This was a fascinating read! I loved the story of Sadie and Sam. The story jumps around in time so we slowly learn more and more about them and their relationship. As I read this, I found myself going through so many emotions! It's a story that will make you laugh, cry, feel angry, and happy. It had me all over the place!

This is a great story, and I highly recommend it!

Happy publication day! I finished this awhile ago and forgot to rate. This is a beautiful and moving story of creative people and friendship with a really cozy and lovely vibe, and was pleased that it felt fully accessible for people who aren't into gaming I connected with the themes of complex platonic connection, disability, random violence and forgiveness and recommended this to all my friends. Can't wait to see the movie <3

I don't think I could have loved this book more, and it's going to stay with me for a long time. I loved how complicated the dynamics were between the main characters, and how flawed and lovable they were at the same time. Yes, it's a book about video games...and work, and love over the span of thirty years. But mostly, it's a book about friendship. And, it's one of the best I've read this year.

I am a product of the 80s and child of the 90s. I grew up playing Organ Trail, Mario Bros, Duck Hunt and several of the other games mentioned early on in the book … but that is where my video game plying and knowledge ends.

Never did I think I would end up reading a book centered around best friends gaming and building games. But it was such a good addition to my pool days last weekend. I was invested in Sadie and Sam. Their bond that started out as kids, faulted on rocky ground, only to be reestablished when they were in college.

This book is like nothing I have read before. Zevin brings you into the world of creating video games and the art that it really is. She breaches lots of topics. She shows love and friendship in all forms. And even though I felt out of my league reading some of this, I was still captivated. The book was longgggg but it didn’t stop me from reading and wanting the best for these characters.

I never would have thought I would read a book about video games....but as many advance reviews have noted, it's not really about video games. The world of creating and developing video games is the backdrop, but ultimately its a story of friendship. What happens to a life-long friendship when love, ego and fame implode the friendship?

Sadie and Sam meet in a hospital activity room and bond over video games. They become fast friends and then have a falling out that prevents them from speaking for eight years.,. until a chance encounter at college. We follow them through the relentless grind of making their debut video game and meteoric rocket to fame.

Sam, Sadie and their partner/producer Marx were such interesting characters. The author was so thorough with back story and flashbacks it became clear what motivated their actions and reactions. I loved the relationships, not just between these three characters, but their families as well.

What I didn't love:
I thought it was a bit long and dragged at times. There was an abrupt shift in the narrative that took me a minute to catch up and catch on, but perhaps that was more a me issue than an author one! I did not notice this at all in her previous novels, but there was a tendency to use very obscure words, when multiple other options were more clear. I started highlighting every time I had to look up a word and I can usually infer meaning from the context.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and while I know have immense respect for what is involved in creating a vide game, I still have no desire to play one. I will stick with books.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow started off really strong for me. I loved the friendships and the story of how their video game business came to be. About half way through I lost interest. Even though it felt fresh, it just felt so long. This is a case of "this just wasn't the right book for me". I can absolutely see why others would adore this one. If Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow sound the least bit intriguing, I recommend giving it a try.

A huge “thank you” to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the ability to devour this ARC

Sadie and Sam are besties that bond over gaming while Sam is recovering from an injury in the hospital where Sadie’s sister is being treated. Years later, they reunite on the east coast and begin spitballing ideas about games and ultimately become partners in development.

This story was rich in character development, relationship building, and the arts including literature and theatre. The vocabulary was voracious; it had me looking up words with decent regularity (which is usually not needed). Video game lore is built throughout this book and would engage even the more reluctant reader. It was nostalgic to those of us who played Oregon Trail and died of dysentery and snake bites, spoke to those of us who quested alongside Link.

This book was absolutely fantastic and will remain in my thoughts for a very long time.

