Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

by Gabrielle Zevin

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Sam and Sadie—two college friends, often in love, but never lovers—become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It is a love story, but not one you have read before.

"Delightful and absorbing." —The New York Times • "Utterly brilliant." —John Green
 
One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, GoodReads, Oprah Daily

From the best-selling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom.

These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.

Reviewed by Quirky Cat on

5 of 5 stars

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Wow. Wow! Suppose you have ever found yourself wanting to read a love letter to video game history merged with the intricacies of human nature. In that case, you must read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Written by Gabrielle Zevin, this is not a book that pulls punches.

Sadie Green and Sam Masur have a very long and complex history. It's hard to define their relationship. They seemed to be friends at times, such as when they were children. At other times it almost felt like they were advisories.

Individually they are both extremely intelligent and creative. But together? Together they can create fantastic worlds. Worlds that fans will stand in line to buy, waiting on that next memorable experience.

“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?”

Words cannot describe how deeply Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow hit me. This novel is everything, and even then, that feels too bland of a statement. You must read this novel if you love video games (and their history), character-driven plots, and deeply emotional plots.

What really hit me is how complex Sadie and Sam's relationship is. Thanks to the description, I knew it wouldn't be smooth sailing. But as with many things in life, that description didn't even scratch the surface. It was the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. There are countless bumps on the road that is their relationship. Given how many there are, the odds are good that readers will find themselves resonating with at least one of these events. They're very human, even when drawn out to certain extremes.

“But it is worth noting that to be good at something is not quite the same as loving it.”

To put it simply, the relationship between Sadie and Sam is the foundation for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Yet it isn't the only part of this story, as it is a love note to the whole video game history. There are so many hat tips and references. Yet they're all done with a sense of reverence. They lack the flippant handling that I've expected, based on other famous examples of this type of storytelling. It's the missing piece I hadn't realized I'd been looking for.

It's been a while since I read a novel that moved me to tears (not counting the conclusion of the series, as those always get me). It's been even longer since a story blindsided me with those tears. Yet Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow gets an award for making me cry on multiple occasions. It dug into my soul and forced me to experience every emotion alongside the characters.

What I'm trying to say is that Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is very much a worthwhile read. Once again, I hope we'll see a (faithful) adaptation of a book I am in love with. I want to know how this one would look with a big Hollywood budget.

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  • Started reading
  • 1 October, 2022: Finished reading
  • 1 October, 2022: Reviewed