Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

This Halt and Catch Fire odyssey through the 90s and 2000s gaming industry is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Sadie and Sam met by chance and the trajectory of their lives changed forever. Their platonic friendship bordered on something more but both struggle to bring what that is into focus for the entire book.

As a gamer, the references to real games and creators a lá Ready Player One were easy to follow but Zevin is careful to prioritize and thread context with character development in her storytelling. I loved that the games Sadie and Sam created ran parallel to their relationship and mental and emotional states.

The way Zevin writes neurodivergent Sam was truly beautiful. I understood his triggers and blockers without being told. I understood how his childhood and friendship with Sadie influenced him and his art. Yet, Sam was deep and multifaceted.

Real talk though: Sadie infuriated me to no end in the second half. Her arc seems to putter to a stop and I don't feel she learns or grows from her mistakes, but I couldn't decide if it was out of egoism or self-preservation. She doesn't even apologize to Sam for the way she treated him after <spoiler> what happened to Marx. </spoiler> Sadie was a gaming Scarlet O'Hara, enduring to the point of selfishness in spite of how she used and hurt the people closest to her. <spoiler>Then, she had the gall to blame Sam for her disastrous relationship with Dov. Then she kept her ongoing thing with Dov, even after everything? And her perspective on trying not to look at Naomi because she reminded her of Marx? Naomi thing felt like a prop anyway.</spoiler> Pure cringe. I guess in that respect this book mirrors life--some people get lost in tragedy and let it frame the rest of their lives.

Overall, loved Sadie and Sam's complex relationship and even the ending, as spare as it was. I feel Sadie and Sam were both on their own healing journeys, even though I didn't feel like I saw their conclusion. Brave to end a book like that--beautifully minimalist but full of so much love as two fractured people try to move forward in the best way they can.

What an incredible, incredible, incredible book. As someone who’s never read this style of book before I was unsure that a story about game developers would have enough to it to engage me, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I ended up forcing myself to slow down and savor this story because i wanted to spend as much time with Sadie and Sam as possible. They are two of my favorite characters ever, the dynamic between them and the way it evolves throughout the story is what makes this book shine and the place it leaves them in I think was exactly where they were meant to be, despite all the ups and downs they faced on the journey. I also wanted to mention the NPC chapter. It was stunning and devastating, but so beautifully written. I felt like I should be in tears, and I think I would have been if I hadn’t been too busy being engrossed in the writing, specifically the way it was switching states of consciousness at all times. This became an instant classic in my mind and a book I will remember reading forever.

1.75 stars
I don't understand the hype around this book. The writing tone is inconsistent, sometimes juvenile and not in a good way. The characters, especially Sadie were extremely unlikeable, not even in a morally gray way, but in a malicious she-wanted-to-be-chased way, often with admittance that she knew all along the opposite of what she is accusing people of. She also engaged in vile actions as well. The writing was cheesy and redundant, often illogical. For ex., excessive comparisons of real life things to being a game designer, including some aspects of motherhood and how Sadie dehumanized her own child to be able to make sense that this child is their own person by comparing her to a game character. The dialogue was clunky. The ending, after 500 pages was extremely unsatisfying and dull. The writing dragged on. It was unnecessarily long.
One thing in particular I hated was the author deliberately letting 2 years pass in the narration, moving to a different set of events after those two years, not even grand events, and then filling in the gaps of those 2 years in retrospect . It was fine the first few times, but it became super annoying very fast. The ending made it feel that all that reading was severely pointless.

There's a rare but delightful category of great books - something like ‘Books I wouldn't necessarily want to read based on the premise, but can't put down once I start' - and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow falls squarely into it. I was inspired to read this book about 1% based on its description, 99% based on rave reviews from people I trust; I don't have much to add to their effusive commentary other than to say the hype is JUSTIFIED. I was utterly invested in the three characters, I was engrossed by the plot, and I even managed to grow curious about video games - something I genuinely never thought I'd say. I found this book fascinating, heartrending, and heartwarming, and I'll be purchasing a hard copy when it's published - this is a book that warrants at least one reread, and I can't wait to lend it out.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for my ARC.

I am wanting to edit this review so I can focus on the issues with this book, most importantly, the problematic ones.

Throughout the book, Israel is mentioned many times and at one point the main character begins to read a book labelled
‘The founding of Israel' and I am going to explain exactly why this is problematic.

The name of the book itself is harmful and erases the true meaning of what occurred for this ‘founding'. This was the Nakba.

