I struggled with this story. I feel like I spent more time looking up definitions than really immersing myself in the story. I'm all for learning new words but they didn't really flow, it felt forced most of the time. Overall though the story was good, I just can't stand being yanked out of the zone like that so many times.

Although I'm still amused with the word grok, that's a fun one.

I'm a bit torn about this book. As a whole, I think it's beautiful. The story of the friendship between Sam and Sadie is so tender and sweet, despite the highs and lows, that it pulls the book through the toll of the boring parts. The gaming stuff--the boring stuff TO ME--just slogged.

I'm not a 'gamer'. I never was into it. I played Oregon Trail like everyone else, but I preferred and still prefer books. We had a family computer, but I choose to read rather than spend time playing games. We never had a video game console, my sisters and I played with Barbies. So allllllll of that stuff was just lost on me. HOWEVER, Sam and Sadie's passion for their games, that wasn't lost. I understand it.

It's a lovely book overall, but I do think it reads a bit younger than I prefer to read. It's just...not that deep.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a beautiful novel about two childhood friends, Sam Masur and Sadie Green, who initially bond over video games but then become estranged after a misunderstanding. Years later, they find each other by chance at a train station across the country and their friendship resumes; this time, in addition to playing video games, they begin collaborating to create them, changing the course of their lives forever. As their careers take off and other people join their endeavors, they must navigate love and friendship, healing and growth, always wondering what might have been. Told in both current time and flashbacks, relationships (among Sam and Sadie and best friend Marx in particular) are the central focus, and video games are a close second. You don’t have to be a gamer to appreciate this one. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

Ever read a book where you wish the story didn't end? Where you could visit the characters everyday and say hello? That's this book by Gabrielle Zevin - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

"Sadie and Sam meet as children in a hospital. Her sister is being treated for cancer and he is recovering from a horrible automobile accident that also killed his mother. They form a connection over their mutual love of gaming.
Years later they bump into each other in Boston. Sam is an Harvard student and Sadie is at MIT. They decide to build a game together. It brings them fame and money and the opportunity to make the games they want.
But people change and struggle to open up. Then tragedy - but still hope."

Sadie will win your heart - and break your heart - and show some steel along the way. Sam struggles his entire life with his outward appearance even when he's so strong on the inside. And Marx is the rare person that makes people feel like they matter.
The story moves around in the timeline - Zevin goes back and forth to give us backstory. It's just the right amount.
There are several times where characters face a tragic loss. Zevin makes those characters vulnerable in showing their grief. The last is one that's almost unbearable - even for a fictional character. But there's hope at the end.
This is a book you will want to read this year. Zevin has given us a powerful story and some wonderful characters. One of my top reads this year

What a phenomenal book. I felt so invested in the relationship between Sam, Sadie are Marx. This book revolves around video game development and even though that's not something I'm interested in, I really loved the story that was told. You will not regret reading this book. I can't wait to read more by Gabrielle Zevin.

Thank you to Random House/Knopf, Gabrielle Zevin and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A beautiful story of friendship, love, and video games. This is definitely one of the best books of the year, and I would have loved for another few chapters of Sadie, Sam, and what comes next for them. The NPC chapter from Marx' POV is one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever read, but so wonderfully done.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is the story of two lifelong friends, Sam and Sadie. They meet in childhood while Sadie's sister is hospitalized for cancer treatment and Sam is recuperating from a horrific accident that leaves him with a long-standing disability. They bond over their mutual love of video games. Their relationship is complicated, with long periods of estrangement. They meet by chance while in college, and rekindle their friendship. With the help of Sam's roommate Marx, they create a highly successful video game and eventually a company. There are many highs and lows, successes, failures and tragedies. But through it all Sam and Sadie have a connection.


I am not a lover of video games. I was an adult when Pac-Man first came out, and most of the tech dialogue in this book was over my head. However, I loved this book. The characters are so well developed. It is a love story unlike any other. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow I’ll be still thinking about this book, and trying to find a book that moves me as much as this one.

