I liked this novel, but I didn't love it in the way that I expected to, this maybe because I over hyped it, so I will re-read it in the future,
I found it hard to get into and to connect with the characters , I did feel it was lacking in emotion despite the characters being through some traumatic experiences.

A solid 3.75 stars rounded up. I really did like this one.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a review copy of this book.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was a book I was especially excited to read since it was also inspired slightly by Masters of Doom, a book I absolutely loved and which was part of my inspiration for applying to study computer science at college. For whatever reason, back then, I wanted what they had. Sadly my "inspiration" didn't mount to much, unlike Sadie and Sam, who managed to soak sweat, blood, and tears into making what would likely be an absolute "indie gem" If it were indeed real.

I've heard it described as a book that even non gamers can get into, but I'd say that it would likely be tricky to understand a good handful of the references as well as find much to care about. Obviously the coming-of-age storyline was there, but I don't think this would be enough to keep people invested if they had no idea about or interest in the gaming world. That said, this book was perfect for me, a lifelong gamer who is roughly the same age as the protagonists of this story and grew up playing and loving the same classics mentioned.

I love character driven stories. The characters felt real, not just one dimensional caricatures - but like genuine people with real issues and flaws. Sadie and Sam were two very difficult people with polar opposite attitudes to work. The fact that their friend Marx was the glue that held them, and their company together was kind of their benefit and their downfall. I'll be honest, this book just exudes sadness from its pages. The way I could sense the underlying pain the characters were struggling through and trying to cope with was a testament to how good the writing was.
There were times I wanted to go in and bash their heads together and tell them to get on with it, and times when I just felt like telling them it'll be okay. And then the moments you just realized that it probably wouldn't be.

As much as this is a story about a games development company, it's about the friendship between three somewhat different people who grew something wonderful out of a common love for video games, but struggled due to their insecurities. Both Sadie and Sam were both very similar when it came to their stubborn natures, their mental health struggles and their tendency to argue their point to success. As mentioned Marx was like the polar opposite of the both of them, an easy-going individual, who had a more easy going relaxed approach to life, and was probably the real reason behind their success and motivations. Without his calm yet upbeat demeanor I think both Sadie and Sam would have shut down "Ichigo" before it had even reached development, considering how much the duo would differ on their opinions and visions.

Honestly, I went through a whole host of emotions when reading this; both Sam and Sadie did well at being really frustrating characters, and at times they were so selfish I don't know how they even managed to stay friends. However, there are definitely instances where I could relate to how they felt, in one way or another... and those times were probably the most heartbreaking. I feel like this book does well at teaching you a lot about how much the relationships we make are of the utmost importance, and that we learn a lot from each other to grow and develop into who we become.

In a way, this book makes you feel like not much happens, but at the same time a lot also happens. There were some slow parts, and some frustrating parts, but for the majority of the story I was immersed among this "world" of video game creation, interested to find out where Sadie and Sam's dreams and imaginations would lead them to next.

I haven't yet read any of Gabrielle Zevin's other books, though I'm definitely more inclined to now. I look forward to seeing what else she may well write about in the future.

Loved this, I couldn't put it down. A book about friendship, growing up and video games, it is easy to read and yet full of layers.

I really loved this book! I liked the character dynamics and their relationships felt organic and real, and I also thought Sam's disability was handled well. At over six-hundred pages long, there were times while reading when I thought it probably didn't need to be that long, and occassionally dragged on a bit for me, but I loved the characters and the story was compelling enough to stick with it regardless. After finishing the book, I found that one of my local Waterstones bookshops were hosting an event with the author as part of her book tour, and it was great to hear her talk about the book and how she went about writing it. I didn't buy a copy then, but I will be once the paperback edition is published!

I loved this. Beautifully and sensitively written, it’s a story of friendship, love and computer games spanning 30 years from when Sam and Sadie meet as teenagers in a hospital – Sadie is there for her sick sister, Sam has been injured in a car crash – and they instantly bond playing games. We follow their lives and loves over the succeeding decades, and their careers as game designers. Not that you have to be at all interested in computer games to enjoy this novel – although I found it really interesting discovering more about this to me rather alien world – as at heart this is essentially a human story about often vulnerable young people making their way in a frequently complex and difficult world, and I found it a multi-layered, immersive and deeply moving read.

