I was so excited to read this book, but it really wasn't a good experience.

With bland characters, pretentious writing, random pieces of dialogue and weird pacing, this made for such a bad experience. Not to mention that it felt like the author's pushing her own views and agenda through the mention of a 'place' that carries out genocide.

I really don't know why this was published because the story is not what it seems. Would not recommend.

Gabrielle Zevin's 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' spans a period of thirty years, telling the story of two childhood friends as they navigate their childhood, coming-of-age, and adulthood.

Sam and Sadie meet as children at a hospital in LA, bonding over a shared love for video games. Although they grow apart, they rekindle their friendship when both studying in Cambridge, MA, and start developing video games together, an endeavour that sees them go on a journey that takes them farther than they would have thought.

With dual protagonists, it is easy to take a liking to one character over the other, but Sam and Sadie are both likeable and flawed in their own ways and I could not decide with whom I identified, felt, or despaired more. Reminiscent of Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, albeit less depressing and sad, Zevin chronicles the lives of two characters whose lives cross several times, who move in and out of each other's orbits, and are linked by a deep (although not necessarily romantic) love. It would have been easy to construct a romance between Sam and Sadie, but I am glad the novel handled the situation as it did.

The title's line 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow' is taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth, fittingly also addressed in the novel, and hints at the narrative's underlying motif of time. The novel not only spans a period of thirty years, but Sadie and Sam's childhood in L.A., specifically the hospital Sam is treated in after a car accident and where Sadie's sister undergoes treatment for cancer, their coming-of-age during their University time in Cambridge, MA, and their adulthood after their return to LA to start their own video game company. The movement between these three stages of life is fluid, flashbacks giving insights into the childhood scenes, all paired with occasional game sequences that appear timeless. Time links Sam's and Sadie's pain, joint and individual, imagined and warranted, physical and psychological. Like a wave, it crushes over the characters and it is not always easy to get up to the surface for air again.

Zevin's writing style is accessible and even without being a gamer myself, I could follow and immerse myself in her descriptions of game design and gaming. Spanning such a long period of time, the novel seldom felt stuck in one scene, place, or period, and brought a dynamic to the novel that made it an engaging read. I've never had an interest in gaming, but Ichigo and Solution caught my interest and I would give them a go if they were available in real life.

The novel caught my interest before, during, and after reading, and will be a book I'll look back on tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. Even if you are not a gamer, this novel will appeal to you, although 1990s and early noughties gamers might find it even more charming due to the nostalgia of early gaming experiences and games.

Thank you to Knopf for the gifted ARC.

“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.”

Gabrielle Zevin blew me out of the water with her beautiful writing style in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. While there is a focus on video games, this is absolutely still a book to read if you’re not a gamer. I was fully immersed into this story through the friendships and deep emotions over the course of a journey with hardship, pain, success, vulnerability, grief, and rebirth. While this novel is slow-paced, it’s perfect for savoring such an incredible story. There were some parts that could have been edited down in my opinion (some of the beginning background info and the game immersion toward the end), but everything else in this book was absolute perfection.

At 12 years old, it feels like wunderkinds Sadie and Sam have known of each other forever. During Sam's extended hospitalization, proximity leads them to a friendship that will become the center of their lives for nearly thirty years. Their friendship is collaboration, understanding, love, and betrayal. It propels them to the highest highs and the deepest depths. Will their compulsion to play end or are they destined to collaborate?

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a story about our need to be understood and loved for who we are. Sam and Sadie struggle with their own insecurities and the injuries enacted by each other and the world around them. The story is compelling, the characters are nuanced but relateable, their traumas (as they refer to them near the end of the book) are heart-breaking, their growth realistic.

I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. I thought the premise was promising and loved the title for my connection to both Shakespeare and Hamilton, but thought it would be too "video gamey" for me. Almost instantly, I was drawn in by the rich characters and their experiences, both alike and unlike my own.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves books that tackle coming-of-age, friendship, love, loss, popular culture, and escapism.

Can we take a second to acknowledge this beautiful cover? I may need to buy a physical copy.

We meet Sam and Sadie as children, bonding over video games in a children's hospital. They reconnect while in college, deciding to work and play together to create a video game.
They, along with Sam's roommate Marx, create a little family, working together and looking out for each other. We then follow the ups and downs of their work and relationship for decades.

Though there's a bit of hopping around in time - a flashback scene to give context, a snippet of a future interview - I could fairly quickly place events in the timeline. If you're a big gaming fan, you'll love all the references, I'm only a casual gamer, but that didn't distract from the story.

