Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the ARC to read and review.

I loved this book. I didn't know that I needed to read fiction set in the world of video game design but I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I am not really a big gamer but I loved that I knew a lot of the video games referenced in this book and that some of Sadie's favourites were also my favourites (I'm looking at you Harvest Moon). But this book isn't really about video games, it is about relationships and how sometimes your friends become your family.

This is an incredibly well-crafted book which I found hard to put down. I enjoyed the intricately developed characters of Sam, Sadie and Marx, so different from each other and yet so intensely bound by their common interest and deep friendship. Although I'm not a gamer and understand very little of game development, Sadie and Sam's passion, determination, and sacrificing tenacity in pursuing their creative goals impressed me and kept the pages turning, not least due to the beautifully flowing prose. I must say, though, that I was lost for awhile when the  plot slipped into a game, and that for several chapters. Although I realized the intent and appreciated the efficacy with respect to the plot, this section appeared unnecessarily long to me. That is probably due to my ignorance of games, and the only instance in which it hindered my enjoyment of the book. I felt with all three protagonists and could really 'get' them, but my special tenderness was reserved for Sam, the brilliant mind, intense emoter, but stunted social relater. I often felt intensely sorry for him, but was thankful to the author for not changing him but rather devising an ending/continuation for him that was comfortably Sam, even if the reader might have preferred a more conventional happy ending. Essentially, for me this book is a deep exploration of human relationships; of real people with all their brilliance, flaws, dreams, aspirations and desires.

My thanks go to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book and the opportunity to write an unbiased, voluntary review.

Wow, what an excellent book! Sam and Sadie are very engaging characters which made it easy for me to feel invested in their friendship. I'm a gamer so I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.

I don’t even know what to say. This book is so different from anything I’ve ever read. It’s complex, it’s LONG, but it’s oh so good. It feels like a revelation. I can’t wait for it to come out and to talk about it with others. I loved every single character, every complex detail. I’m not a gamer and there were times my eyes glazed over, but that’s OK, it’s still an incredible book.

I’ll add this is my fourth Zevin book, I’m definitely a fan. I read a review that said this is the book she was made to write and I have to agree. It just feels like a book written by a master storyteller. I’m predicting it’s a GR Best Book of the Year. It’s a book that makes me in awe of the amazing world fiction writers can create.

Highly recommend

This is the third book I have read by this author. I absolutely love the first two books; this, her latest, is okay. I guess "mine Gabrielle" (mine is an adjective most of Gabrielle's granny characters like to use when addressing their dear ones) positions this book for a certain age group - young gamers and video games enthusiasts.

My children were and still are (despite their very adult ages) rabid video game players; in fact my younger son was once involved in the creation of video games as he is superb in graphic artistry; an area he enjoys as a hobby not as a vocation. Enough said, I was able to follow through the pages as Sadie and Sam (main protagonists) play their way through Mario, and reference many others such as Tetris, Zelda etc.

Interesting fun fact - once my boys left home, I threatened to give away all their gaming paraphernalia and myriad games. They came promptly to pick up as they consider them collection items - LOL. I am a minimalist so I am happy their stuff is no longer in my home.

OK. Most of this book's content is about the creation of games and, in the case of Sam, the therapeutic and redeeming way for him to deal with the loss of his mother and a bizarre car accident which left him hurt in a life altering way. Sadie meets Sam when her sister is hospitalized and she wanders into the lounge area to find this lone boy playing a video game. They became friends; however, Sadie's sister reveals that Sadie's time with Sam is part of her community/charitable efforts before her Bat mitzvah. This tarnishes the relationship and these two went their separate ways.

Sadie and Sam encounters each other again at a subway stop where Sadie on the spur of the moment passes a disc to Sam to play and critique a game she has created. This moment leads to a collaboration between these two very creative people. They care for each other very deeply but their relationship is platonic. The duo create a highly popular and financially lucrative game called Ichigo.

Marx is Sam's friend and he becomes a business partner managing their newly formed company. Another successful sequel to Ichigo is created. Along the way, the two squabbles and subtle bitterness follows especially since Sadie feels that Sam is getting the lion's share of the credit for the work they did together.

