Oh heavens, I really adored this book. It's rare for me to be frustrated and annoyed by a protagonist while still rooting for them & being engaged by the story, but that was absolutely the case here (with Sam). My husband is an avid gamer & I have never fully been able to understand the pull of the activity, but after reading this book, I find myself second-guessing my antipathy towards it. This is a beautiful story about love and friendship and art and skill and hurting people you love on purpose and also hurting them not on purpose, and about the way that game play is metaphor for real life, but in a totally not cheesy way. Hope this one gets the movie treatment!

A delightful surprise. I'm so glad this came recommended to me, because it's not something I would have been drawn to otherwise. I loved how long this book followed Sam and Sadie. I loved getting their different perspectives on the same events. I loved Marx, what a character. I found I had enough knowledge of video games to pick up on quite a few of the references, but I can't imagine how cool this book would be as a real gamer.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
By Gabrielle Zevin
Gabrielle Zevin has written, again, (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is another favorite of mine) the kind of book I hated to finish and can’t wait to talk with someone about. Wonderful, complicated characters that I loved dearly, and a smart, contemporary world that understands the influences of technology on not only the people who play video games as youth, but on anyone who ever tried to control a character with a joystick. Sam, Sadie, and Marx are all college kids when they decide to create their first video game. Sam is a poor, orphaned and disabled, multicultural character, Sadie, a wealthy Jewish girl who is one of the few who not only understands programming, but it’s possibilities, and Marx is Sam’s also multicultural, well off, kind roommate. The three of them are perfect counterparts, playing off each other’s strengths and weaknesses and creating something magnificent. Tragedy, romance, and real life are their motivations, and they use each to find their own way to adulthood.
The writing is beautiful, and though it’s been years since I played a video game, this book reminds me of the way alternative, virtual worlds, can open possibilities to everyone. I love this book and this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the review copy. The book published on July 5, 2022.

I received an ARC of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow from Knopf Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

There’s a scene in the Mike Mills’ film 20th Century Women in which the characters are having a conversation about The Raincoats. One character claims they’re not very good, to which another character replies: “It’s really interesting what happens when your passion is bigger than the tools you have to deal with it. It creates this energy that’s raw.” If that sentiment were to manifest as a novel, it would be Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which is a sort of throwback to a kind of literary fiction that largely doesn’t exist anymore (if it ever did). It’s a story that is big and bold and beautiful—and unabashedly nerdy; a story that is intimate in scope but epic in theme and structure; a story that inhabits the liminal spaces of genre in a way that will generate disinterest or discomfort in many readers. But the difference between The Raincoats and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is that the latter is very, very, very good.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow follows Sam Masur and Sadie Green, two friends who begin making video games together. In the aftermath of the initial success, their relationship fractures along the fault lines of gender and disability as they diverge in creative design and their reaction to fame, and as they navigate the relationship between platonic and romantic love. I don’t often fall for fictional characters the way I fell for Sam and Sadie. Even when they made mistakes, or when I was upset with something they did or how they treated each other, I always understood what had driven them to their decisions and could relate or sympathize, even when I didn’t agree. They are human in all the best and worst ways. What more could you ask for?

The supporting cast, too, is an embarrassment of riches, ranging from charismatic charmers to scumbags you love to hate (even if there are characters in the novel who hate to love them). It’s a diverse group of people who populate this book—characters of different races and genders and sexual orientations, characters who are disabled, characters of different ages and cultures and religions, and every aspect of their identities contributes to the crucible that defines a central thesis of the novel: learning how to love someone requires interaction, in much the same way that learning how to play a game requires engaging with its systems and finding out how they fit together. Zevin handles all of this with a delicate but deliberate touch, allowing her to illuminate the injustices upon which our world is constructed without descending into didacticism.

Sam provides the book with another thesis: “There is no more intimate act than play, even sex,” and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow offers up a convincing defense of that assertion. The relationship between Sam and Sadie is never reduced to romance, but I can’t remember the last time I read about a pair of characters who had so much chemistry. Even though they spend much of the novel angry at one another, the love they have for each other saturates every page, and at no point did their deep and complex friendship strike me as anything other than genuine. I want more stories about platonic love—that’s a drum I’ve been beating for a long time, and will never stop beating—and this book delivers, and delivers, and delivers. Hallelujah!

Let’s talk about video games. The game development aspect of this novel has generated an amount of hubbub I find somewhat baffling (even my ARC started off with a strangely defensive note expressing a variation of “You don’t need to be a gamer to enjoy this book!”). I am a gamer. I love games. I feel strongly that gaming, in the past decade, has far surpassed every other form of artistic media in its ability to develop empathy, showcase fresh perspectives, and construct engaging narratives. “Thankful” is not a strong enough word to express how grateful I am for a major work of literary fiction in which games feature prominently and without shame. This is all to say that I can never know what it’s like to experience this story as someone who isn’t a gamer.