The complex, real, raw friendships are the real focus of the story, against a backdrop of video games and their gaming company. I highlighted so many lines in this book because they were so relatable and rung so true.
I also appreciated having a MC with chronic pain and seeing how Sam struggled and worked through. My medical issues are very different from his, but I do deal with chronic pain and sometimes have to use a cane as well and it was nice to feel seen in that way.

I was looking forward to this book, but I have to say I enjoyed it way more than I expected. It tackles serious themes and had me tearing up, but also has fun and joy and love in all its forms.

No matter how bad the world gets, there will always be players and there will always be games.

This is a July @bookofthemonth pick and officially releases on Tuesday.

Thank you to @netgalley , @aaknopf and @gabriellezevin for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a masterful coming of age novel about the ups and downs of a deep friendship. The author does interesting things with the structure (changing perspectives, throwing you into a game, etc.) that really propel the plot forward. Every choice the author made was purposeful and it leaves the reader with much to think about mortality, what we do with our lives, and who we choose to spend life with. I couldn’t put this book down and I’ll be thinking of it for a long time!

I admit, I enjoy the story, but I'm putting it down. The words used to describe the characters and settings make me want to poke my eyeballs out. Not to mention every time Israel is mentioned !!! For a side character who shows up for such a small portion of what I read, I seriously didn't need Israel thrown in my face!!!!

I love Sam. He is amazing. Sadie is fascinating. The stark contrast between the two and their supposed relationship makes me want to continue reading.

But I don't really enjoy zionism so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead (20% through).

This novel has the potential to be the gamer-geek's literary LOTR.

Speaking as both a gamer and a writer, with kin and friends deeply embedded in the gaming industry, I found this novel an amazing read on multiple levels of complexity. Like the best video games, in fact, it can be read (played) through several difference lenses/levels of difficulty. There's the children of immigrants thread that winds through the whole, the Unfair Games' autobiographically-tinged rags to riches origin story, and the mixture of twenty-something relationships - friends, romances, sexual, even violent - plus Sam's physical disability story being subsumed by the character Ichigo while Sadie's psychological fragility is its own precarious quest mirrored into 'Both Sides', their next original game. Social tropes abound without being allowed to become preachy or take over from the unfolding quest for the perfect game.

My review is not in the least objective as I loved, deeply loved, this novel far beyond my ability to comment on the quality of writing or character development . Honestly, after the first tentative dip into Chapter One, every time I opened a new chapter I was quickly drawn into the spell, no matter how many days had passed since my last session.

If you enjoyed Erin Morgenstern's 'Starless Sea' and played the hell out of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, you'll find elements here to pull you into Sam and Sadie's world, with Marx as the helpful, if sometimes annoying, Navi character..

I'm very grateful for the e-ARC from Netgalley

“And what is love in the end? Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else’s journey through life?”

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was a compelling and incredibly frustrating book. We follow two childhood friends, Sam and Sadie, who grow up to become a hugely successful video game development team. Neither character is very likable; they’ve been through a lot of trauma (especially Sam) and these misfortunes have turned both characters into cynical people who seem to get a kick out of methodically belittling the people who care about them (especially each other). Sometimes unlikable characters are completely compelling and you love them despite the fact that you hate them. I did not feel this way about Sam or Sadie. Their frequent desire to make each other feel like hot garbage started to feel petty and annoying really fast.

The pacing of the story was great for the first half. Not too fast, not too slow. And then it started to peter out at about the halfway mark. Then, about 70% of the way in, the author threw in a plot point that I *REALLY* did not enjoy. I’m torn as to why I disliked this particular choice so much. It could be because it felt too close to real life and thus depressing as hell. It could also be because it felt completely unnecessary and as if the author threw it in as a way to drag the story on. Either way, I found it really difficult to push through to the end afterwards.

However, ultimately I’m glad I did push through. I found the ending to be satisfying and really quite beautiful. There finally seemed to be some mature character development happening with our two main characters and we were left with a bit of hope for their futures.

If you’re like me and you’re interested in picking up this book because it mentions video games, maybe read a bit more into it. While video games were incorporated and their presence prompted some interesting commentary on escapism, violence, and commercialism, this story is mostly about the many stages of friendship and how a multitude of outside forces can morph a friendship into something unrecognizable. I still think it’s worth checking out, just know what you’re getting into.