Sadie is depicted as a young girl with very modern, sometimes amoral, thinking. For example, she becomes involved with her professor who is married and, in my opinion, takes advantage of Sadie's naiveté. She does not believe in the institution fo marriage per se. She initiates her sexual encounters and becomes involved in Sam's best friend, Marx. This is hurtful for Sam as he secretly nurtures a deep love for Sadie but is too coward to make his true feelings known to her. This book is full of the animosity between these two characters and this persists throughout the pages of gaming and brain-storming ideas which, of course, are part of the creative process.

Marx is the most likeable character as he strives to keep the peace. He is generous and kind to his core; thankfully he has parents of means. Other peripheral characters such as Dong and Bong (Sam's grandparents), Alice and Freda (Sadie's mom and granny) are all supportive and charming people. Odious characters, such as Dov (the foul mouthed professor and Sadie's lover) and a bunch of young punks wanting to make a statement, all add to the fine cast created by this talented author.

The latter part of the book moves at a better pace than the slow first crawl. Be prepared to wade through a lot of games, some mimicking the characters. Friendships, loss, grief, love, and relationships form the gist of the story which is couched in game creations. In the end, the reader and the protagonists seem to come full circle.

In reading the acknowledgements, I realize that much is borrowed from the author's own family and life. Her parents being in IT and computers and her mother's name borrowed for a minor character. Since this is an ARC from Net Galley, I am unable to replicate a neat quote relating to culture appropriation. Thanks to Net galley for a chance to read an early release - the font was terrible and the download was not a stellar copy but I persevered to the end. Rating rounded up to 4 stars.

Gabrielle Zevin is a very gifted writer. She always introduces us to such interesting characters who are so human and often remind us of ourselves in one way or another, allowing us to relate to them. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a story of friendship: from its birth, through growth and change and the ups and down that come with it, death, and then healing and rebirth. Yes, this story revolves around the world of gaming, but that is not ultimately what it is about; therefore, you don’t have to be a gamer to enjoy it. The characters are so well fleshed out that they felt like my own friends by the end, and I wanted to see where their lives would lead them, and it was all the more relatable because their lives were not perfect - they had problems and sadness as well as success and happiness. Although my favourite Gabrielle Zevin book is still The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, this was still a solid 4 star read for me.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing book. One of the best parts about a Gabrielle Zevin book is her characters. Sam and Sadie and Marx were so real. It was like reading about people you know. Like friends you went to school with, game with, hang out with. Cry with.

And that's why I'd recommend you bring tissue when you read. You will need it. There were several parts where I had to quit reading because I was crying so hard. That isn't a bad thing. This book just got me on a deep level over and over again.

This will definitely go into my list of most favourtie books.

This story - primarily about love and work - was incredible in its depth. Each character, no matter how small, felt fully realized. Their struggles were compelling, their relationship dynamics felt authentic; I shared in their sorrows and in their joys. This felt like an authentic glimpse at the gaming industry in the 90s; I loved the structure and the prose. Her sentences work.

I couldn’t give this one a full five stars because I found the pacing of the second half was not quiet as strong as the first half, but WOW I will be seeking out more from this author. She is a literary force.

TW: gun violence / death, depression, domestic abuse, suicide, cancer, car accident, ableism

This novel was a joy to read. 4.5 stars. It tells the story of Sam and Sadie, who meet in a hospital playing video games as adolescents, their relationships with the significant people in their lives, and their partnership in creative gaming.
It is also a zeitgeist of the 90s. I am not a gamer, so one would think, given the premise for the book, that I wouldn’t be its intended audience, but it absolutely worked. I like technology, and have an interest in how things are created, and Zevin made the 90s gaming environment very clear.

But the thing that got me immediately engaged and kept me hooked throughout my read was her tone. It had just the right touch of lightness balanced with reality; she shows the gravity of issues, yet still manages to apply her point of view and emotional resonance . I felt this novel showed an ability to maneuver through emotional minefields without becoming sentimental or maudlin, and had a plausibility that rose above her previous work. Also, this time, Zevin brings in artists, composers, authors, and games so accurately, that they totally enhance both the setting and the point the novel is making. It’s worth it for a Google search about these references if you didn’t live through the era, but if you did, it’s another amazing thing that the references are so spot on and part of our culture.

