completely swept up in the story that a little bit of over-sentimentality didn’t bother me (this is blurbed by John Green as one of the best things he’s ever read and that checks out). The only bad news I have is this isn’t out until July 😬 #teampreorder

I loved this book! A touching and heartfelt store of love and friendship between two gamers and nerds who traverse the gaming industry together after knowing each other since childhood. This book is so rich with thought-provoking themes from grief to race, mortality and beyond. The characters are very real and really resonate. My favorite book of the year so far, the kind of book where you cant stop thinking of people to recommend it to.

What a great story! I was very happy to have been able to read an advance copy and would like to share my thoughts about it. I truly loved the characters and the story. When I wasn't reading, I was worried about Sam and Sadie and Marx. They felt so real. I missed them when I wasn't with them.

Computer game design and friendship are the two main areas of focus for the story, but attention is also given to romantic relationships, education, chronic illness, and loss.

I appreciate the author's intelligence. Her vocabulary is tremendous and there were several instances in which I stopped to appreciate the perfection of a word or phrase. Very nicely done!

Whether or not you're a gamer (I'm not, except a little crushing of candies), if you enjoy a smartly written coming of age story of friendship you'll like this book as much as I did.

A book of friendships with love in its many forms, families made of love, not always DNA, physical and emotional disabilities, and resilience. I’ve just finished reading and I’m ready to start at the beginning again, like a gamer, because Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow needs to be read more than once. A beautifully written emotional journey spanning decades for Sadie, Sam and Marx, their many forms of love for each other and the world of gaming. I could not put this book down. The pivotal scene with Marx is brilliantly and poignantly written. After that the book seems to drag a bit, but all in all the book is a treasure.

When two kids, Sadie and Sam, meet in the hospital they become unlikely friends, bonding over video games as they passed the time. Their friendship and shared love would keep them in each other’s orbit for years.

Zevin’s The Storied Life of AJ Fikry is one of few books that brought me to tears and she has accomplished the same end with Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I loved these characters. I loved to read about their accomplishments and I loved to be infuriated by their actions. In the end, they were nothing but perfectly flawed humans.

This is the third book I’ve read by Zevin (The Storied Life of AJ Fikry & Young Jane Young being the first two) and each book is so incredibly different from the others, but equally amazing in its own right. Without a doubt, this will be on my favorites of 2022 list and it’s only March 🤗.

TaTaT takes us on the journey of Sadie (bonus points for the Jewish representation 🥰) & Sam’s friendship since the age of 12, when they first meet in the hospital, him a patient, her a visitor. In their college years, they decide to start a gaming company and this propels the rest of their future.

Upon finishing, I immediately discussed with @ashleyspivey & we both agreed that this amazing book was unlike anything we had read recently and truly amazing. This releases in July, so be sure to get your pre-orders in now, or request that your local library order you a copy!

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Kimberley Weaver's review Mar 20, 2022

I received a copy of from NG to review. The opinions are my own. I enjoyed AJ Fikry and was intrigued by the premise of this book. I was drawn in right from the beginning. It was such a unique tale of the ups and downs of friendships, video games, and the turn of the millenium. Sam and Sadie’s personal history and professional relationship were complicated, which translated well from start to finish. Sometimes the thrown in descriptive “big words” detracted but they stood out less as the book progressed. I highly recommend this book!

I'll try my best not to spoil the story. This book is about two teenage friends, Sam and Sadie. They both love video games and decide to create their own games and start their own company.
This book took me through an array of emotions. It's difficult not to become invested in the characters. I'm not a gamer, but the book made me wish I was. This book will bring some nostalgic value to us kids who grew up in the 90s! This is one of those books you will think about for many tomorrow's to come.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook of this title, received in exchange for an honest review.

I 5-starred the author’s The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry so I was thrilled when this popped up in my review shelf. Like Fikry, Tomorrow is about interestingly complex people leading interestingly complex lives, though here there is more heightened drama and there is a wistfully elegiac tone, particularly later in the book. There is a whiff of Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings as well, another book which I gave 5 stars to.

The spine of the novel is the relationship between Sam Masur and Sadie Green who meet in a hospital when 12 year-old Sam is there with a damaged foot that needs multiple surgeries and Sadie is visiting her sick sister. They immediately connect over videogames and, though there is a schism, they later reconnect as college freshmen, eventually becoming a hugely successful game designing team. The story moves fluidly backwards and forwards in time, from childhood through struggling studenthood, to success and post-success.

But this is not, of course, a novel about videogames, though clearly the author did her research, and I found the descriptions of the games that Sadie and Sam design to be quite fascinating. Rather this is a novel about imperfect people living in the real world. Games have “the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption” but IRL, failure cannot be resolved with a quick reset and divisions cannot always be repaired or fixed seamlessly. Mortality looms over Sadie and Sam’s lives but not the sort of brief and spectacular death you get in a game that can be quickly forgotten with a respawn. After all, as Sam thinks “the best thing about games is that they could be fairer than life….“The “unfair game” was life itself.”

