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petyapav's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism
bethantg's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I have such massively mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed the unique premise and the focus on video games, the discussion of disability/chronic illness and, for the most part, the writing. I say "for the most part" because I really did like the writing, the only thing that grated on me was the repetitive "x said, x said, x said," that sometimes occurred, but I should say that I listened to this as an audiobook, so maybe it's not as jarring when you're reading. Other than that, I do have some major gripes.
Firstly, I haven't read many reviews of this book so I don't know whether this is just a me thing or not, but the "women written by men" vibe was so strong that I was genuinely surprised when I double checked the author. Sam is pretty consistently a character that you can empathise with, and Sadie just is not. Her backstory is so poorly fleshed out and she has literally no arc. She literally just goes through a chain of boyfriends and gets depressed — worse because her depression is almost entirely witnessed from the outside, either just as absence or as her being rude to Sam. In contrast, Sam is almost always kind, is presented as just as overall skilled as Sadie, and is actually given his own perspective and thought processes, where Sadie is massively lacking. Trying to think of a part in the book where Sadie's thought process behind her behaviour is detailed, I can only think of very early on in the book when she wants to appear cool and calm during her first breakup. Which is crazy, she's literally meant to be one of the main characters. The other female characters are worse, which is semi-excusable on account of them being side characters, but also not at all considering how much comparable insight we get into male side characters like Ant, Dong Hyun, and even Marx (who obviously blurs the main/side character roles). Like Ant talks about very difficult, complex feelingssurrounding his guilt following the shooting and even just his mention of his complicated feelings about Simon and then there's Zoe. Zoe — who should be given more attention than Ant, given that she's Marx's girlfriend and supposedly Sadie's best friend (another issue) – is presented as a musical genius (who rarely talks about music) who is regularly nude. Just as much time is spent on that latter part as the first. She honestly only seems to exist as a reason for Marx and Sadie to not be together for a bit, to get the characters to move to California, and then to serve as a catalyst for Marx and Sadie to get together (which Sadie expresses no inkling of any mixed feelings about entering a relationship with the ex-boyfriend of the girl who was supposedly her best friend. Probably because they don't have an actually friendship, the author just says via Sadie that they're best friends, because that works I guess). Lola? Immediately irrelevant. The only relationships that are actually given attention are those involving men. Sadie and Sam, Sadie and Marx, Sadie and Dov. Sadie and Zoe? One or two scenes about miscellaneous activities together with no emotional depth. Sadie's roommate before Ichigo? Not even sure she gets a name. Sadie's grandma? Vaguely prominent at the start of the book, then just occasionally mentioned. Sadie's sister who she is originally introduced as being incredibly attached to? Forgotten for the majority of the book until she's vaguely mentioned at the end.
So it's a book mainly dominated by men's thoughts and feelings to the neglect of women's, which is cool for a book that wants to deal with sexism. As a result, Sam and Sadie's relationship, supposed to be this great portrayal of friendship persevering through age and trauma, just seems like Sadie causing problems and Sam being nice to her because ultimately he has romantic feelings for her. Made worse because even right at the end of the book,Sam asks why him and Sadie never pursued a relationship and once again it is Sadie who shuts him down, and Sam doesn't actually explicitly accept this, so it comes off like he still has feelings for her, which ruins the whole narrative that was given by Sadie and at other points in the book of "this is such a special relationship that it goes beyond romantic." In fact, the whole way through Sam expresses wanting a relationship, but it is people around Sam who prevent him having one, like Dong Hyun telling him he doesn't need that kind of relationship when he's literally just said he wants one. It's just strange, and gives the feeling of an incomplete explanation. If he had never had a relationship, that would have been fine, but it's the fact that he wants one but for multiple reasons is told no, which feels like the author telling him no more than anything. I can't help thinking this is also worse because Sam is the only character with a physical disability, and of course it's kind of a trope that physically disabled characters in media are presented as undesirable or asexual. And this isn't negated by the (once again unresolved) discussion of Sam's feelings around disability. He talks about not feeling disabled, about just having "a thing with his foot" and even about the social construction of disability, which as I mentioned at the start was something I really liked hearing discussed in a first-hand account. Unfortunately once again, right at the end Sam mentions feeling undesirable as a result of being disabled, and this is just brushed off. Disability, like sexism, toxic relationships and depression, is a topic that's picked up, a few interesting lines are said about it, and then it's dropped.