The Nakba was the violent displacement and the destruction of their society, culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations. This caused the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians and the depopulation and destruction of over 500 Palestinian villages by the zionist militias and later the Israeli army and subsequent geographical erasure, the denial of the Palestinian right of return, the creation of permanent Palestinian refugees and the “shatters of Palestinian society”.

reference: Nakba

It is now 2023 and we are witnessing the second Nakba. Survivors of the 1948 Nakba are experiencing it again and this is a direct result, again, by the Israeli army. 2 million Palestinians have been displaced, over 27,000 injured and over 12,000 have been killed (not including those who remain stuck under the rubble) and this is a number that grows every single minute, hour and day.

We are witnessing a mass genocide and ethnic cleansing.

So, yeah. ‘The founding of Israel' let's call it what it is.

An occupation over Palestine that has been going on for 75+ years.

Free Palestine.

Idk how this is a book ostensibly about what great friends these two are and the power of friendship and yada yada when these are two of the most toxic, least friendly individuals I've ever read about. Aspects of this book were really good but the two main characters were so consistently poor at communicating and just the general concept of what a friend is, but we keep getting told how important their friendship is and how they have a bond for the ages and I just absolutely don't agree. So that soured me somewhat. Very toxic portrayal of friendship from the ground up.

I also didn't like how the author had every single character talk about life as if it's a game or the things they've learned from games just because they're gamers. I'm a gamer and I have lived my whole life around gamers and at no point has any of them waxed pontific about how the decisions they make in life are vaguely game like or that you can start over in a game but you can't in life and there are save points in games but there's no save points in life and yada yada. It would be fine if this was one character's viewpoint but it's everyone, always, even in life or death situations. Just very on the nose.

But this book did get genuine emotion out of me several times and had me close to tears at one point. The writing is very good and I think I would have liked the portrayal of the main characters more if we weren't constantly told how important they were to each other, because the character voices and personalities, in isolation, were well done.

God this was awful. Highly unsatisfactory ending, with equally unsatisfactory middle. Could've been so much better if Sadie and Sam weren't so bad with each other. Childhood friends, my ass. I actually liked the gaming parts a lot. Poor Marx. Can't believe how hyped this was, and how flat it fell. Pffffffft.

I saw this on a few Best of 2022 lists so I figured I would give it a shot when it was available through the library.

This is a decades-spanning interpersonal drama that is centered around characters that make video games for a living. It was always teetering on the edge of being a bit cringey, as classic games are used as metaphors for different stages of life and relationships, but game development as a conduit for both forging bonds and creating tension works as well as any other creative field.

I enjoyed reading this, but I'm not sure that it will stick in my mind.

I didn't hate this, but I didn't love this either.

The timeline was confusing and all over the place. It was hard to figure out what timeframe each chapter was in as it was constantly switching around.

Sadie and Sam's relationship is very complex and frustrating. During their childhood, the immaturity makes sense but as they get older, it doesn't and it's incredibly frustrating and annoying as they both refuse to grow and self-reflect. They both hide behind parts of themselves they didn't like and used it as an excuse to be horrible to each other. Again, I get it in childhood but not adulthood.

I enjoyed the videogame references as I have played many mentioned in the book. The first game they created, Ichigo, is one that I'd definitely play if it were real. However, some of the games they created were incredibly unrealistic and unfortunately it really took away from the story for me.

Also, I absolutely hated Dov as a character, which is fine as he isn't really supposed to be a likeable character but all of the parts he was in were incredibly cringe, unneeded, and made me nauseous.

All in all, I get what the author was trying to convey and the message but I feel that it was poorly executed.

An ode to video games and the creation of art, this book tells the story of two childhood friends with a complicated personal relationship and an epic creative collaboration. Sam and Sadie meet as youngsters under fraught circumstances and forge a bond over video games. Years later as young adults, they cross paths again and feel a magnetic, unstoppable pull to create games together. Their strengths compliment each other, but their unrelenting passion (/stubbornness) to actualize their vision often puts them at intense creative odds. But through the turbulence of their lives, they always come back to the game.

Firstly, thank you to Alyssa for sending me a copy of this book! After seeing it on so many TBRs and reading positive reviews, I was eager to see what the hype was about. Sadly for me, this book was just okay. Many aspects of reading this book – tangibles and intangibles – made the narrative feel unbelievable to me. And when the narrative is unbelievable, I can't immerse myself in it. I feel like a reader reading rather than an emotionally invested third party. The traumas the characters experience don't feel real. Most of the characters are unlikeable, and the only character that is likable is faultless, and therefore completely unbelievable. The “love” between characters doesn't feel real, or developed enough. The author experiments with different narrative styles, but never sticks to one, which feels indecisive and fractured.