The only limitations I saw were, first, the long Pioneers section, which for me, as I’m not a gamer, was off the mark, but I found it could be easily skimmed; I got the salient points needed when it rethreads into the main storyline, and most likely a gamer would really enjoy this section. And second, there were repetitions of a few observations that I thought might have been edited out. But none of this is a real negative or stopped me enjoying my read.

Finally, I admired the way the author weaves the changing focuses together to expand the back story further and further. It’s pretty seamless and reminds me of how games shift around to different scenarios according to the moves/choices people make.

Altogether, I am very happy to have read this novel and thank Penguin Random House Canada through NetGalley for making that possible in exchange for an honest review. Give it a try!

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of Gabrielle Zevin's TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, the title a nod to MacBeth.
As a huge fan of Zevin's previous novel, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, I was eager to jump into this expansive tale of Sadie and Sam, two friends from childhood who had not seen each other for years until a fateful meeting in a train station.
Sadie met Sam in a hospital where she was visiting her sister. Sam, withdrawn and depressed about a car accident that upends his life and renders his foot almost useless. When Sadie sees him playing video games, she brings Sam out, he talks and, well, a friendship is born. The friendship hits the rails when Sam feels betrayed by Sadie.
Years later when they meet, Sam, who has always loved Sadie, proposes they get together to play video games. IN fact, they end up making the most po[pular video game in the land and continue on building a business of games.
Through 30 years, friendship and love are tested. Tragedy threatens to damage their bond and both Sam and Sadie, take hard looks at what they want from life.and work.
3.5

I don't even really have the words for this? This book absolutely grabbed me from the beginning, and I stayed up all too late to finish it. I don't know if it was the characters, the narrative style, or something else, but all worked together to combine into an incredible story. At its core, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is about love: specifically friendship, and all its messiness and joys. It is also about the love of videogames and storytelling, and it delivers a beautiful story about life and all its ups and downs. I loved this very much.

I just put down this book and I feel like sobbing - Gabrielle Zevin has created engaging, believable characters and the reader becomes immersed in their world and lives. Leaving them at the end of the book feels like losing a friend.

Admittedly, this was my first time reading a Gabrielle Zevin novel and I will definitely be seeking out her other works. In presenting the stories of Sam and Sadie, business partners and game developers, she offers a beautiful story of complicated friendships, as well as an homage to gamers and the worlds they inhabit, outside the ordinary realms.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada be NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was incredible! I loved the characters and the story line and I got so sucked in I was nauseous. I'm not a huge gamer but I liked all the references and I didn't feel left behind when they talked about an unfamiliar game.

I loved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, so jumped quickly on the opportunity to read Zevin's latest novel and was not disappointed.

I have a front-end dev background, so I connected with the physical and mental anguish that comes with being a developer, and of course anybody could relate to the characters and their complexities. I laughed, I cried. I had to take breaks from the emotion.

Do not be dissuaded from reading this if you are not a nerd, Zevin does a great job at guiding you and teaching you all the things you need to know to understand the gaming world and cultural references.

A devastating, raw and substantial story about friendship and all the strain we tend to put on them. A great novel to get out of a reading slump.

I finished this book more than a few days ago, and I’m still sitting with it because I’m not sure I can adequately articulate how I feel about it. It was long (like really long) and took me almost a month to read cover to cover—which is an eternity for me—because it was deep, complicated, very well written and also a bit frustrating (by design). I think about the characters often, even now in my real life, and though I enjoyed it, I’m having difficulty explaining my experience.

We first meet Sam and Sadie as tweens and follow them through to middle age—so I feel like we know these people by the end of the book. They are both heavily flawed, selfish, determined and stubborn, but also incredibly smart and loving in their unique ways. Although they’re best friends, there are multiple sections of the book where they aren’t talking to each other because of a small misunderstanding that they could have had a five-minute conversation about, which is frustrating to the reader, but they’re also so hyperfocused on what’s happening in their lives that you forgive them for it in the end. The addition of Marx, the third member of their trio, was brilliant on Gabrielle’s side because he’s the person the rest of us can probably relate to most. He’s such a light and adds necessary fun to the story.