These incomplete discussions and Sadie's often absent perspective are a major part of what makes the characters feel incomplete — and therefore makes the story feel unsatisfying — to me. But what exacerbates that many times over is when the author just pops in an anachronistic rant. Yes it's the cultural appropriation thing. It happened pretty early on in the book but it was just stupid. Sam, who has mixed American, Jewish and Korean heritage, and Sadie, who is a Jewish American, make a game that is heavily inspired by Japanese culture and has Japanese characters. When questioned about cultural appropriation, Sam goes on quite a rant that makes interesting points, but has several issues with it — mainly the fact that it's not Sam saying it, it's the author. Marx, whose father is Japanese and who grew up in Japan, produced the game and had some pretty significant contributions to it (like the Japanese language component of Ichigo's name), and he is not mentioned. This is because Marx exists in the story, not the real world, and this is a real world argument being shoehorned into the story. It's also entirely unchallenged, and dropped right there. Also, in the final conversation of the book, Sadie says that had they made Ichigo then, almost twenty years after they did, they would have worried about cultural appropriation and not have made it. So Sam being questioned about this at the time is very clearly an anachronism, because it's even referenced here by Sadie that this wasn't a concern in that era (sometime in the 90s I believe). It's literally an admission that this just exists as a moment for the author to say their piece. Of course, she absolutely has the right to say this piece, but the in a work of fiction where it makes no sense for the time, not really. As I say, interesting points are made — Sam talks about how he doesn't feel connected to a single part of his heritage, but that he wouldn't have been called out for making a game inspired by it. But it's just a throwaway line that gets no development into a proper discussion whatsoever, and that's massively disappointing.
I would also say that this reads less like a story about friends and more about a story about two people relentlessly forced together by circumstance.From the moment that Sadie has that whole revelation with the Dead Sea disk that changes her entire view of Sam, they don't seem like friends at all. And the bit where it's implied that she would've preferred him to die rather than Marx, and the line that her apology "lacked the conviction of the attack" (great line btw)? Sam pack it up buddy she does not care about you.
Maybe these complaints I have are meant to contribute to the realism of the story. People don't always get satisfying character development or have deep, multifacted conversations about complex topics. People die on days like any other, and friendships are complicated. However, just as the characters discuss the perfected worlds of video games, where nonsensical things don't happen, so is the perfected nature of books, where characters and themes don't just get picked up and put down at whim.
Firstly, I haven't read many reviews of this book so I don't know whether this is just a me thing or not, but the "women written by men" vibe was so strong that I was genuinely surprised when I double checked the author. Sam is pretty consistently a character that you can empathise with, and Sadie just is not. Her backstory is so poorly fleshed out and she has literally no arc. She literally just goes through a chain of boyfriends and gets depressed — worse because her depression is almost entirely witnessed from the outside, either just as absence or as her being rude to Sam. In contrast, Sam is almost always kind, is presented as just as overall skilled as Sadie, and is actually given his own perspective and thought processes, where Sadie is massively lacking. Trying to think of a part in the book where Sadie's thought process behind her behaviour is detailed, I can only think of very early on in the book when she wants to appear cool and calm during her first breakup. Which is crazy, she's literally meant to be one of the main characters. The other female characters are worse, which is semi-excusable on account of them being side characters, but also not at all considering how much comparable insight we get into male side characters like Ant, Dong Hyun, and even Marx (who obviously blurs the main/side character roles). Like Ant talks about very difficult, complex feelings
So it's a book mainly dominated by men's thoughts and feelings to the neglect of women's, which is cool for a book that wants to deal with sexism. As a result, Sam and Sadie's relationship, supposed to be this great portrayal of friendship persevering through age and trauma, just seems like Sadie causing problems and Sam being nice to her because ultimately he has romantic feelings for her. Made worse because even right at the end of the book,
These incomplete discussions and Sadie's often absent perspective are a major part of what makes the characters feel incomplete — and therefore makes the story feel unsatisfying — to me. But what exacerbates that many times over is when the author just pops in an anachronistic rant. Yes it's the cultural appropriation thing. It happened pretty early on in the book but it was just stupid. Sam, who has mixed American, Jewish and Korean heritage, and Sadie, who is a Jewish American, make a game that is heavily inspired by Japanese culture and has Japanese characters. When questioned about cultural appropriation, Sam goes on quite a rant that makes interesting points, but has several issues with it — mainly the fact that it's not Sam saying it, it's the author. Marx, whose father is Japanese and who grew up in Japan, produced the game and had some pretty significant contributions to it (like the Japanese language component of Ichigo's name), and he is not mentioned. This is because Marx exists in the story, not the real world, and this is a real world argument being shoehorned into the story. It's also entirely unchallenged, and dropped right there. Also, in the final conversation of the book, Sadie says that had they made Ichigo then, almost twenty years after they did, they would have worried about cultural appropriation and not have made it. So Sam being questioned about this at the time is very clearly an anachronism, because it's even referenced here by Sadie that this wasn't a concern in that era (sometime in the 90s I believe). It's literally an admission that this just exists as a moment for the author to say their piece. Of course, she absolutely has the right to say this piece, but the in a work of fiction where it makes no sense for the time, not really. As I say, interesting points are made — Sam talks about how he doesn't feel connected to a single part of his heritage, but that he wouldn't have been called out for making a game inspired by it. But it's just a throwaway line that gets no development into a proper discussion whatsoever, and that's massively disappointing.
