Ooooof! This novel hit me so hard. A novel about video game writers that goes deep into the weeds sounds like the complete opposite of something I’d enjoy, but this fabulous novel grabbed hold of me and didn’t let go. Loved the different styles, voices, and POVs here. Beautifully told.

I am just SO TORN on this book. There are some things I loved about it that I think most people probably won’t care as much about - the video games, the locations, the Shakespeare references. But the relationships drove me crazy!!! My biggest pet peeve in books is when conflict stems from the main characters not just TALKING to each other and that’s what 95% of the conflict in this book was. I loved it. And I hated it. And I can’t stop thinking about it.

This is a book that will stick with me for a while, and is one I can’t wait to discuss with friends - it would make a great book club pick. Like many reviews mention, this book is hard to describe, it is at times heavy, complex and layered. A story of friendship, love and play, but also a story about grief, tragedy and challenges. There were times I despised all of the characters, and times when I loved them all. This book is lengthy, but worth the reading investment.

Sensitive readers, content warnings apply.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy. Featured in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Summer Reading Guide, which is what originally made me also me to add it to my TBR.

2.5/5 stars. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting from this book, but it wasn’t quite this. I was thinking I’d be experiencing a bit more fantastical realm things and being in video games or something, and while there is a small bit of that, it was mostly about a group of friends who unendingly misunderstand one another and don’t clarify stuff so they just stew in being mad for YEARS until one day they’re best friends again. I found it all a bit tedious and a bit boring, and so so so so long. I did read it all, and was hoping the characters would grow on me a bit more, but I never ended up really liking any of them. On the whole, not really my kind of book.

Do you know when you read something that hits you so hard that you just want to live in the world of that book a little longer when you're done? Like you refuse to say goodbye to those characters? Well, let me tell you, this book did that to me. And I was an emotional wreck. My husband had to calm me down and remind me that Sam isn't real. But can't I just give Sam a freaking hug!?

If it's not already clear, I *adored* this book. It was so smart, so deep, so beautiful. I was teary eyed through the entire story and still feel like I know these characters personally.

This one is honestly hard to describe. Just know it's filled with moments both sweet and heartbreaking, It offers so much representation. It's just such a special book. I dare you not to love it.

all the hype about TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW is real.
This is a story of friendship and love, of life and journeys, and videogames.
Truly, if you read one book this summer, TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW should be it.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Release Date: 7/5/22

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow tells the story of a livelong friendship between Sadie Green and Sam Masur. We follow the two from ages 11/12 to their late thirties as they go through phases of their relationships from childhood friends to not speaking for 6 years to collaborators on video game projects to not speaking again. The two friends share between themselves wins and losses, tremendous grief, and undeniable love.

Words cannot describe how much I loved this book! This was a book that I had a very difficult time putting down, it was so good! The writing was amazing! The characters were phenomenal! I was emotionally destroyed in more than a few parts (don't want to put a spoiler in here but you'll know it when you get to them). It's a touching story of love and heartache and just growing up and trying to figure life and yourself out.

Thank you to @netgalley and Knopf Double Day publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a novel of love, loss, friendship, forgiveness, and video games. It tells the story of Sam and Sadie who meet in a hospital when they are young and bond over playing video games. On the surface it seems like a story focused on video games, but, oh, is it so much more. If you aren't a gamer (I am not) don't let that deter you from reading this book. It spans several decades and iterations of Sam and Sadie's relationship. You'll have to read to find out what happens as they navigate the world of gaming; no spoilers here. I applaud Zevin for taking this reader into a world I really knew nothing about and giving me an understanding of the gaming world. I did, however, not find that aspect of the book as enjoyable as the relationship between Sam, Sadie and, eventually Marx. Highly recommend for it's fresh take on a love story. Thank you netgalley for this ARC.

An intoxicating and wholly unexpected epic of love, art, belonging, betrayal, and… video games. This is the story of Sam and Sadie, two childhood friends who meet in a hospital game room in 1986. They come from completely different worlds, but bond immediately over video games. Eight years later, as students at separate Boston colleges, the pair reunites and bootstrap a Tempest-inspired video game that becomes an unexpected blockbuster, cementing their future as game designers but bringing upheaval into their personal lives. I don’t have much interest in video games but I adored this book, which is ultimately about creativity and ambition, astonishing success and what comes after, and the inevitable hurts and disappointments of a life-defining friendship. It’s a stirring meditation on the intrinsic hopefulness of games, and what they might mean for us all. Content warnings apply.

