I was sent a copy of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin to read and review by NetGalley. I was looking forward to reading this novel after such rave reviews and the first chapter or two hooked me in quite well. Unfortunately the further into the book I got the more disheartened I became. For me the writing became rather flat and quite repetitive and I have absolutely no interest in computer/video games at all, which didn’t help. I tried to persevere as I do not like to give up on a book, but I came to a point (only 20% in) when I realized that I was not enjoying the writing at all and decided to give up on it. While I am sad in some way not to give this novel more of a chance, I feel there are plenty of people out there for who this will be the perfect read, so I hand it over to them.

I found this intriguing. It is a beautifully woven story of relationships and love. Platonic, romantic, familial. Sam and Sadie meet as 12 year olds and bond over gaming. A misunderstanding tears their friendship apart until they meet as students in New York years later. They naturally come together and renew their friendship, and as avid gamers, they design a video game together. This is back in the 1990s when gaming is new and fresh, and the internet still in the future. With help in production from their friend Marx, they find success and their company Unfair Games is born. Further success follows, alongside Sam's deteriorating health that he won't acknowledge. The friends move the company back to their hometown of LA. Various misunderstandings fracture the friendship, but the underlying bond is strong, and their need to make games together. We go through their formative adult years with Sam and Sadie, and Marx always involved in both lives. It's interesting to see their friendship and know the strength of their love. A tragic event causes a real break in the relationship and we don't know if they'll ever get over it. I really enjoyed this, seeing games mirroring life, seeing the mistakes they make as they go through life, but how love and friendship are the backbone of all we do. #netgalley #tomorrowandtomorrowandtomorrow

When I started this book it was a strong five stars. I loved the nostalgia (for me) and the writing style. Sam and Sadie were such interesting characters and I was completely absorbed in their story. However, I felt the novel could have benefitted from being a bit shorter and the narrative slowed somewhat in the middle. I have recommended it to many customers and bought several copies for friends. A film adaptation has to be on the horizon!!!

“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.”

My thanks to Random House U.K. Vintage Chatto & Windus for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ by Gabrielle Zevin.

This unique novel opens in 1987 with two kids meeting in a hospital gaming room. Sadie is there visiting her sister, while Sam is recovering from a car. They bond over their love of video games. Eight years later they see each other in a crowded train station and quickly reconnect.

They decide to work together on what they both love - creating games that delight, challenge, and immerse players. Their collaborations make them superstars in the gaming world. However, with success comes other challenges that threaten their bond.

This novel was a delight. It examines themes of friendship and love, as well as identity, creativity, living with disability, failure, and the possibilities offered by play.

I found ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ a novel packed full of feels. I laughed and cried and throughout felt myself there alongside Sam and Sadie as they met the various challenges that the game called Life throws at them. This emotional engagement was balanced by plenty of stimulating ideas.

Overall, I found ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ excellent. While I am not a gamer this proved no barrier to my sense of engagement with the plot or characters. It’s the kind of novel that I likely will reread in order to appreciate its multiple levels (no gaming pun intended).

The novel’s cover is very striking and depicts Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa, which is referenced a number of times in the novel.

Highly recommended.

If Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote The Social Network, you'd get this book. Cleverly written and plotted, with a lot of emotion on the page. I'd call this a literary love story, but be careful going into this that it is not a romance but rather a love letter to gaming and friendship.

I enjoyed reading this one so much and stayed up until 2 am finishing it. The gaming aspect is what drew me into this as a lifelong gamer myself, but I believe you could love this even if you don't game yourself. The characters and their friendship dynamics make this story, so I feel like this is something everyone can relate to.

I especially loved Zevin's writing style. It felt simultaneously detached and emotional. It had the fast-paced quippiness of an Aaron Sorkin movie, but with the fun and quirk of an Emily Henry book. And spanning so many years of history of one gaming company and the people in it, it read like a gamer version of Daisy Jones & The Six.