Also, trigger warnings for: death of a loved one, physical trauma, and gun violence.

Thanks to Knopf Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Gabrielle Zevin is a remarkable writer and I would read one of her doodles on a grocery list with avid interest, so I’m admittedly bringing a little bias to this review. Since her debut novel, the young adult classic Elsewhere, she inspires clear your schedule reading with her deft, intelligent grasp of the narrative materials forming the architecture of a novel, her distinctive voice, effortless canny dialogue, acutely etched settings, propulsive plots and most of all, her sheer originality and characters that move in and live with us long after the book has ended.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is no different, even though I had some trepidation when I learned that one of the main concepts of the story was gaming and the creation of video games. Nevertheless, I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a novel more on a subject that, at least until this book, has interested me less. Being incredibly inept at playing almost any video game, my mantra and motto was “I’d rather be reading,” and it still is mostly, but Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is the best of both these worlds, or more aptly, of many of them.

The players/characters/creators are Sam, Sadie, and Marx, though the original childhood friendship that ignites their bond is of Sam and Sadie, who meet at a hospital where Sadie’s sister has been diagnosed with leukemia, and isolated withdrawn Sam is recovering from a horrific automobile accident that has entirely crushed his foot and changed his life. Sam and Sadie form a tenuous friendship (at least on the surface, though Sadie is secretly logging community service hours at her temple for the time she spends with Sam), and one that is based on the thrills and escapism of Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt and other trending video games. Their special connection deepens and thrives until Sam discovers Sadie’s deception, a betrayal which levels their friendship and on the occasions, when they run into each other at the smart kids science fairs and programs, it is never the same. Or is it?

Years later when they meet by chance again, at Harvard Square, Sadie is enrolled at MIT and attempting to realize her dream of becoming a video game designer in a field then (and still) dominated by men and as risky as trying to navigate a game board riddled with chauvinistic wormholes, tricks, and snares. Her professor/mentor/lover is sadistic, domineering, and… mildly encouraging, at least enough to keep Sadie trapped in an increasingly abusive relationship. Sam is marginally mobile on his still mangled foot and just scraping on a math scholarship with aptitude but little passion for it and almost no money left for living expenses. He does not want to burden his doting Korean grandparents for help, and survives largely on the largess and kindness of his wealthy charismatic roommate, Marx. Striking Marx is an aspiring actor who is Japanese and Korean, and whose childhood memories of Japan are also shaped by his ambiguous status, as well as his inability to get leading actor roles. Neither Sam or Sadie are likeable all the time; Marx always is, which adds to the tang of the story

A simple summary of the plot would be how Sam and Sadie under the management of Marx begin designing their own video games and launch their own highly successful company and how this enterprise changes all of them, but this would be doing the storyline a great disservice. We learn about game designers who transmute their hopes, phobias, dreams, worst fears, secret fantasies, and buried memories into something unique, gorgeous, and addictively playable. There are so many big themes in this novel: the mercurial bonds of very intense long friendships (and the usually messy dynamic of three close friends, especially when a professional collaboration is added to the mix), the many levels and timelines of grief, the rationalizations and long reach of betrayal, and the unequaled high of the creative process. It’s also a book about being an outsider through gender, race, culture, nationality, and disability, and how the scars and humiliations and sometimes the joys of childhood and young adulthood can fold into the often painful, enthralling process of making art and finding one’s voice. Especially intriguing are the detailed descriptions of the games that Sam and Sadie create-from the journey of a preverbal child lost at sea to a parallel world experienced by a hospitalized teen. And logophiles (word lovers) will also find a lot to relish here; Zevin’s confidence as an author and surety of tone packs a multitude of riches.

The story jumps around in timeline, which may initially be off putting, but like a well designed game, it adds layers of complexity and enjoyment. And Zevin is a very good storyteller, so much that you feel irritated when you have interrupt the book to attend to your own puny needs like food and sleep, etc. Recommended for those who live to game and those who know nothing about gaming, and everyone in between. Yes that’s you too.

Just about midway through the year, I can guarantee that this will be one of my top 3 reads of the year if not the very best.

I loved the previous work from the author and was looking forward to this one. Needless to say, the wait was worth it. The author plays around with the conventional structure of a novel and succeeds brilliantly. The characters, both primary and secondary, are very well fleshed out and the story. You root for them, you get frustrated with their choices and you also understand why they did what they did.

This is a heavy book and packs a lot in the 400 odd pages. To describe it as a love story is selling it short. It is that and much much more. For any good story, it's not the destination but the journey that is the real reward. Suffice it to say, the author makes this journey an amazing one!

