This book was a joy to read. The prose was hauntingly eloquent. At its heart, this is a coming-of-age story that will touch you in unexpected ways. Hands down the best book I read so far this year.
For a brief period of time, in their grade school years, Sam and Sadie are best friends. They connect over their love of video games and then have a falling out. Years later, a chance meeting when they are in college reunites them. They, along with Sam’s college roommate, form a software company and a friendship that will be the most rewarding thing and the most hurtful thing in their entire lives.
It has been a long time since a book touched me this deeply. I felt like I was peeling away layer upon layer of text to reach the core of these characters that I fell in love with. This is not one of those books that you can read quickly and then jump right into the next. Definitely no fluff here. The story is subtle and yet also complex. It is life and the characters felt as real as any I have ever encountered.
This is the perfect book for fans of A Gentleman in Moscow and A Man Called Ove. I have already recommended this one to my friends and a highly recommend it to you!
I received a free copy from the published, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review. For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my book blog at www.thespineview.com.

Sadie and Sam have been friends since there were young, but a falling out meant they hadn’t spoken in years. When the two reconnect in college, they start designing and creating video games together, starting them on a lifelong path of working together. Told over their lives, Tx3 is a complicated love story.

This is such a unique and special book. I don’t really want to say much more because I think it’s best to not have many expectations when you start. Just know that the writing is spot on, the characters are fully fleshed out and great, and the story might just pull on your heartstrings.

Tx3 is so complex. I definitely think there’s something for everyone in this novel.

I think this novel is going to go become an immediate modern classic. Or at least I hope it becomes one! Seeped in nostalgia, it’s a riveting portrayal of two smart misfits – Sam and Sadie – who first meet in hospital games room and bond over a shared love of video games. The book follows their friendship over the next thirty years or so whilst they attend university, have affairs, make mistakes, argue, fall in and out of love with each other and other people and, crucially, design video games together. However, it’s so much more than a story about a friendship (or video games). It’s about art, creativity, nostalgia, grief, jealousy, race, belonging, appropriation, disability and much more. It reminds me of a more millennial (and more playful) version of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, but crossed with the romance of David Nicholls’ One Day or When Harry Met Sally and the tech-start-up origin story of The Social Network.

Zevin structures the chapters around the video games Sadie and Sam create, using them as pivotal marking posts around which the rest of their worlds rotate. These games are inventive, intriguing and playfully rendered. This novel is a clear love letter to technology and the art of video game design, but this is never off-putting to anyone not familiar with that world. Zevin clearly has a high regard for gaming culture and history and although she peppers the text with a lot of tech-terminology and late 90s/early 2000s pop-culture references, it’s always done in an incredibly accessible way. Indeed, there’s a certain wistfulness and hopefulness that digital worlds can provide something we lack in our current lives, provide an escapist balm or create a digital utopia which corrects real-world social injustices.

Like her characters, Zevin has built an incredibly charming and immersive world. From the first page the characters draw you in and the reader is taken through every step of Sam and Sadie’s turbulent but irresistible relationship and experiences the same highs and lows. Whilst romantic in tone, this book is not about romance – or if it is, it’s about the romance of creativity and hard work. It’s layered and textually rich. It jumps between Sam and Sadie re-uniting at university, the time they first meet at hospital and even their lives before they meet. It manages to be sweet but not saccharine, intelligent but not geeky, complex, moving and profound. I mourned the characters before I’d even finished the last page and will be recommending it to everyone I know.

I was not surprised to read that the film rights to this book have been won in a competitive auction by Paramount Pictures. This book is so unique and I think will make an amazing film. It is the Great American Novel for the Gen X and Gen Y generations- born at a time when our formative years covered the flip from the analogue world to the digital.

With thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to review.

A beautifully written story, with so many well developed and relatable characters. I think at its heart, this is a book about friendship, about love, about the many ways that we are shaped by what we go through and by the people that we love and that love us. I loved the authors use of language and the way that I was pulled into the story right from the beginning. This is definitely a character story, and I found these characters well worth the time I spent with them. I think if you’ve ever felt different or alone or misunderstood, if you’ve ever struggled to find your place in the world, you will enjoy this novel. One I will recommend to others and that I would read again!