The book also deals with some heavier topics so I would advise to look up content warnings for this one (disease, death, grief, abusive relationships and more are part of the narrative), but I felt like all of them were handled with a lot of care and never portrayed in a gratuitous way.

I don't want to spoil anything, but one of the later plot points had me sobbing uncontrollably - so be prepared that this will be a highly emotional ride. I'm stating this explicitly because you might not expect this kind of emotional depth from "a story about a gaming company".

Lastly I want to mention the highly imaginative video games the author came up with for the characters to develop. I loved all of them and would love to play them all (especially EmilyBlaster!).

This book was an utter delight and so far one of my absolute top reads of the year.

(Thank you to NetGalley, Gabrielle Zevin and Random House UK, Vintage, Chatto & Windus for providing me with an eARC for this book in exchange for my honest feedback. All opinions in this review are my own.)

"This is not a romance, but it is about love."

I don't think I really have the words to do this book justice.
What an incredible novel! Truly unique.

This is a story of love, friendship and loss, and in some ways, a modern history lesson. As a bit of a gamer (and proud nerd), I loved the nostalgic, time capsule-like feel to this story as it spans 30 odd years of gaming history. But, don't worry—you don't have to be a gamer to enjoy the novel.

The inclusion of Marx's POV (a Non-playable-character or NPC) was genius.
It reminded me a little of the recent Ryan Renolds film—Free Guy. (Brilliant btw.)
TaTaT would be its older, more serious and meaningful brother.

In summary:
A hidden gem and modern classic, written beautifully.

I have such a book hangover after reading this beautiful book. Nothing seems to match up to Marx, Sam and Sadie - I absolutely loved them. ❤️

This is not my usual genre of book and I am not the target audience. Having said that, T & T & T is wonderful! Happy, sad, tragic, touching, life-affirming and with characters you want as your friends (though maybe not so self-searching - coming to conclusions that would be best to be spoken about instead of 'dwelling').
The true, deep love between two of the main characters is beautiful, albeit rocky and troubled. There is no 'relationship to describe what they have - friendship is not special enough. Lovers they are not. The third one of the trio is a lovable, loyal friend to first one, then both.

The energy of both gender fluidity and sexuality-blurring of youth is uplifting and positive. I loved the blurring of reality and gaming (about three quarters of the way throghy) and the sheer imagination of these creative people beginning to make these 'alter-worlds' and games in the early 2000s. The absolute determination, tenaciousness and attention to detail (and lack of sleep while doing so!) is astounding.

But it is the characters' stories that are central to this book. I read it to see if I could get my (programmer) son to read a book (lol) - but I'm so sure this is going to be made into a TV series or film, he probably won't need to! I personally look forward to that but nothing will equal the pleasure of reading this. It grabs your emotions: I sobbed loudly, on a public beach (no gentle tears, easily camoflaged); I laughed out loud. I loved it - and will be recommending it to everyone.

This book took me a little while to get into but the second half floored me, it make me sob and I loved it.

The time it was set and all the references gave me all the nostalgia and it thought the insight into the world of game developers at that time was fascinating.

I also couldn’t stop seeing comparisons between Sam and Jude from a little life!

I think this book is probably already huge, so no one really needs to know what I thought of it... but I loved it. It's about friendship and love and creativity and escapism. About chronic pain and vulnerability (physical and emotional). It's charming and funny and sometimes heartbreaking and at one point I wanted to put it in the freezer. I didn't want it to end.

Absolutely loved this and couldn’t put it down. You don’t need to be into gaming to enjoy this book (I’m not), but I imagine it would be very satisfying if you were. Gabrielle Zevin has written a very emotionally mature book about love and friendship, and it’s also very insightful on the subject of creativity. I’m recommending this one to everyone.

11 year olds Sam and Sadie meet when Sam is in hospital recovering from a car crash and Sadie is visiting her sister who is fighting cancer. They bond over a game of Super Mario and a lifelong friendship begins.

