Recent Reads: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 

Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Publication Date:  July 5, 2022

 

Format: Hardback
Source: July BOTM pick

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

In this exhilarating novel by the best-selling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

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, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before. 

Review: 

This book wrecked me, I guess in a good way... if that makes sense. I loved this book so much, yet it was frustrating and depressing and devastating at times. The book is a about a love of video games, both through the characters and the plot, games take a shining front seat. Being a game lover myself, it was lovely to read about people that were passionate about games and building them. The book follows Sadie and Sam, friends from a young age that drifted apart and then found themselves together again. They work together to build games, a company, and a life together as business partners versus sexual partners. They have an intimate relationship, but it is a friendship that spans decades and their work together. This aspect was so refreshing, it was a love story but a friendly love.

The book is lengthy at over 400 pages, but it is a deep dive into the lives of Sadie and Sam. They are very different and take different paths to get where they are together. The book has past and present chapters and in-game play as well, which made it super interesting to read. We also get the point of view of some other characters along the way. The story is also about their friend Marx, who seems like a side character but adds so much to everything this book does.

The author did a great job with rep as well, Sam is disabled, and there is an LGTBQ+ presence as well. The relationships all feel real and sometimes not great, but real. It was a breath of fresh air to read.

I just can’t say enough positive things about this book. I don’t often read literary fiction but this one was wonderful. If you like games, if you like the building of games, and drama and turmoil of friendships and relationships, this book might be for you too.