I loved this book. Very original and a pleasure to read, even if very sad at times. I love that the characters are unpredictable yet you can understand why they behave the way they do. Even with such a dysfunctional dynamic, you could see the deep love the main characters had for each other. It was very refreshing to see a woman represented as such a force of nature in the gaming industry and see a friendship between a man and a woman depicted.

'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' is an absolutely brilliant novel about gaming and also about so much more which, as many reviews have noted, requires absolutely no prior interest in or knowledge of computer games.

Gabrielle Zevin's novel follows the relationship between Sam Mazer and Sadie Green who connect through their shared love as gaming as teenagers, create a game together as college students and then go into business together. Theirs is a deeply intimate but also complex relationship - at times they are as close as lovers but, as we learn quite early in the novel, they are also capable of going for years at a time without speaking to each other. A third important character in the novel is their friend Marx Watanabe, Sam's college roommate who becomes producer of their games and whose relationships with Sam and Sadie complicates their relationship with each other.

Zevin offers one of the best fictional explorations I have ever read of creative endeavour and collaboration with all its tensions, compromises and jealousies - the only other novel I can think of that manages something similar is Joseph O'Connor's 'Shadowplay' in a very different context. The novel also reminded me somewhat of Hanya Yanagihara's 'A Little Life' in the way that it follows a group of high-achieving college students into adulthood, and also in its presentation of disability - although this is a far less traumatic read!

Although this is a novel about much bigger themes than life, love and loss, it is still at its heart all about gaming, and Zevin succeeds in making the world of gaming completely absorbing and fascinating even to non-gamers. The novel invites us to consider the ways in parallels between gaming and real life, but also the contrasts and the infinite opportunities to start again that gaming offers us, which links to the Shakespearean reference in the title.

Zevin's writing is beautiful and totally assured, and I was completely immersed in this novel from start to finish. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

This was so fun! Thisnwas definitly a pretty cover request, but not just the cover was good. The gaming part is fun, but I really enjoyed the friendships and writing style.

What an incredible book! I finished it a week ago and I can't stop thinking about Sadie, Sam and Marx. You can always tell when an author puts a lot of heart into their stories and this is totally the case. I will be surprised if this doesn't end up top of all the 'best of 2022' lists in a few months, and I will definitely be recommending this to friends and strangers for a long time, for sure.

My god, this book was beautiful. Thanks to being born in the 1980s and growing up with an older brother who always had the latest games console, then spending my 20s playing an MMORPG, a lot of the content in the book really resonated with me. The games references and technical lingo were all like a nostalgic callback to when I used to play.

As much as it is about three friends designing a game, the author has explored issues surrounding the creative process, and how wanting to create perfection can lead to creating nothing. She has written about mental health matters such as depression, suicide, as well as working through trauma, coping with disability, grief, etc. Sadie’s a woman in STEM and the author has portrayed the issues surrounding that nicely.

Take away the gaming and the book is about love and friendship. I found it very well written, heartwarming and at points I cried at how sad it was. I loved this book and will read her others!!

This book immediately drew me in. Sadie and Sam met as children in hospital, and bonded over video games, but have a falling out. They meet later and we learn about both their lives and watch their intense friendship develop over the years. They build video games together, and I loved the insight into an industry I knew very little about. Sadie’ s growth in particular, fighting sexism and the difficulties of an abusive relationship with her university professor, was very well described. It is really a book about friendship and relationships, and I enjoyed the large 1990s/ 2000s setting and the way games were well described and linked into the plot. One I didn’t’ want to put down.

I thought this was really well written, I knew nothing about the actual plot but that didn’t deter me from enjoying it.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

This is proper comfort food - nothing pretentious but perfectly executed and good for the soul. A book to get lost in, like a good videogame.

It is the story of the friendship between Sam and Sadie who become best childhood friends while playing Nintendo in a Los Angeles hospital. They don't see each other for 8 years and then accidentally meet as students in Boston in the mid-1990s and decide to create a videogame together.