We follow that friendship through all of its ups and downs with a constant theme of video games. From their first meeting and throughout their lives, it is this constant link to video games that keeps them coming back to each other.

I am not a huge gamer, but I do live with one, so have some knowledge, and I think knowing at least a little about famous games will make this more relatable. But while the theme is ever present, the real story is around the enduring relationship between Sam and Sadie throughout the 90's/00's/10's, marking some significant subjects and incidents along the way.

This book feels like a breath of fresh air, and it is somewhat surprising that they aren't more books that feature video games, accidental Zelda recipes aside.

We follow a team of young game designers across various stages of their lives, from their childhood discovery of video games, to their growing love of them, to their early forays into the game industry, and to being experts in the field sharing their wisdom and watching the next generation rise up.

The time can jump about a bit, which is a little jarring at times, but you quickly get used to it, and it stops the book from feeling too linear, or building towards a predictable end. In that sense, the book quite neatly mirrors the games it is inspired by, building new narratives and layering them.

I found it fascinating to get a peek into the creative process behind making a game, but most of all, what shines through is the author's own absolute passion for stories and gaming. It is there on every page, and this book feels like the best kind of love letter to games.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a book that it was impossible to rush through. Normally when I get really into a book, I want to read it quickly because I'm enjoying it so much, but I found myself slowing down in order to savour this one. Sadie, Sam and Marx are a trio that work perfectly together, both within the plot and as fictional characters. Their story held me captive from start to finish as I cheered their successes and wept for their failures. They leapt off the page and sprung into life and when I was away from them, I found myself wondering what they were getting up to.

One of the things I loved about this book was that it kept me guessing the whole way through. Every time I thought I could tell what was going to happen, Zevin subverted my expectations and took the plot in a different direction, until it eventually circled back around to my original expectation, but fulfilled in a way I hadn't expected.

Much of the plot centres around the creation of video games and as someone who has zero interest in them, I was surprised to discover that some of my favourite parts of the book were the ones which were centred around events in the games Sadie and Sam create. However, there was one stand-out passage where the writing was quite simply, exquisite. I can't go into too much detail as it would give away a major plot point. However, suffice to say, it described something that very few, if any, people experience and truly remember. It was heartbreakingly beautiful and so well explained that I was utterly convinced of its authenticity. Zevin's writing is truly wonderful.

At its core, the book is about love. Not romance. Love. In all its forms and all its beauty. It celebrates the vulnerability that love brings with it and the powerful transformative effect it has on people's lives. More than that, it is a celebration of friendship.

A much-hyped new release, with a really high rating on Goodreads, lots of very promising early reviews and a movie adaptation in the works, I’m feeling a little ambivalent towards this book.

Sam and Sadie are childhood friends. They meet when Sam is in hospital recovering from a serious car crash and Sadie is visiting her sister who is recovering from cancer. They bond over their love of gaming and build the foundations of a lifelong friendship that will be tested many times over their lives.

At just over 400 pages, this book feels a lot longer, mainly, I think, down to uneven pacing. The midsection of the book really dawdles along and I found myself coming up with any excuse not to pick it up.

And despite many reviews saying “you don’t need to have an interest in gaming to love this book”, I would argue the contrary. There’s a lot of games, gamer talk and gaming culture that will really resonate with lots of people. It didn’t with me. Gaming is about as interesting to me as fly-fishing or basket-weaving, despite my kids’ best efforts to tell me regularly about their Minecraft world.

There’s a passage in the last quarter of the book where a game (Pioneers) is being played and the story of the game is told in painstaking, tedious detail. To say I found myself rolling my eyes and wanting to skim read it is an understatement. It knocked a star off for me.

There is lots to love about this book too. The two main characters are given lots of depth and room to grow. Sadie and Sam make for a pretty dislikeable pair a lot of the time but they are fully realised as characters and the portrayal of Sam’s chronic pain is vivid and insightful. The climax of the book is dramatic and gripping and the aftermath of the event in question is pretty devastating.