I was thoroughly immersed in this world. I loved all the characters: their intelligence, their energy, their creativity, and their hidden longings. Even though Sam can be too oblique and Sadie can be too spiky, even though neither of them will say what they want or what they mean, I still loved them. There are secondary characters that I loved too: Dov, Marx, Bong Cha and Dong Kyun, Ant and Simon - all flawed, all vividly alive. And, as a sidenote, the characters are a whole range of ethnicities.

A couple of small grumbles. There’s a long detour into a role-playing game which perhaps feels a little misguided as it so blatantly reflects real life. Also the author has a game of her own, throwing in sesquipedalian words like “oneiric” and “kenophobia” which meant I had to keep stopping to look them up.

But these are only slight glitches in an otherwise flawless and highly readable world. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Simply delightful. It felt tender and real and I wish Sadie and Sam were real people I knew. It reminded me and gave me the same feels as Zevin's earlier work Margarettown. Full of complexities of the human experience.

This book blew me away! I was unable to but it down. Perfect, dazzlingly, very well written. The details the author described throughout the book was so amazing. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin

Zevin’s latest novel was a very satisfying immersive read. Sam Masur and Sadie Green are childhood friends who first meet playing video games on a children’s hospital ward. Little do they know that this is the beginning of what will prove to be a life long friendship. The story really takes off when they are reunited as adults. Sam is a disheartened lackluster math major at Harvard and Sadie a restless video game designer at MIT. By chance, while catching a train, they are run into one another. Sam is searching for his life’s true passion. Meanwhile, Sadie, as one of only a few female game designers, has something to prove. Together they find what they are looking for. Sam suspects he would be happier designing video games and soon convinces Sadie to take a risk. Their first game, Ichigo, launches their meteoric success. In the manner that art reflects life, in all its glory and imperfections, Sam and Sadie’s games reflect their lives’ preoccupations and personal struggles. Through their games they find meaning, comfort, connection, are broken and find healing.

Like all great fiction, Tomorrow explores universal themes that we can all connect with whether or not you are a gamer : coming of age, the many complicated facets of love and friendship, the creative process, racism, disability, violence and life’s big and small traumas. Tomorrow is a book for everyone, but it will be particularly meaningful and warmly nostalgic for the gaming generation. In her afterword, the author shares that both her parents are in computers and she, a lifelong gamer. One can feel her personal passion for gaming and that she is a gaming insider. Zevin seems to have hit a comfortable stride with Tomorrow, freed up to experiment with time line, playing with shifts in person, quoting Shakespeare and dabbling with world building. I was happy to be along for the ride.

Add it to your summer reading list - pub date 05 Jul 2022. Many thanks to @netgalley and @aaknopf for the gift of this digital ARC. It was a delight to read and will not soon be forgotten.

I think we all need a book like Gabriella Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow to remind us that even if we don't get what we want, life can be filled with joy and happiness. I am grateful to NetGalley and PenjguinRandomHouse for sharing an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book captured my heart by the end of the first chapter. Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green, a friend since childhood. Impulsively, he shouts out her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then she turns. A magnificent dance begins. A dance of romance and friendship, unimaginable success, and heartless betrayal. Spanning thirty years, this dance of love, loss and redemption carries us from the never-ending nightly work sessions on Boston campuses and dreams of dazzling success, to stark halls of corporate prosperity in California, as Sam and Sadie create a wildly successful video game which overnight changes their lives forever.

In the musical, Into the Woods, Stephen Sondhem writes:
Careful the wish you make
Wishes are children
Careful the path they take
Wishes come true
Not free

Sam and Sadie's wishes come true, but at a terrible price. But, like a video game, there is always another chance to play - to win or lose - another chance at redemption. There is always tomorrow.

A fresh story, eloquently told, with interesting well-rounded characters, nicely paced....a reader could hardly hope for more.

Every once in a while, you will read a book that touches you in a way that you were not prepared. Gabriella Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is such a book.

A well written story about friendship, love, betrayal, grief, oh, and video games, lots of video game references. Didn't really like the first couple of chapters, but once the story gets going, I was really invested in the characters. Stayed up way too late reading and picked it up first thing in the morning. Highly recommend!

I loved this exploration of friendship! It wasn't at all what I was expecting, but in the best way.

The references to gaming (although I'm not a gamer myself) were great and applicable to many other creative endeavors. I loved the changes in the relationship between Sam and Sadie. It was interesting without being too melodramatic.

Gabrielle Zevin is such a talented writer...I'll follow her anywhere.

I'm not a gamer, but I was still immersed in this story from the first chapter. It's definitely a contender for a top read of the year for me. I'm now planning to read all of the author's other books.