I would also say that this reads less like a story about friends and more about a story about two people relentlessly forced together by circumstance.
Maybe these complaints I have are meant to contribute to the realism of the story. People don't always get satisfying character development or have deep, multifacted conversations about complex topics. People die on days like any other, and friendships are complicated. However, just as the characters discuss the perfected worlds of video games, where nonsensical things don't happen, so is the perfected nature of books, where characters and themes don't just get picked up and put down at whim.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, and Medical content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Cancer, Drug use, and Cultural appropriation
bbmaan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
samglade's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Please check the list of content warnings before reading this book, if you have any triggers at all - it throws a lot of dark elements at the reader offhandedly, without much buildup.
While I enjoyed the nuanced characters and their relationships, my enjoyment of the book was spoiled by some of the choices the author has made. The author decided on a style heavy on clinical, excessive details (e.g. a list of video game merchandise on a shelf having over 20 items, comma-separated), which betrayed that she is not a tech person and the incorrect usage of technical terms was jarring. More importantly, it felt like she was ticking off all the dark themes she could think of from the list of possible content warnings, all packed into the lives of three individuals. For shock value? I can't tell why it was needed. Given how the story was progressing, I was genuinely surprised that miscarriage wasn't used as a cherry on top.
While I enjoyed the nuanced characters and their relationships, my enjoyment of the book was spoiled by some of the choices the author has made. The author decided on a style heavy on clinical, excessive details (e.g. a list of video game merchandise on a shelf having over 20 items, comma-separated), which betrayed that she is not a tech person and the incorrect usage of technical terms was jarring. More importantly, it felt like she was ticking off all the dark themes she could think of from the list of possible content warnings, all packed into the lives of three individuals. For shock value? I can't tell why it was needed. Given how the story was progressing, I was genuinely surprised that miscarriage wasn't used as a cherry on top.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug use, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Abortion, and Cultural appropriation
christine_fravel's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism
Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
hanbroloo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism and Drug use
therealjayz's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow, wow, wow. This book reminded me of why I love reading (as someone who doesn't really read!!); I devoured the entire book in the span of 3 days and literally couldn't put it down. I've recommended it to every single person I talk to when they ask for book recs. Literally within the first five pages of consuming the writing style, I was hooked and fell in love. At its core, this book is about love and all of the different kinds of love there is.
The story itself is about two childhood friends who build a video game company together and follows them through the span of like 20+ years. I really really appreciated the representation of so many identities and social issues, from being a woman in STEM (specifically coding), biracial Asian identity, class disparities, disability rep, mental health issues, etc. The way that the author is able to weave together so many small elements in the story that seem at first nonchalant but bring them back later in the most heart-wrenching, gutting, and significant ways should be studied! The creativity demonstrated in the creation of the various video games in the world is astounding and I wish I was able to actually play them. I also appreciate how you don't need to be in gaming culture/know about video games to enjoy this book, but can still appreciate how much research and detail went into the writing about video games in the book.
Zevin really makes you feel with the characters and writes such complex and flawed and lovable characters that you can't help but root and sympathize for even when they act like stubborn, ego-centric idiots at times. I felt like I truly knew the characters as real people andgenuinely grieved over a character like I had also lost my best friend. I cried so much, audibly said "no no nO" and had to stop reading when that moment happened so I could process and grieve. (which ended up being like half a day b/c I just needed to keep reading as well) . Highly highly recommend this book, there's a reason that it was one of the top selling books of 2023.
