Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow A Novel
Reviews
i wasn’t really invested until about 70% through, and the ending felt incomplete
It was long and flat… not terrible
I adored it!
Great pace, lovely character developmemt and intimate
excellent character development and for the most part great pacing. lost me a little after the big thing that happens but the finale is strong.
i’m not a gamer
perdi 15 anos de energia vital lendo isso aqui, ótimo livro
loved this book sm. exciting plot twists and a wholesome story about friendship
This story was so complicated. I loved the evolution of each character and their wholesome and sometimes infuriating friendships. Initially this book felt slightly tedious as it was rather slow, but as you become more invested in each character you cant stop yourself from reading just one more chapter. I have to admit that I found the female MC more than a little annoying though… she seemed overly unreasonable on many occasions. I have to say however that I do feel inspired to start playing some more video games :)
😭😭😭
I did not read the summary before starting on this book and it was not what I expected; not in a bad way as I still really enjoyed it. maybe I haven’t read enough but I don’t think gaming, as a context/plot is common for fictional novels. I found it romantic, kinda geeky, kinda sad, creatively put together and heartwarming with friendship as a key theme.
Listening to the horrendous performance from the narrator of the audiobook made what would have been a decent book, pretty intolerable. I was entertained, but man did the author love making lists… if I had to hear the monotone, drudging through one more list of things Sam and Sadie felt or did… this book was def overhyped.
Lovely depiction of friendship, love, and video games. I wish Sam and Sadie the best
I really enjoyed this book - I had no expectations going in and I thought the different styles and characters really drove the story. A lot going on as far as topics covered, but overall a sweet story about friendship and challenges of programming games.
wondered why it’s getting so much love. finished the book in two days it’s so utterly readable.
Life is long, unless it’s not.
My 7th grade math teacher Mr. Dillenberger was named in the acknowledgements for being one of the oregon trail creators. What a guy. <3
What a beautiful tale of friendship, success, love and how the three things never intertwine seamlessly. This was entirely character driven (which I adore in books) but didn't suffer with the same slow-pace-syndrome that many character driven books can sometimes fall victim to.
I found myself very attached to the three main characters, especially Marx. He was my favourite character by a landslide. I really enjoyed Sadie's character as well, and thought the dynamic between Sadie and Marx was so interesting considering they are introduced to each other by Sam. All that being said, I think Sam is objectively the most interesting character. The most dislikable, but definitely the most interesting. I couldn't figure him out. Every time I felt sorry for him, he'd do or say something that made me dislike him, and every time I disliked him, he'd do or say something that made me feel sorry for him.
The dynamic between the three was just beautifully written, incredibly complex and stunningly layered. I actually found a playlist on Spotify to listen to whilst reading that was described as "a love letter to Sam, Sadie and Marx". I loved how Gabrielle Zevin made the book about all three characters equally, despite the fact that Sam and Sadie have childhood history that Marx isn't a part of. Even the side characters were extremely well-developed. Zevin is objectively masterful at character-creation.
The actual storyline itself was also so captivating. I found it really interesting reading about video games and the process of creating them. It's not something I've ever thought about before and I genuinely feel like I learnt something new about a topic I previously knew absolutely nothing about. The amount of focus on video games was perfectly balanced with the other aspects of the story, making for a well-balanced plot line with wonderful characters.
All in all, an incredible book. Honestly, I'm not sure why I didn't give it five stars because this review certainly makes it seem like I should have. But I did absolutely love this and would very much like to continue reading more of Zevin's work.
I liked how this captured the essence and complexity of creating something with friends and all the drama that can come with it. Also, the settings were very familiar. My only complaint would be that some of the verisimilitude in the book was hackneyed, hitting all the pop culture touchstones of each time period.
I think book was a good one for those that are game enthusiasts or have a knack for making games. I really didn’t want it to end but all things do. There were parts of the story that actually moved me and made me feel for the characters and relate to. I just wish there was more to the ending but I could see why it is the way it is.
Boring
Tears.