I am glad to have been able to get my hands on this.

What a fantastic and unique book! I have quite literally never played a video game in my life, and yet I adored this book. It's about video games, but so much more. It's about life, the ups and downs, relationships and how those ebb and flow. It's about what is important to each other and how we each change over time. I love this book and will be buying a hard copy of it!

Their story is about three super-smart youngsters who bond through their shared passion for video games and their friendship with one another. In the middle of their student careers at Harvard and MIT, Sam Masur notices Sadie Green in a packed Boston metro station and yells, "SADIE MIRANDA GREEN. The cause of your death was dissent, and now you're dead. In the children's ward of a hospital where Sam was slowly and incompletely recovering from a traumatic injury and where Sadie was secretly racking up community service hours by spending time with him, they spent hundreds of hours playing "Oregon Trail" and other games, a fact which caused the rift that has separated them until now. They come to the conclusion that they still enjoy gaming, and before long they are spending the summer in Sam's roommate's apartment, the handsome, affluent acting student Marx Watanabe, writing a game that is sure to become renowned. For decades, the trio works together with Marx as the third corner of their triangle, and exciting events unfold in both the real world and the digital world of Hollywood and the Internet. Zevin, a gamer for as long as she can remember, has finally written the book she was always meant to write: a comprehensive ode to the gaming experience. Here is an excerpt that sets the stage for the professor Sadie is having an affair with and his graphic engine: "Dov Mizrah, age 28, headed up the seminar. Dead Sea was an underwater zombie adventure, originally for PC, for which he had invented a groundbreaking graphics engine, Ulysses, to render photorealistic light and shadow in water. Dov was famous for his mane of dark, curly hair, wearing tight leather pants to gaming conventions, and the game. Zevin's infectious enthusiasm for her characters, their attributes, and their endeavors lends an aura of magic to the whole operation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the DRC!

I knew I was going to love this book just based on the description, and the reading experience exceeded my expectations. The story starts with a bittersweet reunion where Sam "Mazer" Masur tries to get Sadie Green's attention on a train platform, calling upon an old in-joke from their past to get her to turn around. The story immediately launches into a narrative pattern alternating between past and present, getting the reader to dive deeper and deeper beneath the surface each time the story switches. Sam and Sadie's forays into video game development, and the different stages of their careers as designers, artists, and storytellers, provide a strong framework for the rest of the story to fill in with weighty events and ideas.

The novel isn't about just "one thing" but about many: about the tension between creativity and capitalism; about the bigotry in every industry, from higher education to tech start-ups; about the dangers of developing an individual mythology; about intimacy; about violence in video games; about violence in reality; about the nature of play. On my first read-through (of what I'm sure will be many), what struck me about this book was the way it managed to elevate the intensely personal with perennial, big-picture topics.

I love playing video games, and I'm sure that much of my pleasure derived from my recent fixations on video game history and storytelling. And yet, the callbacks and easter eggs of video game lore were just flavor text on an already rich story. Sadie and Sam's history, and the various side characters who populate their lives and propel their stories forward, reached out from the page and hooked me. The novel manages to mirror characteristics of some of the best video games: creating a world and a set of characters so immersive that it demands your undivided attention.

This book chronicles Sadie and Sam and their tumultuous relationship. Despite the humorous inclusion of a variety of cultural flashbacks and more video game references that I could ever possibly know, it really comes down to this being the story of two people who really care for each other but have learned to be protective of themselves. This is seen in how they react to each other and those around them. The book is easily divided in to two halves and I am not sure if the audience is the same for both halves; however, the reader couldn't be as engaged for the second half if the first half weren't there to set the stage. The first is heavy in video gaming, young college life, and learning about what makes Sam and Sadie bond. The second half focuses on the two and those around them after they have become successful. The second half is much more emotional, in my opinion, and personal. Not that there wasn't still gaming and programming going on, but instead of it being the focus of the story it was moved to a somewhat supporting role as the characters took over center stage. I do not think a reader needs to know anything about gaming to enjoy this book. I do not think this would turn off someone who doesn't like romance. This fits perfectly in that niche of quality character development in a unique and interesting story.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a book that is meant to be read again, and again, again. Zevin tells the story of childhood best friends Sam and Sadie. They meet as tweens in a hospital in Los Angeles and they are united by their love of video games. Their friendship ends abruptly due to a misunderstanding and they are reunited 10 years later in 1995 at a Boston train station. Sadie is one of few female students at MIT and Sam is studying at Harvard. Their friendship blossoms once again and they decide to temporarily quit college and create video games together. Their creative partnership's first game is a major success and their passion becomes their career. Sadie and Sam are the best of friends, but they are not a romantic couple. Communicating their feelings to each other is not their strong suit. The plot itself is like a video game that allows Sam and Sadie to travel multiple paths. All of the characters are interesting and relatable. Life, like video games, is about the choices we make. However do overs do not come as readily in reality.