The story itself is about two childhood friends who build a video game company together and follows them through the span of like 20+ years. I really really appreciated the representation of so many identities and social issues, from being a woman in STEM (specifically coding), biracial Asian identity, class disparities, disability rep, mental health issues, etc. The way that the author is able to weave together so many small elements in the story that seem at first nonchalant but bring them back later in the most heart-wrenching, gutting, and significant ways should be studied! The creativity demonstrated in the creation of the various video games in the world is astounding and I wish I was able to actually play them. I also appreciate how you don't need to be in gaming culture/know about video games to enjoy this book, but can still appreciate how much research and detail went into the writing about video games in the book.
Zevin really makes you feel with the characters and writes such complex and flawed and lovable characters that you can't help but root and sympathize for even when they act like stubborn, ego-centric idiots at times. I felt like I truly knew the characters as real people and
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexism
spencerthedemonbarber's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
jefferz's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
With only a few days left before the end of the year, I can confidently say I found my top book of 2023. I don't even know where to start with this one, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a love letter novel to every gamer out there who once had a dream about creating their own game but that's only half of the novel's contents. The other half is a perfectly pitched, nuanced story of two 10 yr old kids (eventually three friends) who meet playing Super Mario and the way their friendship, work partnership, and lives intertwine up to their late 30's.
Admittedly I generally have a hard time reading novels that span a wide range of a character's life mainly due to the difficulty of writing and portraying the maturity and emotions. However, Gabrielle Zevin has made me a believer by the sheer consistency and quality throughout this 400 page story. Starting with the two main leads Sam Masur and Sadie Green, both are incredibly well-developed characters who both compliment and clash with each other a variety of different areas. Character backstories are well-developed and incredibly varied heavily addressing the identify crisis that often comes with being half Asia/White (Sam), having parents of different Asian ethnicities and languages (Marx), a Jewish upbringing and wealth (Sadie), not to mention even exploring their own parent's experiences. Not only are these different cultures explored, but they portrayed with so much detail that the characters feel like real flesh and blood. This is evident during a trip to Japan incorporating Marx's paternal side, the detailed aesthetic of LA's K-town, or the stifling and the (particularly worse at the time) sexism MIT and the gaming industry as a whole.
What makes Tomorrow... particularly exceptional to me is that excessive details are all consciously placed and utilized. I've read multiple contemporary novels that excessively drown the reader in either sensory information or monotonous day to day detail hoping for greater immersion. Here every detail, character background, event all has a part to play in shaping the characters experiences and psyche. Details about Sam's grandmother's car interior and decor relating to her class and sass, Sadie's college apartment disaster as a metaphor for her state of depression, the difference in interiors between Unfair Games' original vs LA office, everything has a purpose. I know this should be assumed and expected in any well done book, but this one was actually perfect. The level of detail and research that was put into this is a standout element. Gabrielle Zevin has a long list of acknowledgements towards research sources and inspirations and it shows. The game development process and struggle feels real and even proto-type school experimental games included as narrative pieces are innovative and compelling.
As Sam and Sadie's experiences with game dev grows, the novel incorporates important historic events and political/cultural topics with great relevance. There's the aftermath of 9/11 and people seeking comforting experiences and games, there's the boom of the internet and mmorpg's, politics and liberal leanings in gaming, somehow even the legalization of same-sex marriage. The novel is broken up roughly in distinctive parts that focus on a particular stage of Sam and Sadie's lives. Each part has various different themes but the pacing is always consistent. While the parts are roughly told in chronological order, there are often flashbacks, flashfowards(?), shifts in perspectives (to Marx, side characters, even Sam's mother Anna) that are seamlessly woven in based on the current scenes and topics. The writing tone and sentence structure also varies considerably between parts ranging from standard conversational language, a present-tense RPG-style readout, endless run on sentences when a character is spiraling, yet it works. SpoilerThere are two parts that are written as-is with no chapter divisions included to emphasis how different they are. One of these chapters uses an RPG adventure dialogue prompt that serves as a metaphor for the slow deterioration of the mind as one of the characters die. It's tragic, moving, distinctive, and genius.
Obviously despite how impressive I found this book, it will not be for everyone. There are certainly some triggering elements that should be considered for those who are sensitive to certain topics. There are elements of bdsm and sexual control (nothing salacious and but worth mentioning), language (particularly the LGBT F-word slur in one part), depression, gun violence, and death. They are all handled tactfully and aren't just thrown in for shock value, however the narrative grows substantially darker and more serious which may not be evident based on the synopsis. That being said, I applaud the novel for even taking a stab at these topics let alone pulling them off as well as I thought it did.