The story in this novel follows the lives and/or the friendship of Sadie and Sam, who meet one day in a hospital and become friends over a video game sessions. Sam learns that Sadie was using their time together to fulfill a community volunteer requirement and he refuses to see her. Years later when the two are in college, Sam sees Sadie again. They reunite to work on creating a video game. This will lead to years of friendship, success, failure, conflict, and heartbreak. Sam's best friend and roommate, along with Sadie's professor and on/off boyfriend both are key players in Sam and Sadie's lives. Throughout all of this, Sam also deals with a disability that influences his interactions with others.

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I read the letter at the beginning of the book from the editor. The video game aspect did not interest me, but the idea of Sam and Sadie did. I decided to give it a try. There were parts of the book that I skipped over. These were those that focused heavily on gaming or programming, however, I don't think that there were many of those moments.

I think Sam was a relatable character. He had a disability, which he allowed to hinder himself in terms of his personal relationships. When he started creating the first game with Sadie, he started coming alive and once they were a success, he felt comfortable and he finally felt seen. He felt he was not just his disability. I know that throughout the book, Sadie always considered Sam to be selfish. I feel that Sadie was the most selfish character of all. I wanted Sam to see that yet the author had me hanging on until the end to see if he would.

My favorite character of all was Marx. There was no person better in the book for Sam. Sadie definitely did not deserve him. If this book was to be about love and loss, then Marx is the heart of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf DoubleDay Publishing for this advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a timeline hopping, character driven novel that focuses on the gaming world. While you do not have to have knowledge or interest in the gaming world to enjoy it is the core of the story. If you enjoy slow burn, character driven novels this is perfect.

🎇 Fireworks Book Review 🎆

First of all, thank you to @netgalley and @knopfdoubleday for the eARC of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Secondly, I want to thank my son for taking a video of this one firework last night during my husband’s own private show at the farm. 🧨💥🎇🎆

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the story of Sadie and Sam. Sadie’s older sister has cancer and while she is trying to pass the time in the hospital she meets Sam. Sam was involved in a horrific accident and hasn’t spoken to anyone in weeks. The two children start up a conversation over a game of Super Mario Brothers.

The nurses find out and request Sadie keep coming to the hospital long after her sister goes home, to help in Sam’s recovery. Sadie’s mother likens it to a community service for her to complete.

So begins the lifelong friendship of these two days extremely intelligent people. The two create a wildly popular video game that brings them together and tears them apart. 🎮

Sidenote: I played Commander Keen as a young child and that video game is referenced in this book!! First time I’ve ever seen it referred to ANYWHERE!!

It’s interesting how two people can be so perfectly in tune with each other, yet not. The relationship that Sam and Sadie have is so deeply intimate mentally, but the two get so angry with each other that they can go years where one refuses to talk to the other.

Their relationship is fascinating and I couldn’t stop reading to find out what happened next. I highly, highly enjoyed this one and recommend you picking it up TOMORROW, July 5.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

QOTD: What’s your favorite holiday?

AOTD: Thanksgiving! My husband loves Christmas, but Independence Day is his true favorite because FIREWORKS! Both of my kiddos love Christmas the most.
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#tomorrowandtomorrowandtomorrow #netgalley #knopf #bookreview #bookrecommendation #fireworks #readersofinstagram #readersgonnaread

A wonderfully engrossing, coming of age story about two people who meet due to a common interest in video games. This is a chronicle of their triumphs, trials, and tribulations throughout the years as they develop games and run a game development company. Underneath it all is an enduring friendship. This is the best, most creatively told story I’ve read this year. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review an advance copy of this book.

This story touched some deep places in me. "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" is a story about long-term friendships, the process of creativity, and the reality of living with chronic pain. All three of these topics are close to my heart, so the story meant a lot to me. I know absolutely nothing about video games, but the book isn't really about that - and I learned some cool things about a new-to-me industry! The characters and their motivations felt real and I had to keep reading to find out how their story played out. Unfortunately, language and sexual content diminished the reading experience for me, in what was an otherwise 4-5 star book. I have a feeling these characters and their story are going to stick with me for a long time.

