Name: Anthony Teo's review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Item: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Rating: 4
Author: Anthony Teo

Gabrielle Zevin

"A modern love story about two childhood friends, Sam, raised by an actress mother in LA's Koreatown, and Sadie, from the wealthy Jewish enclave of Beverly Hills, who reunite as adults to create video games, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives, from the New York Times best-selling author of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry"--

A Novel

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

In this exhilarating novel, 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.

larissa campos 

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.

 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.

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!!!!

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 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. 

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.

Life is very long, she thought, unless it is not

Even if things ended badly, it was a good thing you did for him and for yourself. That boy was utterly friendless, injured, alone. You were not a perfect friend, but you were his friend, and he needed a friend."

This is what time travel is. It's looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, con-currently. And that mode of transport only worked with those one had known a significant time.

- TIME MAGAZINE: Buch des Jahres 2022 - Amazon USA: Buch des Jahres 2022 - Apple: Buch des Jahres 2022 - US-Indie-Buchhandlungen: Buch des Jahres 2022 - Goodreads: Buch des Jahres 2022 Mitte der 90er-Jahre in Massachusetts: An einer U-Bahn-Station trifft Sadie, hochbegabte Informatikstudentin und angehende Designerin von Computerspielen, ihren früheren Super-Mario-Partner Sam wieder. Die beiden beginnen, gemeinsam an einem Spiel zu arbeiten, und schnell zeigt sich, dass sie nicht nur auf freundschaftlicher, sondern auch auf kreativer Ebene ein gutes Team sind. Doch als ihr erstes gemeinsames Computerspiel zum Hit wird, brechen sich Rivalitäten Bahn, die ihre Verbundenheit zu bedrohen scheinen. Ein Jahrzehnte umspannender Roman über Popkultur und Kreativität, Wagnis und Scheitern, über Verlust und über die Magie der Freundschaft. Daniel Schreiber zu MORGEN, MORGEN UND WIEDER MORGEN: "Ein fulminanter Roman, superspannend und gleichzeitig wunderschön."

Roman

Morgen, morgen und wieder morgen

Franzi

Man muss sich klarmachen, dass eine Beziehung aus Abschnitten besteht, und wenn einer endet, kann die Beziehung als etwas anderes weiterbestehen. Die Liebe ist Konstante und Variable zugleich.

Anthony Teo

Nika Khoshdel

Great pace, lovely character developmemt and intimate 

Frida Wiig 

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.

Mitch McGonegal

julie reads

perdi 15 anos de energia vital lendo isso aqui, ótimo livro

Pedro Rodarte

Definitivamente uma montanha russa de emoções, da maneira mais clichê que eu poderia descrever, para um livro que passou longe de ser clichê. 

Algo que começa despretensioso e se torna emocionante, se torna frustrante e complicado, um emaranhado de sentimentos que não pode ser desfeito. Me encontrei com falta de ar, envelhecendo junto com os personagens e sentindo a perda deles, sentindo especialmente o quão rápido o tempo passa e o peso de ter só uma vida, não várias, para fazer suas escolhas e viver suas consequências.

É perceptível os arrependimentos e o que os personagens teriam feito diferente, e essa é uma das partes mais bonitas, porque você acompanha exatamente essas ações feitas na juventude e entende que sim poderiam ter outros caminhos, mas não é possível prever e nem refazer, passar pelo nível novamente como se fosse um jogo.

Talvez eu tenha me apegado demais no personagem, me visto demais nele, vivido através dele, mas quando Marx morre, perdi um pouco de vida também, o ânimo de continuar acompanhando o livro. Terminei sentindo falta do Marx tanto quanto seus companheiros.

Definitivamente uma montanha russa de emoções, da maneira mais clichê que eu poderia descrever, para um livro que passou longe de ser clichê. 

Algo que começa despretensioso e se torna emocionante, se torna frustrante e complicado, um emaranhado de sentimentos que não pode ser desfeito. Me encontrei com falta de ar, envelhecendo junto com os personagens e sentindo a perda deles, sentindo especialmente o quão rápido o tempo passa e o peso de ter só uma vida, não várias, para fazer suas escolhas e viver suas consequências.

É perceptível os arrependimentos e o que os personagens teriam feito diferente, e essa é uma das partes mais bonitas, porque você acompanha exatamente essas ações feitas na juventude e entende que sim poderiam ter outros caminhos, mas não é possível prever e nem refazer, passar pelo nível novamente como se fosse um jogo.

