Cover Image: Tomorrow

Tomorrow

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Member Reviews

This is one of those books that I didn't particularly enjoy at the time of reading, but have thought about a lot since finishing and thus have to say that it warrants its 4 stars. The non-linear narrative is intriguing at first, but then gets a little annoying and I feel certain sections are a little repetitive and perhaps even a bit boring. So I was slightly disengaged with the whole thing. That is, until the twist in the very last line. A twist so simple (yet utterly seismic) that I should have seen it coming, expecting a last-minute shock as I was, but I absolutely didn't. And with that the whole book changed! Don't think I've ever been so thrown, so totally discombobulated, disturbed even, by such a subtle twist in my whole reading history. I am now retrospectively obsessed by this book and its cleverness. I'm left questioning not only what I just read, but also myself and my entire belief system! Even if I wasn't particularly keen on the actual plot of this novel, it was well worth reading for the simple yet stunning narrative sleight of hand at the end. I'm still thinking about the implications of my own assumptions.

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I had a few download issues with the book and by the time it was sorted, the file had unfortunately been achieved. Happy to re-review if it becomes available again.

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I found this book very immersive in the way that it brings the surroundings to life. I loved how the writer described nature, the place and wanted to be there for sure.
Great story as well and characterization.
Would read again from the authoer.

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(This may be duplicate) ..
Really fine writing... Likeable narrator in all the snippets or fragments as they are played out .. reading it online meant that any help alternate typefaces might have given in shifts of time and space .. in this purportedly metafictional format were obliterated .. and I someones had to double back to see if I'd missed something .. the underlying issues of liberal unease and racism and colonialism seemed to track through .. and the final reveal was hinted at but very lowkey (throughout)... despite the really fine and smoothly competent writing I was at a loss to engage with it wholly .. maybe the self conscious liberal inquiry felt naive .. and most segments revolved around that issue....right up to the end.

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An unusual book which I couldn’t quite pin down - not sure quite what the author was trying to do and I found the central protagonist quite unlikeable. However, it was intrguing enough to keep me reading to the end - there was a revelation right at the end which set me back on my heels, but not sure if that was enough to make sense of the story.

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Ghost Writer

An unnamed writer in an unnamed country in an unnamed world, very like our own, but subtly different, sits in a hut on the banks of a great river and contemplates the novel to be written tomorrow (and tomorrow, and tomorrow) which appears never to be started, but bears a close resemblance to the novel which the reader is reading.

It’s as though Carthage defeated Rome all those centuries ago, that certain prehistoric creatures never died out, that world history has developed in a deceptively similar but disconcertingly different way. The reader is constantly lulled by the similarities and shocked by the differences.

The issues that characters face, that society faces, have a discordant echo in our own world and societies. Terrorism, freedom, youth and age, corruption, and betrayal. A narrative which is a shattered mosaic, ranging back and forward, mind-twisting and provocative. A novel where the reader is on constantly shifting ground, struggling with an unreliable narrator who defies categorisation right to the last sentence of the final page of the story.

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Simply stunning
A would-be author has taken time out from life in the city to live in a cabin by a river and write a novel.

And not just any novel. A novel that will avoid all the pitfalls and limitations of other novels, a novel that will include everything.

At first these new surroundings are so idyllic that it's hard to find the motivation to get started. And then, in all its brutality, the outside world intervenes...

Ranging constantly backwards and forwards in time and space, Tomorrow becomes a restless search for meaning in a precarious and elusive world.

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What an excellent novel! Tomorrow follows the life of an unnamed protagonist, through his student days debating left-wing politics, to his isolation in the wilderness to write 'the book', to his kidnapping by left-wing guerrillas and his escape, and finally his demise. 'Following' isn't entirely true, as the narrative jumps throughout to different times of his life.

A theme throughout is why we do what we do. You may want to help others, but is talking about it helping, or is even doing something helping, or is it just what it is and nothing can and ever will change. You may have your plans, but in the end, whether we sabotage it or not, the world just trundles on with or without you.

Intelligently written, and gorgeously plotted, this is highly recommended!

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A wonderful story, a true surprise as to how the story the ties together and how it is all connected. Witty, varied and interesting across the various time periods. An excellent narrative.

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3.5*

Wait a minute! What did I just read?? There at the end? Like literally the last line? I need answers and I don't know how to find them. I've combed the internet for reviews, glimpses of others and their understanding of this novel, but I've had no luck. Did you ever read a novel where you thought that you knew exactly was was going on and then something happens that leaves you in shock? No?! Just me? Well that's exactly how I've felt at the end of this: picking my jaw from the floor and wondering if there's a mistake somewhere, wishing to starting reading the novel again straightaway to see if I've missed something(the scene in the tower when the author met the Mason and talked about God - played on my mind at this point, but maybe there where others too?).

Anyway: the novel flows nicely despite the experimental time flow. There's a touch of strangeness created both by the play with time and the introduction of mythical & extinct creatures. Some fascinating reflections and debates on timely subjects that sure made for an interesting read. But all in all I wasn't that impressed until the end! And I am still unsure if that's not actually a trick , lol!

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I haven't read a novel as experimental in its narrative as this in a long time and it really intrigued me. Bold, at times philosophical and at others visceral and raw, it was an interesting read that I certainly won't forget for a while.

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This is the worst novel I have read for a long time. I could make neither head nor tail of it. There are some glimpses of a story which could have caught my interest - when and why the protagonist got captured and put in a cage, and his relationship with Amanda, but each time the book veers away from explaining these. Instead it is full of rambling musings inside the head of the author, with no clues as to the setting and no depth of character. in the supporting roles. Then suddenly he is a very old man and there is some stuff about a tower and the holy grail. I just don't get it.

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I'll admit, I had my doubts about a story that jumps backwards and forwards in time, but I was curious. "Tomorrow" isn't just a great story that's written brilliantly, it's one of those rare books that's an experience in itself. There's a little section within the book that answers (for me) the question of why the format is the way it is, and it was like a light going on! I can see this becoming a classic.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

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