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

Dear Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,
You were so big and epic in your scope. I knew, being the wife of a gamer, there would be things in your story that only gamers can appreciate. Those parts were such fun. Watching the evolution of games and their design through Sadie and Sam and Marx's eyes was so interesting. You were a historical fiction of that period in history. But at your heart, you were also a character study. Discovering how these three vastly different people could come together, could love each other, and hate each other was fascinating. The simple fact that none of them ever gave up on each other and thought the best of each other (usually) was a testament to the strength of friendship. I also liked how you turned the concept of self perception on its head. We all have versions of ourselves, and it can be impossible to see outside of that. Being able to see Sam through Sadie's eyes deepened my appreciation for who he was and the pain he kept inside. Seeing Sadie through Sam's eyes showed how lovely she was, even though she found it impossible to love herself. Forgiveness is key in each of their relationships with each other.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a coming of age story about, friendship, love, trauma, work and video games. Sadie and Sam meet in a children’s hospital and become friends while playing video games. They run into each other at train station in Massachusetts after not seeing each other for some years. When Sadie, as an after thought passes a disc containing a game she created to Sam before they part ways to get his opinion on, he takes the opportunity to give her feed back and asks her if she would like create a game with her. This is where the story really begins.
Growing up in the eighties and nineties, I really enjoyed the nostalgia of the video games that are referenced through the book. I thought Gabrielle did an excellent job with the twists and turns the story takes. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow shows the difficulties of growing up and adulting. You don’t need to love video games to enjoy this book. At times the book felt a little long especially toward the end but over all it was an enjoyable reading experience with characters that I enjoyed being with.

WOW, this book 😍.

Things I loved:
- All the video game references. I grew up playing video games and they’ve been in my life consistently up until now (I mostly watch Marc play while I’m reading 😂) and I LOVED all of it. The Oregon Trail comments were wonderful.
- The writing was beautiful. I loved how the author used so many different formats, changed character POV’s, there’s a chapter with Marx that was fantastically written. Also, one section was written as game play and that was so cool.
- This book isn’t just about video games, so don’t be deterred if that’s not your thing. The characters and the story are amazing.

A critique:
- Some areas of this book felt a little long, and I think could have been trimmed. Like sometimes I was completely sucked in, and others I felt were dragging along and I was wondering where the story was going.

Overall, this is a recommend from me. A really enjoyable read. It’s out tomorrow, July 5! 📚

*I’d also recommend The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by this author. I read it a couple years ago and enjoyed that as well!

4.5 starts
A story that spans the lifetime of two friends - from young childhood through middle-age, adulthood. Sadie and Sam's stories are at times uplifting and at other times utterly sad and devastating. But throughout the entire book, Zevin keeps it real! No sugar coating, no sappy unbelievable moments, no tidy red bows.
I thought the story of the lives of the characters and the world of gaming was masterfully woven....especially in THE PIONEERS. Full of moments of nostalgia - most readers will be taken back to a time that existed in their own childhoods. The characters and the story are relatable on so many levels. A love based on a true friendship with someone is truly a rare thing.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

This book took me back to my early twenties when my friends were more my family than my birth family. It's a story about love, friendship, creativity, tragedy, pain, sacrifice and betrayal. This is a book that has to be read and re-read in order to really understand it. It needs to be read carefully since it moves back and forth between past and present.

At the root of it, there are three friends who are obsessed with playing, analyzing, and creating games. Two of the friends meet in their early teens - one is a boy recovering from an accident that required extensive surgery on his foot and ankle and the other is a girl who visits him but who also keeps a log of her visits for school credit - something that he doesn't know about until much later. The fact that she kept the log makes him re-examine their past. Was she really his friend back then? She came from a rich family and he didn't.