I wish Zevin would have given us a bit more of Sam’s grandparents throughout the story because they were fascinating characters I wanted to know more about. The same would be said about Sadie’s family, I think, because we see them when she’s a kid, and her sister is mentioned here and there throughout, but I found it strange that they just dropped off the planet. I know adults don’t tend to rely on their parents as much when they’re off building their careers, but Sadie was even living with them for a while after college, and we didn’t get much insight there. It might have helped me understand her a bit more—I felt like I got Sam more than her, and I’m not sure why.

I’m a person who likes to play video games, but I don’t know much about their history and I only really know about the games I like to play, so I was worried that I’d be a bit lost here. As long as you’re familiar with Oregon Trail, I don’t think the references are needed to understand what’s happening. Other than that one and Donkey Kong (and Ms. Pac-Man), I didn’t know any of the games they were playing, and I didn’t need it to fill in any gaps, so don’t worry about that if you’re not a gamer, but there are a few chapters that take place in a video game (it makes sense when you read it), so if you don’t like them, I would maybe pass on this one.

If you’re looking for something different, something complicated and a love story that is genuinely unlike anything you’ve ever read, definitely reach for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, because I don’t think you’ll get another chance to experience a story like this for a long time.

4 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very enjoyable book and Zevin created characters that you want to be happy and have everything work out for. It is a story about love through the lenses of friendship, romance, family, and gaming. The book shows how people can show love for others, when not able to say it directly. Sam and Sadie are at the core of the book and we watch their friendship flourish and struggle through their gaming. I am not a big gamer but I found the game development and the characters relationships to the games to be interesting and almost like additional characters in the book. All the extended characters are key to the overall story development and we learn about Sadie and Sam through their interactions with these other characters, adding more depth and detail to the overall story.

'You have died of dysentery!'

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

"And what is love, in the end?" Alabaster said. "Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else's journey through life?"

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I can't say why it hit me so strongly but it did and I simultaneously wanted to know the ending while I never wanted it to end. The light from the characters when playing and making games was so inspiring, as well as just throughout and about the characters lives. I feel like there needs to be a video game adaptation of this book and I would love to play it.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this book but found the pace to be extremely slow. Sam, Sadie, and the cast of supporting characters felt very real and it was inspiring to see them come together to work on their games. Don't feel like you need to be a gamer to understand what's going on in this, the author does a great job of outlining what's important. My only real issue was with the pacing because reading this book felt like an eternity.

I feel horrible about this, because I went into this book thrilled and expecting to be swooning over this story. This is the same author who gave the world The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, after all! And that was a book that I absolutely adored beyond all reason, that made me cry and made me incredibly happy and invested in the characters.

This book was just... okay. I don't think the story will stay with me at all, or be memorable. It pains me to say that as I really hoped I would get another story that would be an amazing experience.

I don't know whether the difference is that this is about gamers, and I am not really a gamer at all. I am a nerd, though, so I guess I expected the story to speak to me more? Instead I found myself getting bored far too often, and not really all that invested in the characters or in the storyline. The emotional connection or engagement just never clicked into place.

See, I can take a weak plot if I love the characters, and I can tolerate weak characters if the plot is engaging. Here, I found that I just didn't connect with both.

I just feel like the spark is missing, here. The whimsy and emotion that made AJ Fikry's story so compelling are nowhere to be found. It's a story, but the heart just isn't there for me, or maybe it just isn't something that I connect to, with this book.

I felt like the book was also much too long for the story it was telling, and could have been edited to be much more concise. It's never a good sign when I start skimming hoping to find something that will make me want to slow down and get wrapped up in the story again.

Unfortunately just not a book for me, however I greatly appreciate Netgalley and the publisher both for giving me the chance to read it!

I really enjoyed this book - even though I'm a little young for this era and am not into technology/gaming, it was so fascinating to me to read about Sam and Sadie creating a game. The characters were well developed, and the writing style sucked me in - I had to keep reading to see what was going to happen.