I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

he tension of "will they or won't they" has done a lot of heavy lifting for stories through the ages, including many that wouldn't have been nearly as intriguing otherwise.

In the case of Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, that question is a touchpoint throughout the years for its characters, but the answer is so much more complicated—and interesting—than who ends up professing love to whom. More importantly, it presses its characters, and the reader, to decide what kinds of love and relationships count most.

Sam and Sadie meet in the children's ward of a Los Angeles hospital—Sam recovering from a devastating car crash that killed his mother and permanently disables him, and Sadie visiting her sister battling cancer—and immediately bond over video games. A little light deception and wounded feelings mean their friendship doesn't have the chance to grow it would have had otherwise. This is rectified, though, when they reconnect as college students in Boston, far away from home and dealing with their own struggles. They both still love video games, but Sadie has decided to make a profession out of hers by studying video game design at MIT. Sam is enchanted by her work, and convinces her to spend the summer making a game with him.

The game, eventually called Ichigo, ends up taking much longer than the summer, but also becomes something far greater than a student project. Along with Sam's roommate and the pair's sort-of producer, Marx, Sadie and Sam launch Ichigo into the world, where it finds a willing audience. A sequel helps build their little gaming company even more, and soon they're making big bets with real money on more game ideas. As the company flourishes, though, insecurities and jealousies threaten to derail both their success and friendship. When tragedy strikes, their relationship, both platonic and professional, is put to the test like never before.

There's so much to love about Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, but I'll try to be brief. Although Tomorrow is ostensibly about the relationship between two people whose lives happen to entwine more than most, so much of the story, and its conflicts, revolve around the creative process—including how its eventual audience understands or misunderstands it. Sam and Sadie are both phenomenally talented at what they do, and they do almost the same thing. But their backgrounds exacerbate the slight differences, and strengths, found in that "almost," which is where most of the conflict comes from. Sam's upbringing by his immigrant grandparents means he knows how difficult it is to break out of poverty, and will do anything he has to to stay out of it. Sadie's identity as a woman in the video game industry in the 1990s and 2000s means she feels her hard work is constantly dismissed and her ideas claimed by or ascribed to men. These two things clash more frequently, and more dramatically, than you might think, but it never feels contrived. Rather, it feels honest, and earnest, and achingly human.

Miscommunication is baked into the DNA of will they and won't theys, among other tropes. They're present here, too, but Zevin wisely keeps them grounded into reality—none of these tiny misunderstandings that could have been easily cleared up by a single text but are nonetheless blown way out of proportion. Characters do make assumptions about the intents of others based on these miscommunications, and while one in particular seems to be a bit of an overreaction, it is rooted firmly in trauma. What's more, when it is defused, the clarity doesn't suddenly mend the relationship. Feelings are still hurt from a litany of slights, the kind that seem like hardly anything on their own but can accumulate into crushing blows. 

While much of the attention in the throughline of Tomorrow is centered on Sadie and Sam (and I do adore them both), there's a good amount of well-deserved love left over for Marx, whose subtle thoughtfulness (and generous wallet) facilitates so much of what happens from those early days of Ichigo to the height of the successful company. (It is his love for Shakespeare that gives Tomorrow its name.) He is the sum total of the trio's emotional intelligence, and in his absence, Sam makes due by thinking about what Marx would say or do if he were there. More than that, Marx is a delight, and honest about who he is to his friends. At one low point, Sam tells Marx that he's the NPC (non-player character, or a character controlled by the computer) while Sam and Sadie are the heroes of the story. That's true, Marx readily agrees—and it's a good thing, because without NPCs, the heroes would just run around an empty world with nothing to do and no one to talk to. He is not without flaws but sees beauty and brilliance in all that Sam and Sadie do, and so often acts as the intermediary between them.

The plot is interesting and the characters are fascinating, but all of it is cemented together by Zevin's writing. The prose is strong, and the structure was perfectly suited for the story at hand. Now and then, an omniscient narrator pops in to explain or to foreshadow, and to great effect. Mostly little things, such as interviews Sam or Sadie would give years from their early beginnings, when those versions of themselves would be flush with success that they could not imagine at the time of the present action at that point in the story. This is no surprise; from the first line, before anything else, we know Sam reinvents himself in fame. Even when it forewarns of tragedy, the voice of it is so familiar that its warning seems gentle and expected.