I loved my videogames when I was younger, but even if you don't like them the book is still worthwhile: it is a beautiful, warm and moving story about friendship and love.

I don't really know how to describe this wonderful book. It's a book to read more than once as it has so much depth and subtlety that reading only once would do it an injustice.

The story centres around Sadie and Sam, who become friends in hospital. Sam has been mute since the car accident that left him with physical and emotional scars. Sadie's sister has leukaemia and Sadie becomes invisible. Together they game and a bond is formed, that though fractured at times, will endure and become something indefinable. It will define their careers, their relationships and will be challenging in so many ways. But ultimately it will prove that friendships like theirs is something precious and rare.

Really beautifully written, highly original and a book to ponder on and return to.

I loved this book. The side characters supported the main story wonderfully and provided a light relief to the toxic and strained relationship between the main characters.
This book provides an insight into the gaming industry, specifically the experience of independent game publishers, while touching on themes of racism, feminism, disability and mental health concerns. There was so much this book was trying to do, and I really feel it managed to approach it all with a compassion and authentic experience that really comes across in the book.

I'm not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination so I was nervous about this one. I needn't have been, there was much to love here. Don't get me wrong, it's very much centred on games. Playing them, building them, philosophising about them.

But all of it is wrapped up in so much humanity. I've actually found myself having quite an emotional reaction to this. Really it's the characters who kept bringing me back. Across the board, they're tender and angry and messy. Yet between failures and triumps, fights and falling in love, betrayal and loss, they keep coming back together.

Need to reflect on it for a bit but it's getting hype for a reason.

This was nothing like what I was expecting - I'm not sure what I was expecting but this book really was fantastic. Whilst it is clearly a YA book in many ways, it is destined to become a classic for all ages. I've never been a gamer but was born just before Sam and Sadie so it took me right back to that era as I had a boyfriend who used to play some of the games they referenced. Moving, beautifully written and thought-provoking, this book will stay with me for a long time.

So to preface, I am not a gamer. I was born in the 90s but we didn’t have games or a lot of technology in the house. I have only occasionally games but my husband loves gaming.

This book offers an insight into the world of gaming that is accessible for non-gamers like me. It’s full of nostalgia from the 80s 90s and early 2000s and is great as a social commentary to the changing world through those decades, especially technology but also other areas as well. The book focuses on two friends initially who bond over their love of gaming as a child. They lose contact and reunite during college where they meet another friend Marx who between the three of them start to create games together. The book shows their developing friendship, relationships and their careers. if you love retro gaming I think you will love this book a lot. If you don’t, the book is really enjoyable and has taught me more about the gaming industry and games. A unique story, I found it a bit slower paced than other books but I feel like it has such a unique quality and it’s a topic I have never read about before.

Despite knowing nothing about gaming, I absolutely loved this clever, poignant and inclusive novel. The story follows childhood friends Sam and Sadie over several decades, as we see them navigate friendship, love, illness and disability, all the while creating immersive video games that offer an alternative reality. Ultimately this is a novel about different kinds of love; it will undoubtedly speak to many readers, gamers or not.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a book about gaming but it is also a book about friendship.
Our key characters are Sadie Green and Sam Masur. Both reserved, they have a shared love of gaming. Their bond is almost obsessive, and from the moment they meet in hospital to the closing pages of the book, we see the role gaming has in their lives.
While in college they design a best-selling game…and with some help from Sam’s room-mate, Marx, game design becomes their world. A start-up created through shared passion, and though there were sections of the book where the gaming talk became a little much there was plenty to keep our interest.
While we’re immersed in the world of gaming, Zevin’s focus is also the dynamics between the key characters and the relationship shared by Sam and Sadie. Complicated, fragile and prone to over-reactions, these two seemed to have a closer relationship than most lovers. Marx’s role seemed to be to bridge the gaps between the two, and yet it seemed rather cruel to dispose of him in the way Zevin did.
This was a solid 3.5 star read for me, but I’ve rounded it up because there were some moments within the book that resonated. Of all the games mentioned within the book I’m surprised that they went with the Emily poetry one to help generate interest…
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this.