When you're old, like me, you don't expect to follow middle-aged peoples' passions because you raised them so you know there's just stuff not shared between generations. One of those things is gaming. I've watched people get really passionate about the games they're playing and, frankly, wanted to yawn in their face. I do not see the appeal. But, knowing this was going to be the spine of the story, I was ready for that and factored my indifference out of the story's appeal.
<blockquote>Sadie had often reflected that sex and video games had a great deal in common. There were certain objectives that needed to be met. There were certain rules that shouldn't be broken. There was a correct combination of movements—button mashes, joystick pivots, keystrokes, commands—that made the whole thing work or not work. There was a pleasure to knowing you had played the game correctly and a release that came when you reached the next level. To be good at sex was to be good at the game of sex.</blockquote>
What we're left with is the childhood friend, I think most of us have had one, whose idea of a good time marches well with our own and whose ability to connect with our quiet places makes them invaluable and necessary companions. This is not to say they're romantic-partner material, and in some odd way I think that romantic facet, if present, actually works against this sort of long-term companionship. The relationship that Sam and Sadie take with them through their lives is that companionably silent, creatively clicking connection. It's a wonderful thing to find and, mirabile dictu, Author Zevin makes the force of it real, present, and never overplays her hand with it. A tremendously admirable and no doubt difficult achievement.
<blockquote>Why was it so hard for him to say he loved her even when she said it to him? He knew he loved her. People who felt far less for each other said "love" all the time, and it didn't mean a thing. And maybe that was the point. He more than loved Sadie Green. There needed to be another word for it.

–and–

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. It is the dog putting its mouth around your hand and never biting down. To play requires trust and love.</blockquote>
The hardest thing to admit to yourself is that you're the Bad Guy in someone else's fairy tale of life and love. Someone out there thinks of you with acute hurt and badly wounded feelings. Sam and Sadie are that to each other, as well as companionable besties. It's complicated, and it wouldn't do to spend time spoilering it, but suffice to say that the ability to betray, then to forgive yourself and seek forgiveness from the betrayed, is another very difficult thing to present in any believable way in fiction. Author Zevin does that, too.
<blockquote>"We work through our pain. That's what we do. We put the pain into the work, and the work becomes better. But you have to participate. You have to talk to me. You can't ignore me and our company and everything that came before."</blockquote>
It's a story about the depths of devotion to an idea, an ideal, and a cause in service of one's burning passion to make and be more than one is. It's a story about Love being, in the end, enough to make even failure less important. It's a story about Sam and Sadie making a life with each other: even though not spouses, they're necessary in each others' world because...well, because.
<blockquote>“I thought you were worried I was going to die," Sam said.

"No. You'll never die. And if you ever died, I'd just start the game again," Sadie said.

"Sam's dead. Put another quarter in the machine."

"Go back to the save point. Keep playing, and we'll win eventually.”</blockquote>
There it is, in that brief passage. That is what some connections offer, and what some of us luck into once or twice in a lifetime. It's precious beyond price and it's the heart of this loving story of the messy, cruel, angry thing we call life.

Why, then, have I given the read a mere four stars? Because I am, as noted above, old. It is not a story written for me, and so I am not as invested in it as I would be if I were 42 not 62. I expect that others will love the delicate and intricate love among all three main protagonists without the sense I had of being spoken around at the dinner table. It's a fate, like bed-wetting, that comes around again after being left behind in childhood. Hence the lack of a fifth, or fraction of a fifth, star. Still a story I'd encourage you to read. (With an agèd person caveat.)

Just WOW. This book is ‘10’ with no caveats. Drop-dead-gorgeous writing, a complex platonic love story between two, no three, friends, and it made me care deeply about a subject I had no interest in (video games.) Through all the ups and downs with these characters, and a rollercoaster of emotions, this novel spoke so beautifully on friendship, craft, passion and pain (both emotional and physical) and I was truly blown away. Best book I’ve read in a really long time. Loved it completely.

I received a complimentary electronic ARC of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow from Netgalley, author Gabriella Zevin, and publisher Knopf Publishing Group. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am pleased to recommend Gabrielle Zevin to friends and family. She writes a fine tale with humor and enough detail for us to respect game makers without overwhelming us with facts. The characters are personable and the story

I have my own personal Gabbie, the granddaughter of my best friend, who wrote her first game program before her tenth birthday. This Gabrielle Zevin will teach you to respect the art involved, and the necessary knowledge such a task requires, as well. When my kids were small we got them a Nintendo - and my talents lie there, with Duck Hunt and Mario Brothers, but I do appreciate the talent involved in the making of my husband's Xbox games as well as the entertainment Perhaps I will get out my Wee occasionally for more than the exercise program. But I don't think I will like anything as much as I did Duck Hunt. That dog....