Wow, this book was stunning. I was pulled in right from the start, and didn't lose interest at any point. It's absolutely gorgeous, about so many different things, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

I don't spoil anything directly, but if you're worried about spoilers, you might want to skip the next three paragraphs. The final three paragraphs don't have any spoilers.

A weird thing about my experience of reading this book was that by the time I was halfway through, it felt like I'd read an entire book--like maybe it should be done already. And I want to be clear I don't mean that in a bad way, like the book felt too long or had poor pacing. It just felt like some books could have ended it there, and been interesting and relatively satisfying overall.

But because I knew I was only halfway through, I started getting worried: yes, this book had complicated relationships, and things that frustrated me, and heartbreaking tragedies. But what if something even worse was going to happen? What if this book was actually devastating, and I just didn't know it yet?

Reader, this book was devastating. My intuition was right, but I had no idea what was going to happen until it was too late. I sobbed through a large section of this book, and was teary-eyed through the whole rest of it, all the way until the end. I already liked this book, and felt it was emotionally deep and moving, but then it just absolutely gutted me.

This book was moving in so many ways. Emotionally, the characters and their relationships are so rich and real and complicated and messy. No one is perfectly likable all the time, and you're not on one character's side the whole way through. But also creatively, this book was so inspiring. I don't play a lot of video games, and know very little about making them, but I do write poetry. At one point I had to stop writing to frantically write down an idea--I'd been waiting for a breakthrough epiphany about something for over a year, and this book finally helped me crack it open, at least a little.

The quotes I pulled from this book to save for later are gorgeous, and the writing is superb. I love the way the book plays with time, and how the future is so casually and distressingly referenced. In a way, it lulled me into thinking I knew what was coming, without ever revealing the worst part.

I tore my way through this book, and basically spent a whole weekend in this world. I'm so grateful to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the chance to read and review this ARC.

This book is brilliant, imaginative, complicated, and memorable. So much of it is about video games, which I have limited interest in, yet I was captivated from the first page. Sadie and Sam are video game developers and the book follows their lives over 30 years. It’s not a romance, but it is about love.

I was originally put off from this book because I thought it would be too intellectual for me. And while I did have to look up several words, and a lot of the video game speak went over my head, I was invested in these characters. The storytelling is incredible. All of the characters are well developed, even (especially) the side characters. This is a book that I'll think of often.

This book was excellent. I devoured it as quickly as real life allowed. It was beautifully written, the characters were so fleshed out and well developed even when unlikeable (Sadie!), and I was so engaged despite the plot revolving around video games and me not being a gamer. It was merely a plot device but in no way detracted from my ability to follow, be pulled in, process and enjoy. I don’t really know how to articulate what the book meant to me but I feel impacted by this book, and I know the characters will stay with me forever. That’s how well they were written. What a beautiful love story chronicling platonic love at it’s most poignant.

I loved Gabrielle Zevin’s Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and Elsewhere, and only recently discovered that she writes adult fiction too, which prompted me to read this book. The plot is so unique, it is difficult to discuss without spoiling. At its core this is a book about friendship and video games, although video game knowledge is not necessary to enjoy it. Sam and Sadie meet in a hospital as children, and have a long, complicated friendship as they build a company together. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” portrays the tension of friendship better than any other book I have read. Some readers might not like the writing style - I think it keeps the book interesting to switch between perspectives and formats. I think the tone and writing style are very similar to Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Thanks to Knopf Doubleday and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

" 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."

A touching novel about love, grief, and of course games. I found Zevin's prose delightful, descriptive and emotional but not overly tedious, the novel was over 400 pages but never felt like a slog. Sam and Sadie were well crafted characters, flawed individuals who often played their cards close to their chest brought together by a shared love of games. I enjoyed the gaming references, but this is first and foremost a character driven novel and you can definitely enjoy as a non-gamer.

This was not the kind of book I usually read. But the promise of a love story, though not one I've ever read before, intrigued me.