That said, I found everything related to gaming to be the weakest part of the novel. Zevin goes out of her way to explain gaming concepts and terminology, but she makes these things so clear from context that they become redundant and ultimately don’t benefit anyone. I also struggled a bit with the fictional games made by Sam and Sadie and their relationship to the real games that are also referenced throughout the book. I think it’s safe to say that what the characters do in this novel would have fundamentally altered the trajectory of gaming history, and I don’t blame Zevin for not wanting to open up that can of worms—at the end of the day, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is about Sam and Sadie, not the games they make—but I have to admit that it still contributed to a small but notable amount of friction that I felt while reading. (There are, at least, a few fun winks that will give gamers a chuckle; even though it doesn’t make sense within the context of the book, I laughed at a reference to Gore Verbinski’s dead-in-the-water BioShock movie.)

This is an audaciously structured novel. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow reinvents itself over and over, telling its story in such a way that it reflects the games Sam and Sadie are making, and although the result is messy in some ways (fuzzy around the edges might be a better way to put it), it more than makes up for it in raw energy. This is live-wire storytelling, a shock to the system that literary fiction isn’t often capable of, and it makes the book feel invigorating without coming at the cost of immersion. And this is indeed an immersive novel: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow activated the same part of my brain that is activated by the best epic fantasy—the sense of a seamless fictional world that I’m visiting not for the story, but just to be there.

Thank goodness for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Thank goodness books like this exist. Although not without its shortcomings—the most prominent of which being its insistence on bending over backward to explain video games, even when those explanations are clear from context—Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow swept me away like few novels can or do. It has no tolerance for the baffling and backwards idea that games don’t belong in the conversation (you know, The Conversation™) that dictates “canonical” artistic media, and its characters stole my heart in the way only truly great characters can: because they’re messy, because they make mistakes, because they’re human. I loved every page of this big, bold, beautiful book. I hope you do too.

Infinite restarts in life just as in games. A love letter to gamers, but this book is so much more than that. Its complex and compelling with muti-faceted main characters as well as supporting characters, relationships, friendships, and subcultures. Their stories unfold and intertwine throughout the book spanning over decades. As in games there are key players in your life who play important roles, whether it be for a small passage of time or a lifetime, all players roles are important. Gabrielle Zevin's strong character development, word-building, complex real-life themes, relatable and flawed characters built this beautiful novel.

Sam Masur and Sadie Green might be my new favorite fictional ... relationship? Friendship? Partnership? Read the book to find out more.. This book chronicles their relationship over decades. They meet as children, have a falling out, reconnect in college and make incredible video games together. Both brilliant, creative, and driven, their relationship is not easy, but it is meaningful. This is a poignant, thought-provoking book told from multiple points of view. The story explores different types of relationships and their value and impact (friend, co-creators, lovers, partners, how do we decide which relationships are most valuable or impactful?) While Sadie and Sam's relationship is a through line of the book, it's also really interesting to dive deeper into the world of video games from the early 90's to present. There are other characters that add depth and perspective to the book. I loved it and am planning on recommending it to friends that I know will enjoy it. San]m and Sadie and their journey together will stay with me.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy. All opinions are my own.

I didn't know what the expect going into Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, but all I can say is that I was blown away.

This story follows Sam and Sadie (and others) over decades as they navigate friendship, love, success/failure, adulthood, and forgiveness. It is truly a quintessential character-driven novel that gives you all the feels. I was immediately intrigued after reading the Goodreads synopsis that stated, "Yes, it's a love story, but it is not one that you have read before." I completely agree with that.

I'd recommend this to readers that enjoy more character-development over plots and stories that span over lengths of time.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for an advanced ebook in exchange for an honest review. Tomorrow X3 is out now, so what are ya waiting for?

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a book about video games, and friendship, and, in some ways loss.
I liked the first third of the book a lot, but it kind of went downhill from there. Although overall I liked the book, it felt like the author was trying to check all of the diversity boxes but not address them in depth. I also had a really hard time liking Sam, and felt his possessiveness of Sadie was...creepy. Overall 3.5 stars.

A good read that seemed a little long by the end but was initially very smart, readable, and interesting.

This is the best book I've read this year and probably in my top ten of all time. The writing is beautiful and nowI want to read everything by Gabrielle Zevin!

Really great story. I have not read Zevin before, but I look forward to more. I loved the characters and was touched by each of them. I loved the cleverness of well-read authors and appreciate the reference to Shakespeare even though I haven't read much from him. I also loved the look behind video game design. I don't play much, but it's so interesting that it starts with story telling.