I really loved this story. I’m not a gamer, but I was a woman in tech in the 80’s and 90’s, and so much of this book rings true for me. Sadie, Sam and Marx feel like people I might have known and loved. The book is set in Boston, New York and LA, not cities I know well, but as we drive the freeways with Sam, ride the T with Sadie, or walk the streets with Marx, Zevin makes the cities come alive with specific details. The love stories at the center of the book are heart-breaking and wonderful.

Lately, all the mess of our current world seems to have flooded into my reading life as well. Mass shootings and all. This book has a dystopian “feel” at times, but mostly it’s about humans and how they tend to each other even in the midst of trauma and tragedy.

I didn’t always enjoy this book despite it being a quick and easy read, but it definitely took up space in my psyche. I’m sure I’ll continue to think about it for a while.

The last 5% of this book shone brightest for me. The protagonist discusses the generation following her own and the differing values and approaches both in work and in life. She observes that personal traumas are shared more and even used by those who followed her own generation who more often hid vulnerabilities. It’s fascinating to hear millennials analyze and critique Gen Z! As a Gen Xer, who professionally works closely with many younger people, I nodded my head in agreement. I also nodded when the protagonist states she doesn’t like making such broad generalizations. I don’t either. I do very much admire the generations that have followed my own “latchkey raise yourself “ unremarkable generation.

Much in this book is one or two steps removed from my own experience. An abiding friendship grows from a shared love of gaming. I barely know what gaming is, and have no curiosity to know more about it, so that part I had to imagine is just as the author portrays it.

Beneath all of the gaming are some very real traumas and some authentic and caring friendships. I loved how Sadie develops as a character and matures in her view of Sam. In fact, almost every character “grows up” and becomes more self aware. You can’t help but root for the friendship between Sadie and Sam. As grandpa Dong notes. there is a lot of love in this book.

You have heard the saying, "life is like a box of chocolates." Author Gabrielle Zevin would say, "life is like a video game," with the hope that one can press "restart game" when relationships don't work as expected. This was the case with Sam and Sadie. A video game brought them together in a hospital, as children, when Sam was recuperating from an automobile accident and Sadie was visiting her sick sister. As adults, their friendship, and love of gaming evolved into a partnership to create video games. Along the way to success, they had to navigate various relationships. In videos games, and in life, you have to make choices. But, it's only in a game, can you get another life. I give this book 5 stars for it's unique and engaging story. Best book I have read so far this year!

I've been thinking about how to review this book and have just landed on this: imagine if A LITTLE LIFE and READY PLAYER ONE had a baby. And there you have it. I've contemplated just leaving that there, because it pretty much speaks for itself but I can't and this will likely be the longest review I've ever written about a book lol.

This is not action-packed like READY PLAYER ONE. But it is about video games, and also like RPO, you don't have to be a gamer or even like them to enjoy this. The 80s/90s nostalgia is also strong and so much fun.

This is not nearly as emotionally difficult or traumatizing as A LITTLE LIFE (the characters here are only about a third as traumatized as our friends in ALL). But I haven't read characters that feel as real and lovable and flawed as Sam and Sadie since I read A LITTLE LIFE.

Zevin drew these characters so well that I loved them and got frustrated with them and wanted to scream at them - but not in a way that felt contrived or even intentional - it felt REAL. They felt like real people, flawed and lovable just like everyone in my real life that I love. She also did an amazing job of teaching me (someone who does not game at all) so much about building and playing video games, but in a way that was fun and felt special.

The form of this book is also super interesting - switching POVs, being dropped into other worlds, etc. Sometimes that annoys me and takes me out of the book. Not here. Here, it works and I loved it because it felt a little messy - just like life.

I don't know how to end this other than to say read this book. It's about games but it's really about relationships and love and friendship and life. It's one I'll be purchasing and re-reading for sure, because I feel like Zevin played a game with me here - that there are Easter eggs I missed or different things I need to take from this book.