When they went to different colleges, they meet another boy obsessed with games and game making and the three of them end up forming their own company. I fell in love with Sam, Sadie and Marx. This is one of the best books I've ever read, and I recommend it to anyone who struggled with identify, growing up, feeling accepted, or who experienced jealousy and unrequited love.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher Knopf through NetGalley, and voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions expressed here are mine.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a brilliant homage to not only the world of gaming but of life-changing friendships and different types of love experienced throughout one's life. It's a creative, artistic, captivating character-driven gem of a novel that I can honestly say is one of the best books that I've read all year. I adore Gabrielle Zevin's writings--The Storied Life of AJ Fikry is one of my most beloved reads and I really enjoyed Young Jane Young--so I had a feeling going into this book that I would love it.

I'm not a gamer other than several months spent relentlessly playing Sims 3 while stuck on strict pregnancy bedrest a decade ago, but my husband and sons are huge gamers, so I've been around while they play and talk nonstop to each other about the gaming world (cluelessly listening all the while). Yet you don't need to have anything in common with Sam and Sadie, the two childhood friends and gamers who grow up and become colleagues and designers of several famous, groundbreaking games, to fall in love with Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. The characters and the issues they face are completely relatable--we've all dealt with growing up, friendship, losses of some kind or another, grief, pain, family relationships, dreams, ambition, misunderstanding, and sacrifice; Zevin layers these issues throughout the novel effortlessly, with references to gaming intertwined.

References to Macbeth, starting with the allusion to Macbeth's famous "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." soliloquy found in the title, were also magically, tragically sprinkled throughout the book, and once I realized that, especially once a tragedy happened towards the end of the book that had me weeping, I appreciated, even more, the sheer artistry and talent of Zevin in creating this oh so special book. I expected to love it, but I didn't expect to fall in love with it as much as I did--I'm not sure if any book I'll read in 2022 will top its place in my heart. Highly, highly recommended.

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow starts our with 2 kids meeting in a children’s hospital bonding over Mario Brothers.
They reconnect in college and begin a life-long friendship/collaboration designing video games.

I loved the beginning of this book, but my interest waned by the middle. It’s possible that if I was more interested in video games I would have found the plot more absorbing. Although the plot picked up again towards the end, I couldn’t find my way back into this one.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is definitely going to be one of my favorite books of 2022. Alternating between heartwarming and heartbreaking, it’s a beautiful book about friendship and the messiness (and hope) of life.

For you if: You like books that follow characters and their relationships across decades.

FULL REVIEW:

When John Green (who may not write in my usual genres, but is an incredible person) says an upcoming novel is “one of the best books [he’s] ever read,” you read it. I did not know this was a rule in my life before I heard about Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, but I’m glad I followed it nonetheless; it’s absolutely going to be one of my favorites of the year and a book I recommend to everyone.

You will hear this about T&T&T many times: that while the plot involves video games, it’s not really about video games. (Although if you do like video games, you’ll probably love this even more than I did.) It’s one of those novels that follows a handful of characters (two friends, Sam and Sadie, childhood best friends who go into business making video games together) and their relationship across decades (30 years, in this case). It’s about friendship and love and loss and hope and coming of age and the way life hurts but also gives us so much.

This book is alternatively heartwarming and heartbreaking, with two main (and several secondary) characters who are both deeply lovable and also very flawed and frustrating. You know how sometimes characters are so good that they stay in the back of your mind 24/7, even after you’ve put a book down or finished it? Sam, Sadie, and Sam’s college roommate Marx did that to me. I laughed and cried (def cried) and cheered for them and wanted to shake them and by the end, found that I loved them very much.

I won’t tell you how the book gets its title, because I think it arrives at exactly the right moment and makes everything this book is about just click. But take my word for it: it’s a perfect title. And you’ll be glad you read this book.



CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Gun violence (explicit); Death and grief; Homophobia; Drug use and alcohol; Toxic/borderline abusive relationship; Abortion (minor); Suicide (minor)