Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
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 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.
Do you ever buy a book and can’t remember what it was that led you to do so?
That’s what happened to me with this one.
For the life of me, I can not remember the reason I saw this book as a Book Of The Month selection and was like “YES. This most def seems like something I will enjoy.”
Because this whole book revolves around video games.
Which ya girl over here is NOT into. Like not at ALLLLLLL. (unless it’s old school Mario 3, Dr Mario or Tetris…I can rock that shit like I’m 12 again!)
The other 3 inhabitants of my house on the other hand….they are BIG TIME gamers. All 3 of them.
So I have gamer knowledge in my brain just by default, not by choice. 🤣
Anyway when I first started reading this book I was like “How did I end up with this book in my hands?”
But I think it may have something to do with the cover art.
I AM OBSESSED WITH IT, yall.
It’s a wrap around cover (which I friggin’ LOVE) featuring “The Great Wave” by artist Katsushika Hokusai (which I ALSO friggin love)….PLUS colorful, neon rainbow retro lettering.
I am SURE that probably had something to do with me buying this awhile back.
I VERY rarely follow the old saying of “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”
I can’t even count the number of times I have bought books just because the cover art drew me in.
I do the same thing with wine bottles and craft beer.
What can I say….I am not fancy nor cultured and am a visual person by nature. 🤣
I am happy to say most of the time it works out. (but there are there times that almost an entire bottle of Merlot gets dumped down the drain because it tasted HORRIBLE…yes I know–money down the drain and all…but look, life is too short to drink bad wine, ok?)
And if the cover is what drew me in, I am so glad it did. The pages inside COMPLETELY lived up to the image on the outside.
Surprisingly, I REALLY REALLY liked this book!
Yes, this book is about video games (specifically CREATING them) but it is also about THE PEOPLE behind those games.
I feel like the author did a GREAT job of showing the innovation and imagination of game designers…I found it to be so so so interesting to hear about the CRAZY CREATIVITY that goes into developing and making video games.
It is a very modern and multi faceted art form. I truly never thought that before.
My gamer family has told me this for awhile now , but I think this book has me believing it. (my bad, guys…love yall 💗)
This book also brings awareness to how misogyny and racial biases are strong in the gamer world, just like in the REAL world. (it’s sllloowwwllly improving…but damn there is a LOOONG way to go)
I do feel like the games created in and talked about in this book are their own characters….and even me, a non gamer, was fully invested in getting to know them, seeing them develop, watching them grow.
But the underlying core about what this book about is human to human relationships of all kinds.
The character development is TREMENDOUS in these pages….lots of realistic and intense dialogue too.
It takes place over many years, growing with Sadie and with Sam from their childhood friendship into middle age.
Such a unique perspective on love….on how layered, confusing, fulfilling, and lonely it can be, depending on who we are feeling it for.
And not just romantic love either…but love for friends, for family, for community.
Like we all grow to know at some point in our lives…love is messy.
And love is wonderful.
And love is awful.
And love is everything.
If we allow ourselves to truly feel it, over and over again….to get our hearts filled and then broken and then eventually filled again…that truly is a glorious part of being a human being.
Even when it hurts. Even when it’s hard. Even when we think we will never have it again.
This book really surprised me in such a pleasant way.
Even if you aren’t a gamer, this book is quality shit and time WELL spent.
If you ARE a gamer, then I think all the references to all the culture and games and terminology will just add to your enjoyment.