Wow, this book is amazing. You don't have to be a gamer to enjoy the reading experience, but might have more insight into some of the references if you are.
Sam and Sadie meet as young kids in a hospital and become fast friends. They have a falling out and eventually meet again years later while in college. They reignite their friendship and end up starting a business together creating video games. The novel stretches across thirty years and travels from coast-to-coast of the United States. Themes include love, business, family, disability, and more. Highly recommend!
Listened to the audiobook and read print.

Discussed on Episode 160 of the Book Cougars podcast.
https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2022/episode160

Sadie meets Sam in the mid-1980s when they are both twelve-years-old. Her sister is in the hospital receiving treatment for leukemia and while she waits, a nurse invites her to pass her time in the hospital game room. Sitting and playing Mario Cart is Sam Mauser, who has been in and out of the hospital following a devastating car crash that killed his mother and irreparably damaged his foot. Sam is withdrawn and depressed, but playing with Sadie day after day draws him out of his shell, and the two develop a friendship based on their love of video games as well as their creativity. Six years later, they both move to Cambridge, Massachusetts for college - Sadie to MIT and Sam to Harvard. A chance encounter at the train station draws them back together, and Sam, noticing Sadie’s own depression, invites her to make a video game with him and his roommate Marx during the summer between their junior and senior years. The game they create becomes an overnight success, launching the three of them onto an illustrious career path of creative partnership. However, their decades long success does not come without its challenges. While the gaming world allows for one to create whatever world they want and reboot it at will, Sadie and Sam must grapple with the contrasts between fantasy and the unfairness and hardships associated with reality.

I was skeptical when I picked up this book because not only do I not play video games, I also know nothing about them. And while this is absolutely a book about video games and the artistic process behind them, the video games are just the backdrop for a much larger story about friendship, growing up, reinvention, and grief. It takes an author with incredible skill to be able to craft such a sweeping yet intimate story with fully formed and complicated characters. I do not have a negative thing to say about this book, contrary to what I think is an overly critical review in the New York Times. It is one of those rare novels that transports you to someplace new while also connecting you with a universal story.

As someone who hasn't played many video games (although I've been in the room while plenty are being played) I wasn't sure if this book would work for me. But the development of the characters over the years, that both endeared me & frustrated me, as real people over the years do, truly won me over. I loved seeing the thread of writing the stories of video games and creating games play into these long-term relationships. I don't think you need to love video games to enjoy this book, but you do have to be willing to hear about them. For me, this was much more about the creative process, loss & showing up in relationships. This book both won and broke my heart in good ways.

Trigger warning: gun violence

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a fantastic novel about life, love, death and video games. This book has been on a couple of best of 2022 book list and it has made my top 5 list of 2022. The story is about how two college kids start a video game company and put their heart and souls in to each game, that can sometimes mirror their own lives. This book will make you respect the art, countless hours, and detail that go into to making a video game. I'm not a big video game player I did happen to play some of the ones mentioned, and I know next to nothing about coding and I was never lost in the narrative and actually more curious to how a gaming engine works. The book as much as it is about video games it's about relationships, and forming a community that understands them. This book takes risk my putting the character's in a video game when they cannot communicate any other way. This book is a n emotional ride with some general heartbreak. One of my hands down favorite novels is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, which is about life, love, death, war, and comic books. Which are easily comparable to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow since both are accessible to the main reading audience, are tearjerker with great characters and elevate the art form of their subjects video games and comics. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow had it's film right purchased by paramount to be made into a movie which I would very much like to see. I read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin thanks to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is published on July 5th 2022.

Plot Summary: Sam 12 has been in a serious car accident that killed his mother. To get through his mother’s death he plays video games alone. Sadie 12 is in the hospital visiting her teenage sister as she is treated for Leukemia. Sadie needs a break and finds Sam playing video games she watches for a while then they trade and start a conversation. A nurse sees this and talks to Sadie. Sadie is shocked to find out she is the only person Sam has talked to six months after the accident. The nurse asked her to do a community service and spend time with Sam. Sadie who needs so many hours of community service for something anyway agrees, but a real friendship takes place. Sam finds out he was a community service and shuts her out until years later Sadie and Sam will not meet again at college, when their love of video games is fully realized and they should make games together. They form and make an international video game company, but can their friendship survive.