This is the tale of two people, who forged a friendship that spans throughout their lives. Sam first meets Sadie when she is volunteering at the hospital where he is a patient. As sometimes happens, they part ways, and reconnect later and go through the trials & tribulations of longtime friendship. Reunited, they collaborate to create a video game, which brings them instant fame, stardom, and fortune, and all that goes along with that. It is a love story between friends, and the struggles of identity, depression, fame, failure, weakness, and disability. At times, I struggled to maintain interest, as it isn't within my typical genre and found some details irrelevant to the rest of the story, but overall, I thought it was such a unique read. Thanks to the author, publisher, & NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC!

This was our book club pick for September. We all agreed that it brought us out of our comfort zone and we were glad we read it. We talked about how the characters were very relatable and seemed more like real people than some other books. I thought I wouldn’t like all the video game talk but we agreed that it wasn’t that bad. This was such a departure from The Storied Life of AJ Fickry (one of my all time favorites). Her writing in this book was also very good, there were a lot of words that we had to look up though. Overall we found the ending moved very slow and the book could have been 100 pages shorter. I can definitely understand why this book is so loved, but for me it just doesn’t compare to AJ Fickry. Would I recommend this book? Yes. To the right kind of reader for it.

What this book offered was a beautiful friendship between Sam and Sadie. It was beautiful to see their relationship blossom and grow through video games and how much they really meant to each of them! They are like any friends with conflicts along the way.

What I don't get is why everyone raves over this book. I just didn't love it all that much. I'm not a huge gamer, or a gamer for that matter, and I don't think you need to be a gamer to appreciate this book, but I found it a bit boring and underwhelming and slow in general. Perhaps it was because of all the hype that was built up for the book, that I expected great things? Perhaps it was because the author is well loved from her previous book? I just don't really get why the popularity. I'm okay being the anomaly in this case-not all books speak the same to all readers.

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the complimentary e-copy of this book.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Review
What an interesting story! I’ve never read anything like this book before.

It follows the unique and somehow ordinary lives of a few different characters from childhood to adulthood. It’s a novel about love, friendship, and hardship. Sam and Sadie team up to create a video game together while they're in college, and little do they know this shared dream will set the course of their lives, tying them together for better or for worst.

The author's voice in this novel is so special, taking us from character to character and video game worlds to other alternate realities. This book was good, heavy at times, but an intriguing story all the way through. I will say this book won’t resonate with everyone, but if you are in the mood for the unique subject matter and flawed characters, then this might be the read for you.

I found myself incredibly conflicted by this book - mainly because it has great reviews and keeps being recommended to me! The first half was gripping and interesting and I really enjoyed the character development. But by the second half, it felt a little ground hogs-y. It could easily have been 100 pages shorter. Love her style of writing though!

hoo boy, did i love this book.

while i am not exactly a gamer, i dabble & am definitely gamer-adjacent so i gravitate toward this milieu eg: Ready Player One.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is infinitely better than RP1 though. it's sadder, more complex and better written. the character aren't stock; they are so incredibly specific yet made transparent by the pacing & writing.

i have already recommended it to friends.

Sam and Sadie met in a hospital- he was recovering from a horrific accident and she was there while her sister went through chemo. They become friends over a love of gaming. The book follows them as they grow up- sometimes friends, sometimes estranged, but always tied together by their mutual passion of designing games. This is a slow look at how relationships change and grow over the years and was full of lovely writing.

Although the storyline is based around the world of gaming, this book is not about gaming. It's about a long lasting friendship between two people from age 11/12 - mid 30's. It's about loving your best friend flaws and all. It's about forgiveness.
The best part of the book was the way it was narrated. It is narrated by the author with the story told in multiple POVs. Each POV giving flashbacks and history on each character's past to better understand why they are who they are in the present.
I know absolutely nothing about the gaming world, but to me, I thoroughly enjoyed this book b/c although the gaming world is what brought the characters together, it is not the main focus. The characters lives, friendships, and love for each other is what the story is really about.

This book will definitely be on my bookshelves in my store. I highly recommend.

DNF for me. Just wasn’t my type of story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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So after hearing all the buzz about this book and having a favorite bookstagrammer rave about it, I decided to give this one a try again. And I did end up enjoying it.

I actually loved the first half of it, as we learned about Sam and Sadie and their past and to hear about the video games they developed. Marx was comic relief when needed, but also the glue that tied them all together.

But then the book just started to drag. It really needed to have some cuts made to help the story move along through the middle where it just sludged by.

The last hundred pages or so were tough to read but were good. I liked the semi-resolution of the story, it gave hope to what was to come for our characters.

Overall, I'd say 3.5 stars. If it hadn't slowed down in the middle, I'd probably give it 4.5.