This drew me in from the very first page. And it didn’t let go. A dear friend of mine recommended this to me, knowing full well how much I enjoy video games — the old and the new. But you don’t have to be a gamer to love this story. It’s a literary treasure and it would be a shame if it stayed only in the gaming circles. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is a story about Sam and Sadie. Marx and Sadie. Marx and Sam. Sadie, Marx and Sam. It’s a story about love, but I think it’s a story about friendship above all else. Infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. Isn’t that what friendship is supposed to be in an ideal world? I guess it’s more like games in that sense. “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." I don’t think I’ve even got the right words to express the love I have for this book. The heartbreak I suffered. It started out sweet and gentle. It ended up rough, and raw, and ruthless. Kind of like life in that regard. Kind of like people. The relationships in “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” were so complex. So true to our human nature. The game building was so immersive, so well-researched. The game art was so haunting, as if I saw it right in front of my eyes. The passage of time, of these characters’ lives was so painful. I think I saw some of Sally Rooney’s genius here — in the relationships, in the conversations, and in our inability to communicate when we are most vulnerable, too. The consequences of our actions. The consequences of not speaking up, not going after what we want. There is so much I took from this book. So much that touched my heart. Particularly, I loved Part IV, Both Sides. Gabrielle Zevin communicated so much through the meaning of games and through the meaning of games’ art. Part IV specifically was genius. The naming of the chapters, each having an A and B side that followed the protagonists separately. Sam and Sadie building two different worlds of the same game, while truly living, for the first time, completely different lives. The emotional distance between them. I think this is where my own heart started to shatter. Here Zevin included a comment about record vinyls’ side A and B, diving deep into an argument that McCartney and Lennon had about which song should make it to the A side, as all the hits were believed to be on the A side. I don't want to spoil but this had such great meaning later, when the game Sam and Sadie were making at the time, Both Sides, got released. There was so much genius in this part that I felt somewhat in awe by the author’s talent (How have I not heard of her before?). I thought it was so bold to write the way Gabrielle Zevin writes. She used different points of view — first-person, second-person, third-person… yes, all of these were used, transformed us to different worlds even — there is a part in the book where you’re in an actual game. It felt brilliant to me. I have so much more to write about this one. Perhaps I’ll edit this time and time again. Tomorrow and tomorrow. But I guess what I’m really trying to say is that this was an easy 5/5. You might get your heart broken along the way but it’s worth it in the end, stranger. My favourite quotes: “We are all living, at most, half of a life, she thought. There was the life you lived, which consisted of the choices you made. And then, there was the other life, the one that was the things you hadn't chosen.” “This is what time travel is. It’s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently. And that mode of transport only worked with those one had known a significant time.” “There are no ghosts, but up here”—she gestured toward her head—“it’s a haunted house.”
the first book in a long time that I felt I didn’t want to reach the end
Highlights
Sie fing mit Pilates an und warf Dovs Handschellen ins Meer.
Jaaa
Für jeden angehenden Künstler gibt es eine Zeit, in der die Vision die Fähigkeiten übersteigt. Diese Zeit übersteht man nur, indem man trotzdem weiterarbeitet.
This is what time travel is. It's looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently.
You couldn't be old and still be wrong about as many things as she'd been wrong about, and it was a kind of immaturity to call yourself old before you were.
Why wouldn't you tell someone you loved them? Once you loved someone, you repeated it until they were tired of hearing it. You said it until it ceased to have meaning. Why not? Of course, you goddamn did.
"What isa 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."
You remember with granularity the geography of cities, hotel room floor plans, video game levels, the scars of ex-lovers, times you've said the wrong thing, and the clothes people wore.
Love you madly.
The way to turn an ex-lover into a friend is to never stop loving them, to know that when one phase of a relationship ends it can transform into something else. It is to acknowledge that love is both a constant and a variable at the same time.
Sam used to say that Marx was the most fortunate person he had ever met-he was lucky with lovers, in business, in looks, in life. But the longer Sadie knew Marx, the more she thought Samn hadn't truly under- stood the nature of Marx's good for- tune. Marx was fortunate because he saw everything as if it were a fortuitous bounty. It was impossible to knoW were persimmons his favorite fruit, or had they just now be- come his favorite fruit because there they were, growing in his own back- yard?
I used to feel like Marx, I need to feel like Marx again, like myself!!! I'm the luckiest alive and not because everything works out perfectly but because I see in a different light!!!!
"I loved being a student actor. I was fully devoted to it, and now I'm not. I think if l'd become a pro- fessional, I would likely have fallen out of love with it anyway. It isn't a sadness, but a joy, that we don't do the s things for the length of our lives."
There were so many people who could be your lover, but, if she was honest with herself, there were relatively few people who could move you creatively.
There were so many people who could be your lover, but, if she was honest with herself, there were relatively few people who could move you creatively.
Tell me I don't know you, Samn thought. Tell me I don't know you when I could draw both sides of this hand, your hand, from memory.
Sam's doctor said to him, "The good news is that the pain is in your head." But I am in my head, Sam thought.
It is relatively easy to pack up your life when you're twenty-three,
It was never worth worrying about someone you didn't love. And it wasn't love if you didn't worry.
"Hi," Sam said, without looking at her."You can watch if you want. I'm going to play until the end of this life." "That's a good philosophy," Anna said. She concentrated on the game
The universe, he felt, was just-or if not just, fair enough.
If Marx at twenty-two hada prob- lem, it was that he was attracted to too many things and people. Marx's favorite adjective was "interesting." The world seenmed filled with inter- esting books to read, interesting plays and movies to see, interesting games to play, interesting food to taste, and interesting people to have sex with and sometimes even to fall in love with. To Marx, it seemed foolish not to love as many things as you could.
"We've never...It's more than romantic. It's better than romance. It's friendship."
How your sense of self could change depending on your location.
Los Angeles, especially when taken from a distance, was not a beautiful city, but she could will herself to be beautiful, if only for two weeks. Beauty, after all, is almost always a matter of angles and resolve.
But this was classic Sam-he had learned to tolerate the sometimes-painful present by living in the future.
Promise me you'll always forgive me, and I promise Il always forgive you." These, of course, are the kinds of vows young people feel comfortable making when they have no idea what life has in store for them.