What I Liked: With me not being that big of a video game player, reading this book and coming away with not just an understanding of video games but respecting the art and story a whole lot more. I might have changed the way that I now play video games concentrating on the art a whole lot more now. The story and characters are very relatable. I love the story within a story about the games and how they relate to the characters lives. This novel made me very emotional at times. I love the cleverness of the within the game chapter, it was very effective. The characters are sometimes frustrating and man did I get mad at them an there sucky communication skills and how they both handle anger, but a thrill to watch them grow and get better and become the same but at the same time different people. I love all the pop culture references especially the Matrix / Ghost in the Shell conversation, the Donkey Kong tie and what it hides. I loved how the title came from Macbeth and how that fit in with the novel so well.

What I Disliked: The cover art is so bad for what this book is, I feel like so many people will not read it or hesitate because of it, I know I did when selecting it. The cover does have relevance to the story, but the novel is so visual it needed more. The pace of the novel was not always the best there are a couple of moments where it takes the reader a second to get to the point of what your reading. I will say that every side story did have a point but some did take a while to get there.

Recommendations: Please read this great book!! The story is incredible the writing is really good, so many quotable lines ( I would list a few but not line quotes is the deal I make when I read an advanced reader's copy). I already told you how much this book reminded me of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon but another one it reminded me of is the AMC TV show Halt and Catch Fire, if you liked either of these then you will love this book. The beauty of this book is you don't have to know anything about video games to love and read it, but if you do then you will love it more. I rated Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 5 out of 5 stars. This is my first book by Gabrielle Zevin but I plan to check out The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, which is supposed to be just as good.

I truly don’t know where to start this review because I loved this book so much. It was tender, honest, and these characters will grip you from the very beginning.

Speaking of characters, I haven’t stopped thinking about Sam, Sadie, and Marx since finishing almost two weeks ago. Sam and Sadie first meet in a hospital when they are younger and bond over a video game, and then reconnect years later to create their own.

If you’re nervous about the fact that this book is heavily about video games, don’t be. You don’t have to be a fan to still absolutely love this book. I actually really enjoyed this aspect of the book, but this is about so much more than video games.

It’s about friendship.

It’s about forgiveness.

It’s about loving someone so much you sometimes hurt them.

It’s about deeply flawed individuals trying to take life one day at a time.

I loved how developed all of the characters were - including Sam’s precious grandparents. I can’t say enough about how impactful the characters were.

This is my first book by @gabriellezevin, but another thing that completely captivated me was her writing and how at times the style would change and drop you right into the heart of a video game. But it works. So so well.

5 ⭐️ and most likely one of my top 5 of the year, predicting it now!

I absolutely adored this. In the same way that Ender’s Game made me nostalgic for pop culture and a time period that wasn’t my childhood but felt like it could’ve been, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow made me feel some type of way about video games and nostalgic for an era that I was born in but didn’t quite grow up in (but wish I had).

The characters are excellent. They are all imperfect, they’re gritty, they’re real. They could be your friends! They’re brilliant, and brilliantly written. Their relationships are complex; they ebb and flow. They grow and change and make mistakes. They fall apart and come back together. It was messy, it was beautifully written, it was unexpected at times, and it was an altogether magical book. I won’t say too much because everyone should experience this for themselves.

5/5 wholehearted stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An epic Gen X friendship unfolds over three decades of support, missteps, pain, collaboration, and restarts. Gabrielle Zevin (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry) has given us a compelling, beautifully written, complex story about knowing and being known; about personal, emotional, and social survival; about the transition of a pre-digital world into a digital one; about story and play and vulnerability and trauma and context — all unfolding in the surprisingly Shakespearean world of game development.

It's a love story - but not what you think. It's the ever-present love between two friends who create video games together, the ups and downs of their friendship, their individual struggles, and just the right amount of GenX nostalgia.

I fell in love with the two main characters right away. It's a novel premise, but an age-old story. Perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Ready Player One.

I was genuinely excited to read a book about the inner lives of game developers, their dramas, their relationships, etc. And it started out with a lot of promise: The fateful meeting of like-minded creatives who were clearly going to make something unique and wonderful in the gaming world. But after their first initial success it became somewhat of a slog to finish. The two main characters, Sam and Sadie, were pretty insufferable at times, I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to finish their story. But, finish it I did and in the end I mostly just wondered: Who is this book for? It’s about gaming but lacks the excitement and visual artistry of gaming. It’s got a lot of interpersonal drama, but readers of that genre probably will be turned off by all the gaming references and the industry talk. It’s like this book wants to be a high brow Ready Player One, but the two things just don’t quite mesh. It’s an interesting idea but not enough to compel me as a reader.