I enjoyed some of the video game metaphors for life, appreciated the literary references, and found the reading experience to be easy and at least somewhat pleasant. I can see how this book might resonate more for those with a passion for video games, but I didn't find it particularly special.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow takes you on an excellent journey through the lives of three excellent friends as they build a company in the rapidly growing video game industry. Each of them have their own unique challenges that ultimately tests their friendship with each other. The book explores true friendship, overcoming loss, and dealing with people's negative traits while celebrating successes.

I spent some time reflecting on this book and it's a great book, but not in the ways I expected. To be honest, the characters themselves did not draw me in. But I loved what the author did with the Anna Lee motif, the references to Shakespeare that enhanced the tragicomedy, and aphorisms. Still an excellent read but not at all what I expected based on my experiences with A.J. Fikry and Young Jane Young.

I read this book mainly in the lab aloud to my friends and coworkers, which was a whole experience of its own and definitely made me enjoy the book more, especially in the beginning. I like the characters, or some of them anyway. All of them but Marx got on my nerves are some point. 

I loved the descriptions of the games and the references that the story got back to later in the book. Like Anne Lee and the secret roads. Reading the book did get very heavy near the end. The last part of the book didn't really have a point. It wound itself down a little. It became slow and just fully filled with sadness. The ending also didn't feel at all satisfying. Still a great book though. 

This was such an amazing read! Definitely understood all the hype that has surrounded it! I had my request for it accepted on NetGalley and I honestly don't know why I waited so long to read it!

Apart from an interesting cast of characters, I loved the gaming aspect of the story!

I loved Sam, Sadie and Marx. The relationship between Sam and Sadie was so complex though.

I loved the way the story ended.

I would definitely highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Gabrielle Zevin and publishers Random House UK, Vintage and Chatto & Windus.

This has been the best book purchase I've ever made, and I am proud to add it to my list of favorite books. I am feeling so many emotions right now, as the book is complex in many ways. The characters are complex, and I had complex feelings towards them. What I loved most about this book was that I could take the characters for who they were, as completely separate and real people. I didn't need to relate to them, so I wasn't annoyed by their actions even when I thought they should do something differently. Still, that didn't prevent me from emotionally attaching to Sam, Sadie, and especially Marx. I often feel like an NPC too, but that doesn't mean that I'm unimportant to the story.

The book's depiction of a non-fairytale friendship, impacted by the characters' successes and failures in game development, fascinated me. The author expertly showcased how individuals can view the same issue differently, a rarity in books where characters often have one-dimensional traits and connections. The realistic portrayal of complex relationships in Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow stood out to me, making the characters feel genuine and flawed. I was greatly impressed with the book's ability to capture the intricacies of human connections and perception.

The back and forth of Sadie and Sam's friendship reminded me a lot of Normal People by Sally Rooney. I hated Normal People. That book and its characters made me want to scream. A lot. With Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, I got what I so wished for - a difficult but believable relationship, characters with more substance than pretention, and last but not least - quotation marks in dialogues.

To sum up, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a brilliant book that came crashing through my emotional walls like a tornado and left a lasting impact on me. It made me cry like no other book has in a long time, and I still find myself thinking about it. The author's handling of multiple character deaths was masterful, and I never felt cheated or manipulated as a reader. Additionally, I appreciated the open ending, even though I usually prefer more closure. Sadie and Sam were complex, multi-layered characters, and a neatly defined ending would have felt artificial. Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys character-driven stories that explore the complexities of human relationships.

Every time the story goes beyond the fictional games as a reflection of the characters inner feelings it starts to drag, bordering on „hello fellow kids“-cringe with unneccecary (and implausible) references, which is a shame, because the rest of it is a fascinating examination of the complexity of relationships.

An engaging tale blending friendship, love, loss, and workplace dynamics in the world of game development. It offers a unique behind-the-scenes look at game creation, leading to a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed reading this, but found the pacing uneven and during the middle of the story, I found myself losing some interest.

Deeply lovely. Every character flawed but also feeling very human with delightful little details and unique family units. I loved all the deep thinking around games and how we play, and I loved all the mixed kid representation. It's rare to find books that feature mixed race or third culture kid protagonists, and it was so nice to see my community highlighted in all its complexity

technically fantastic and personally phenomenal. every character felt so thought out and honest. the pacing was wonderful. every time i thought the book might finally be coming to a lull, the chapter would prove itself crucial. and the setting, the crux that could've destroyed everything if it was handled apathetically, was incredibly respectful and real. it's a wonder to read something great and to feel great while reading it.