I absolutely adored the book. The writing was brilliant, the characters well-wrought and imperfect, flawed and young, selfish and vulnerable and human. As in love, there is never a 'right' or 'wrong' when trying to connect with others. There is only the option to be our true selves with others and work to become better people, preferably inspired by those with whom we spend our days. Sam and Sadie may not have set out to do that, but they made each other better, at so many things.

The video game references felt familiar, and the designing details gave a texture to the book that I enjoyed. The book was many stories within a story, with lustrous language and all the pain and joy of being human and finding one's way, one's people and one's purpose. I've already pre-ordered copies for friends and family who I know will love it as well, and am looking forward to reading Gabrielle Zevin's other novels.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
By Gabrielle Zevin

This story is about game creators and their games – and the difference between games and real life. Sadie Green and Sam Mazur meet as children in a hospital where Sam is slowly recovering after a tragic and life changing accident. Their connection starts with the video games they play together. As the years pass, their paths cross and then separate repeatedly, but their friendship, while sorely tested, always brings them back to each other.

The world of gaming holds great appeal for many people because it allows them to "do over" when things don't work out. Unfortunately real life doesn't work that way, as Sadie and Sam discover. Sometimes you really DO have to play the hand you are dealt!

I enjoyed this book as I have previous works by this author. Gaming on this level is not something I relate to, but Ms. Zevin manages to keep my interest anyway.

Thanks go to NetGalley and Knopf Double Day Publishing for an ARC of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.

I loved one of Zevin's previous books and was interested to see what was up with this one.

I've had to take a day to process after reading because there is so much going on with this novel. It's a bit like Forrest Gump because of the span of time but with a lens focused on the gaming world. It's also a bit like When Harry Met Sally because Sam and Sadie keep reconnecting over the years. Interestingly, I'm not a gamer at all and still was sucked into the book. I think this happened because Zevin introduced the characters first and didn't slam me with gaming facts and myopic details.

There are so many things I loved about this book. Now, there were sections hard to read, but isn't that like real life when faced with challenges. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow shows how we each have our own narrative in our lives. What we experience is different than others even when in the same place.

Political, social, and interpersonal situations are explored. Themes include love, relationships, found family, personal growth, disability, and how women have worked in a "man's" field. I'm going to say that games as a subtle teaching tool is also a theme. We often learn from games as children, and that can extend into our adult lives. There are also romantic elements, but this is not a romance.

I consider this book to be one that hovers in that special space of commercial and literary fiction. It will interest readers from a broad audience. This is a book for adults. The sexual content isn't a play by play, but it's there. One of Sadie's relationships made me very uncomfortable—however, that was the intent.

I became so vested in this story, I read it in a few days. The characters felt like real people even though they're fictional. As you can imagine, I'll read Zevin's next book.

And if you don't know the reference of the title, I won't spoil it for you. But I loved the connection.

I love a book that can drop me in an unfamiliar setting, widen my perspective, and make me feel like I’m there with the characters. This book did it. While I’m not that into gaming, this book made me appreciate the artistic talent, dedication and project management necessary to produce a gaming device platform; but the book offers so much more than a gaming story. I loved the character development of Sam, Sadie and Marx, and enjoyed watching them grow through their years. Rich and deep relationships that I could completely relate to. Wonderful story of relationships and how friends and family enter and exit, sometimes multiple times, for many reasons. I’ll be recommending this one to friends for sure.

I had heard wonderful things about this book from friends but wasn’t sure how I would feel as I don’t play video games. I didn’t need to worry though, I absolutely loved this book even with no knowledge of gaming. It’s about trauma and the people who come into our lives and stay in various capacities. It’s about found family and taking risks. Following Sam and Sadie from their college years to their mid-30s, it’s a gem of a book that discusses intimacy and work and the messiness that happens when those things coincide. Highly recommend this one.

It was fun and relatable to me (at my age) they story revolved around friendships and video game development. From Pioneer Games and Donkey Kong., there were lots of 90's references that I could follow ... maybe they were really 80"s ?? There were also several unrealistic parts - just used to dramatize the story and I'm not sure if they were needed. I got very confused and bored with the section about a new video game that Sam had developed for Sadie - I think that could have been shorter and explained in a better way. I was happy with the ending but actually expected more. The book is well written and it features storytelling that goes back and forth in time, embedded in the world of gaming. But its about so much more.