Zevin once again weaves a story of life through time. This book had an interesting connection of video game creation that tied all the characters together. I will continue to read anything this author writes!

As children, Sam Masur and Sadie Green met under the most unfortunate of circumstances- Sam in the hospital from a horrific car accident, Sadie there visiting her sick sister. One day Sadie and Sam cross paths, seemingly bonding over their mutual love for gaming. For a preoccupied Sadie this meeting is fleeting, but for a bedridden Sam, the meeting is everything. The hospital staff notices a marked difference in Sam’s behavior after meeting Sadie, so they ask her to continue to visit him as a community service of sorts. Sam, however, doesn’t know about the arrangement.

And the game begins.

Although they drift apart as children, it quickly becomes clear to the reader that they were destined to meet. As the story unfolds, we visit with Sam and Sadie in different points in their lives. As teens in the 90s, they could never know the influence they would have on the gaming world, or on each other. Opposites in many ways, their love for gaming is what keeps them connected. Spanning decades, we see the evolution of their Lennon and McCartney like relationship, set amidst the backdrop of the ever evolving world of technology and video games.

If you were a gamer in the nineties, or even if you love books that deep dive into video game culture, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow might really resonate with you. In the beginning of this story I was drawn in by the Super Mario, Frogger, Duck Hunt references. Heck, even the Magic Eye stuff got me (although it brought back memories of not being able to see the images despite my best efforts). In a nutshell, as someone who played video games in the nineties and loved the likes of books like Ready Player One, I am, in many ways, this book’s core audience.

And yet…I had a hard time connecting with this story. At times, I think the literary aspect of this seemed too drawn out and unnecessarily verbose for my tastes. In the first half I nearly DNF’ed because I found myself equal parts confused and bored. The second half, however, grabbed my interest again. I suppose this is not unlike a video game itself. Some levels are really exciting, others you struggle to get past.

For the most part I’ve seen rave reviews about this book, so I suggest taking the controller in your own hands before forfeiting this game completely.

📚Book Review📚
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Genre: contemporary fiction
CW: gun violence, suicide, death, toxic relationship, drug use, abortion, cancer, cultural appropriation
Thank you @netgalley and @aaknopf for the digital ARC. I loved it so much I had to buy a physical copy immediately.

Obviously, you have seen this book making the rounds on the internet and know that everyone is loving it. Ashley Spivey put this one on my radar early which prompted me to request it on @netgalley. It is incredible.

This book is beautifully written. We see the characters grow, mature, learn some of life’s hard lessons, experience heartbreak, thrive, and go through everything else life has to offer. I honestly cannot express why this book is so good - it’s just a feeling. As I discussed briefly with a fellow reader, it’s a vibe. And I am here for it.

I’m already looking forward to discussing this book with my book club in September!

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was a slow but interesting book. I really enjoyed the ever-changing story of the friendship between Sam, Sadie, and Marx. I thought the book did a good job of giving each of the characters a lot of depth and backstory, as well as portrayed a very realistic look at friendships that span decades. We've all had relationships in our lives that ebb and flow, and change over the years - sometimes you grow together, other times you grow apart. This book delves into that beautifully, and shows how important it can be to fight for those relationships that mean the most to us.

I also enjoyed some of the throwbacks to Oregon Trail, Donkey Kong and other 90's pop culture references. It definitely made it easier to relate to for me. I also loved the descriptions of the games they created - I felt they were described well enough that I could get a clear picture in my mind of what it would be like to play those games.

That said, the focus on games and gaming is extensive and may not be for everyone. If you have never taken an interest in video games, I think it may be a bit boring for you at points. For the most part, I did not mind it, but also grew up in the era of games being referenced in the book. For those of you that love gaming or have always had an interest in the behind-the-scenes of the gaming world, I'd expect that you'll really enjoy it!

I also found the timeline to jump around quite a bit without blatantly letting the reader know it was jumping to a different time (this was an ARC, so I'm not sure if the finished copy is the same in that respect). I had a friend ask if it would be a good one to listen to on audio, and honestly, unless the audio version lets the listener know about the changes in timeline, I think it could be quite confusing. Just something to keep in mind if you are consider the audio (to be clear, I have NOT listened to it and am only reviewing the ebook at this point).

I'd probably rate the overall book as a 3 star (which in my rating system, means I liked it), but I'd rate the friendship plotline as a 4 (I REALLY liked it), bringing my overall rating to 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.