But my favorite use of structure comes in the book's fourth section, during which the company is working on a game that splits player point of view between the real world and a fantasy setting. Zevin splits each chapter into two, divided into Sam's and Sadie's points of view, respectively, as their actions and frustrations unknowingly mirror the other's. The whole book reminded me of Austin Grossman's You, for more than the twin themes of friendships changing over time and deep meaning poured into video game creation. In You, Grossman also plays with structure in a way that fits the themes of the plot. Yet You cannot conceive of the gut punch that Zevin delivers in another section that plays with structure. I can't remember the last time I've been so moved by such a brief portion of a book.

John Green blurbed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and the overall vibe does feel like something you'd like if you cut your literary teeth on Looking for Alaska or An Abundance of Katherines. But it's also feels like spending time with people you almost know, like you could form a parasocial relationship with Sadie and Sam—and Marx—just by opening the cover. After a book filled with narrative promises and forewarning, the end feels almost as though it comes too quickly. In reality, the characters have simply caught up to the present day, and there is no narrative voice to tell us what comes next for Sadie and Sam, good or bad. All there is left is to keep going and see what the future brings. Will they or won't they? You'll have to look elsewhere for your spoilers.

(To go live on blog [first URL] 7/5/22 at 2:04 p.m. MDT; an abbreviated review appears on Goodreads)

I came for the 90’s nostalgia and stayed for the friendship between Sam and Sadie. I’m not much of a gamer, but I certainly played my fair share of Oregon Trail back in the day, so all of those references made me smile.

The beginning and ending of this book are really good. The middle was long and slow and could have been edited a lot. In the end, those chapters did add to the tension between Sam and Sadie’s friendship which then ultimately adds to the sweetness of their relationship.

Thank you to Knopf Publishing for a digital ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Sadie and Sam meet in the hospital as children and bond over video games. They reunite 8 years later as college students and develop a very successful video game together. Their relationship endures many ups and downs through the years. The employees at Unfair Games also play prominent roles in the development of the book, especially Marx.
Although I’m not a video gamer, I enjoyed the descriptions of the different games they developed and their interactions within the game. The story has a nostalgic vibe.
Sam, Sadie and their friends are so relatable and drew me into their story easily. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5 Stars. Fantastic novel about friendship and love, the value of play, disability, and identity. Yes, it's also about two friends who create video games, but it's not really about video gaming. The novel starts in Cambridge, MA in the mid-1990s when Sadie and Sam are both in college. I immediately connected with the setting (being about the same age as the duo and also having attended a nearby prestigious college), and feeling of youth. Sam and Sadie are both complex, fully-realized characters. I loved them both.

"On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond . . ."

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Rating (4/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publishing date July 5th 2022
Thank you Netgalley and Knopf publishing for providing an advanced ebook copy! When I first saw this book was about video games , I wasn’t so sure I would enjoy it , but you don’t have to be interested in or know anything about them to enjoy the story. I really enjoyed this one! I loved the references to the Oregon Trail - a computer game that most adults my age played back in elementary school! This is a story about people, about relationships, and about growing up! Compelling read I recommend to anyone!

"Let her know you're there. And if you can manage it, bring her a cookie, a book, a movie to watch. Friendship," Marx said, "is kind of like having a Tamagotchis."

Oh man! This story was marvelous. I think it could easily take me several days to unpack it all so this will be a short and sweet review. Sadie and Sam meet as kids in a hospital in Southern California. Sadie is there due to her sister having what might be cancer, Sam because he had been in a terrible car accident and his foot was severely damaged. They become fast friends while playing video games. After over 600 hours of game time in the hospital, over the course of many many months, they have a bad falling out. Six years later however as fate would have, they meet at a train station in Boston. After that chance meeting they decide to create a video game together. The game changes their lives forever. But Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow isn't just about gaming. It's about the complexity of friendship and different types of love. Having career ups and downs and trying to navigate life in your 20's and 30's.