Talvez eu tenha me apegado demais no personagem, me visto demais nele, vivido através dele, mas quando Marx morre, perdi um pouco de vida também, o ânimo de continuar acompanhando o livro. Terminei sentindo falta do Marx tanto quanto seus companheiros.

Um dos melhores livros que li em anos.

loved this book sm. exciting plot twists and a wholesome story about friendship

Mitul Shah

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 :)

Anna

Molly Bridge

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. 

victoria lim

It would be especially unkind to say, but this feels a bit like a novel Elon Musk would write.

The first third or so is the best and the two main characters are generally well drawn. Their initial friendship and foray into game design is an enticing read. The author is clearly intelligent and knowledgable, and the book is full of  references for the curious. 

That last point is one of the problems. The frequency of references and accompanying explanations doesn’t help the narrative, especially when some side characters only exist to deliver an info-dump that just happens to be exactly what one of the protagonists needs to hear. 

The video game theme is handled well at start. I’m a gamer but no designer; nevertheless, it was gripping to read about the duo creating their first game and the emotional punch behind the clash over the game engine. 

Unfortunately, the gaming theme is not threaded so well for the rest of the story. Multiple characters make references to 1ups and ‘game overs’ and how these relate to life which is not only cliche and repetitive but also overused to the extent that it reveals nothing about these people. A section toward the end based in a role playing game is an improvement, but stretches credulity as a game and a character moment. 

A shocking event later in the novel ultimately feels underdeveloped, and only seems to happen to further explore the friendship of the main characters. Elsewhere, some of the dialogue (of which there is far too much in general) is extremely clunky and didactic. One conversation during a dramatic flashback comes off as completely unbelievable and unlike any conversation I can imagine two human beings having in such circumstances. 

Luke Pearce

It would be especially unkind to say, but this feels a bit like a novel Elon Musk would write.

The first third or so is the best and the two main characters are generally well drawn. Their initial friendship and foray into game design is an enticing read. The author is clearly intelligent and knowledgable, and the book is full of  references for the curious. 

That last point is one of the problems. The frequency of references and accompanying explanations doesn’t help the narrative, especially when some side characters only exist to deliver an info-dump that just happens to be exactly what one of the protagonists needs to hear. 

The video game theme is handled well at start. I’m a gamer but no designer; nevertheless, it was gripping to read about the duo creating their first game and the emotional punch behind the clash over the game engine. 

Unfortunately, the gaming theme is not threaded so well for the rest of the story. Multiple characters make references to 1ups and ‘game overs’ and how these relate to life which is not only cliche and repetitive but also overused to the extent that it reveals nothing about these people. A section toward the end based in a role playing game is an improvement, but stretches credulity as a game and a character moment. 

A shocking event later in the novel ultimately feels underdeveloped, and only seems to happen to further explore the friendship of the main characters. Elsewhere, some of the dialogue (of which there is far too much in general) is extremely clunky and didactic. One conversation during a dramatic flashback comes off as completely unbelievable and unlike any conversation I can imagine two human beings having in such circumstances. 



Let the games begin! From the New York Times best-selling author of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry--a glorious and immersive novel about two childhood friends, once estranged, who reunite as adults to create video games, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives. 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. They borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo: a game where players can escape the confines of a body and the betrayals of a heart, and where death means nothing more than a chance to restart and play again. This is the story of the perfect worlds Sam and Sadie build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy. Spanning over 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, games as artform, technology and the human experience, 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.

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. 

Jacob Hopkins

Lovely depiction of friendship, love, and video games. I wish Sam and Sadie the best

Caroline Piephoff

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. 

Paige Paul

wondered why it’s getting so much love. finished the book in two days it’s so utterly readable.

My 7th grade math teacher Mr. Dillenberger was named in the acknowledgements for being one of the oregon trail creators. What a guy. <3

mara henderson

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.

Emilia Vulliamy

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. 

Jeff Dlouhy

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.

Kayla Pham

Katie Roberts

Amy Burnett

Katerina

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 

Anna Lane

Mel 

This is what people mean when they talk about literature with a big "L". This isn't just a story about making a game, it's about love, friendship, growing up and existing. Done beautifully and heart-wrenching.

Anthony Teo &
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

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