Would I recommend it? Yes, with the caveat that there’s a lot of gaming in it that may grate after a while if it’s not your thing. There’s a wonderful story of platonic friendship in there too, but you’ll have to wade through some MMORPG* to get to it (anyone else just hear the voice of Rex from Toy Story when they read that in the book?!). 3-3.5/5 ⭐️

*massively multi-player online role play game

*Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was published yesterday by @chattowindus @vintagebooks. Many thanks to the publisher and @Netgalley for the ARC. As always, this is an honest review.*

In my top 5 reads of 2022! Really excellent, reminded me a bit of A Little Life (tragic in parts and follows a group of friends over 20ish years). I loved all the gaming regencies and I thought that element of the book was really unique without being too exclusionary to people who don’t game.

This is a new author for me. I knew I wanted to read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow when I read the blurb. I’m a gamer so this appealed to the geek in me. I enjoyed the book a lot. I liked the way the book explores the friendship between Sam and Sadie. It really warmed my heart. The geek in me loved all the video game references. I laughed a lot reading this but there are some sombre, almost heart-breaking moments as well.

New favourite of the year. Scrap that - maybe of all time?

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, follows Sadie and Sam from childhood (and their experiences in a children's hospital), to their adulthood (where they create video games together). I adored the switch in timelines, and absolutely adored the characters - Sadie and Sam are wonderful, but I think my favourite has to be Marx (Sam's best friend and college roommate). Gah, they're all so wonderful.

Not only did this book pull at my heart strings, but it has made me so keen to explore more of Nevin's work, and more stories through video games. I love books (and can't get enough of reading), but this definitely encouraged me to explore more mediums.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Vintage for this copy.

Sam and Sadie are the friends at the heart of this book, tied together by childhood friendship, youthful innovation, work colleagues and so much more. Their story spans many years and takes in the triumphs and the tragedies that they encounter and what they share.
While their relationship isn't a sexual one, the book explores the depth of love and friendship between the two as they age, and the tenderness with which they treat each other .
As well as exploring this relationship, the novel sketches out the world of computer gaming from its infancy, and captures the excitement of creating work you love that sees commercial success in the wider world.
It's a very touching book about friendship, about enduring pain, and about keeping on despite everything else.

I absolutely loved this book. I really enjoy novels that follow a character or handful of characters over an extended period of time and this has to be one of the best I’ve read that does this.

‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ follows Sam and Sadie, firstly as two eleven-year-olds that meet in a hospital recreation room, through to university and then into their professional careers as computer games designers. Sam’s roommate, Marx, becomes key to both their personal and professional lives and quickly became my favourite character of the three, often acting as a sounding board, driving force and mediator.

I found I ended up caring deeply about the characters and the experiences they go through, and – although not a gamer particularly – I also enjoyed the gaming references and a look at how PC and console games were developed. Another aspect to the novel I enjoyed was the 1990s / early 2000s time frame, which surprised me given that I’m a geriatric millennial (slightly younger than the characters) and I had to come to terms with my childhood now being written as historical fiction!

One of the novel’s most remarkable feats is the deftness of touch with which weighty subjects are handled, but still delivered with the depth, compassion and the gravitas they deserve. A key example is the way in which Sam lives with and comes to terms with his disability – I have a little limited experience of this myself, and it is so well portrayed here. Other subjects include race, sexuality, and the not inconsiderable issue of how friendships and relationships evolve over time.

I am afraid that this review has barely done the book justice but I will definitely be re-reading this book again and again, and soon, and that is one of the highest compliments I can give.

SPOILER/TW: It’s worth mentioning that this book contains subject matter that some may find upsetting or triggering, including a suicide, a fatal car accident, and a mass shooting.

I’d like to express my sincerest gratitude to the publishers, Vintage, and to NetGalley, for sharing with me the advance copy on which this review is based.