I'm embarrassed to admit this was my first time reading Gabrielle Zevin's work, especially since The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is sitting in my book shelf that I walk past everyday! Her writing is truly beautiful and its obvious how much time and effort she puts into her books. I loved the gaming aspect. My sister and I loved Mario and Sonic growing up. It was fun to hear about the back end of creating games. Thank you so much Knopf and NetGalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

At first one would think this book is nearly about the world of video games, but it is much, much more. This is such a wonderful book about friendship in many of life’s stages, and overcoming trauma. The characters were wonderfully written and lovable. Sam and Sadie will live in my heart forever.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a beautifully written journey of two young kids facing traumas that cope through their love of video games. This story made me feel so many emotions and had a lot of ups and downs. At times I was so frustrated with the main characters (Sadie and Sam) that I had to put the book down and come back to it. In the end, I am giving it 5 stars. These characters are flawed but aren’t we all.
Things I loved about the book: I loved all of the video game, pop-culture and literature references. I especially liked how they would change with the year/decade. I loved the theme of the “video game life”. Imagine if we had the chance of a do over until we reached perfection.

On the surface this is a book about gamers and those who create the games. Sounds like something I would not enjoy since I don’t play video games, but this book is so much more than that. It’s about growing up, love, friendship and surmounting difficult things in life. Sam, Sadie, and Marx are all wonderful, multifaceted characters. The story is extremely well written. And I did enjoy learning a bit about the gaming world!

Gabielle Zevin's newest novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a long but beautifully written story of video games and friendship and love. Sam Masur and Sadie Green meet when they are young over a shared loved of video games. Years later when they are in college they are reunited, and again still share a passion or video games. They form a partnership and design a very successful game together. Told over the span of a few decades, Zevin covers topics such as grief and loss, disability, economic hardships and abusive relationships. Zevin has a way with characters, are Sam and Sadie feel so very real, that you'll miss them when you're done reading.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, is another emotional, full-of-story book by Gabrielle Zevin! Following the interlacing lives of Sam and Sadie, who have known each other since childhood, we see the leveling up of the two as they develop video games, grow a company, and deal with how to continue a friendship as one matures.

It's hard to condense this chunky book into a review, but here are some thoughts:
-There are slow bits, and sometimes there are brick of text, which make it feel a bit long.
-The story is bittersweet and emotional. I would have used the word sad, but I think just using that word is a bit reductive for what all is going on in this story. It definitely tugs on some heart strings.
-There is disability representation, and it can be both hard and good to read.
-Grief really coats most of this book. Which I personally like!
-The arts are featured a lot in the story, on top of video gaming, which I thought was great. There's theater, visual arts, etc. It reminds you that video games are more than just something you play.

Overall, I would recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the e-ARC.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is getting a lot of traction on the gram stateside, so I was elated to discover it on Netgalley this month and eager to dive in. Here’s my quick take…

The story centres around Sam and Sadie, childhood pals who bond over their shared love of video games. From here, the story follows the pair over two decades as they pave their way through adult life and the tribulations of love, heartbreak, ambition, uncertainty and devastation (to name a few). It’s a complex tale of friendship and illustrates the type of intimacy that one only really has with someone who gets under one’s skin, but has never touched it. Theirs is a really intense, frustrating at times, platonic love and one that is easily shaken but perhaps never broken.

Sam and Sadie are gamers. They play games, they create games, they promote and sell games and I for one, LOVED this particular component. It’s great that games are finally getting some decent recognition outside of the gaming world. At the same time, I cannot stress enough that loving games is not a prerequisite in order to enjoy this immersive story.

My one critique, and it is admittedly a small one, is that I think it ran a little long. For this reason, it stops short of a top of the pops read for me. At the same time, it’s definitely one I would recommend to anyone looking for a fresh alternative to all the sugary beach reads that are heavily circulated this time of year. All in all, a pleasure! 💜

This is very good, which is not really a surprise since this author has written a number of highly rated books. This has lots of helpful reviews, so I'll simply recommend it.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!