Ultimately I feel like I'm at a lost for words for just how good I thought Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was. The prose, the plot, the characters, the details, this is pure quality through and through. This novel does have a habit of using miscommunication as a plot device (one of my biggest pet peeves), however the character's thought processes and psyche are so well developed, the miscommunication actually makes sense and is justified. The topics that are covered (particularly when Sam/Sadie and co. are in their late 20's onward) are amazingly relatable and very relative in today's culture. While not a pleasant read at times, I could not put this down and finished it within 48 hrs. I had slight reservations when I saw this was last year's winner for Best Fiction 2022 on Goodreads as I am often a snob wanting quality over feels/vibes, but the win is more than justified. If you want a legitimately good novel to read and share even half of my taste in novels, you need to give this one a try.
Admittedly I generally have a hard time reading novels that span a wide range of a character's life mainly due to the difficulty of writing and portraying the maturity and emotions. However, Gabrielle Zevin has made me a believer by the sheer consistency and quality throughout this 400 page story. Starting with the two main leads Sam Masur and Sadie Green, both are incredibly well-developed characters who both compliment and clash with each other a variety of different areas. Character backstories are well-developed and incredibly varied heavily addressing the identify crisis that often comes with being half Asia/White (Sam), having parents of different Asian ethnicities and languages (Marx), a Jewish upbringing and wealth (Sadie), not to mention even exploring their own parent's experiences. Not only are these different cultures explored, but they portrayed with so much detail that the characters feel like real flesh and blood. This is evident during a trip to Japan incorporating Marx's paternal side, the detailed aesthetic of LA's K-town, or the stifling and the (particularly worse at the time) sexism MIT and the gaming industry as a whole.
What makes Tomorrow... particularly exceptional to me is that excessive details are all consciously placed and utilized. I've read multiple contemporary novels that excessively drown the reader in either sensory information or monotonous day to day detail hoping for greater immersion. Here every detail, character background, event all has a part to play in shaping the characters experiences and psyche. Details about Sam's grandmother's car interior and decor relating to her class and sass, Sadie's college apartment disaster as a metaphor for her state of depression, the difference in interiors between Unfair Games' original vs LA office, everything has a purpose. I know this should be assumed and expected in any well done book, but this one was actually perfect. The level of detail and research that was put into this is a standout element. Gabrielle Zevin has a long list of acknowledgements towards research sources and inspirations and it shows. The game development process and struggle feels real and even proto-type school experimental games included as narrative pieces are innovative and compelling.
As Sam and Sadie's experiences with game dev grows, the novel incorporates important historic events and political/cultural topics with great relevance. There's the aftermath of 9/11 and people seeking comforting experiences and games, there's the boom of the internet and mmorpg's, politics and liberal leanings in gaming, somehow even the legalization of same-sex marriage. The novel is broken up roughly in distinctive parts that focus on a particular stage of Sam and Sadie's lives. Each part has various different themes but the pacing is always consistent. While the parts are roughly told in chronological order, there are often flashbacks, flashfowards(?), shifts in perspectives (to Marx, side characters, even Sam's mother Anna) that are seamlessly woven in based on the current scenes and topics. The writing tone and sentence structure also varies considerably between parts ranging from standard conversational language, a present-tense RPG-style readout, endless run on sentences when a character is spiraling, yet it works. SpoilerThere are two parts that are written as-is with no chapter divisions included to emphasis how different they are. One of these chapters uses an RPG adventure dialogue prompt that serves as a metaphor for the slow deterioration of the mind as one of the characters die. It's tragic, moving, distinctive, and genius.
Obviously despite how impressive I found this book, it will not be for everyone. There are certainly some triggering elements that should be considered for those who are sensitive to certain topics. There are elements of bdsm and sexual control (nothing salacious and but worth mentioning), language (particularly the LGBT F-word slur in one part), depression, gun violence, and death. They are all handled tactfully and aren't just thrown in for shock value, however the narrative grows substantially darker and more serious which may not be evident based on the synopsis. That being said, I applaud the novel for even taking a stab at these topics let alone pulling them off as well as I thought it did.
Ultimately I feel like I'm at a lost for words for just how good I thought Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was. The prose, the plot, the characters, the details, this is pure quality through and through. This novel does have a habit of using miscommunication as a plot device (one of my biggest pet peeves), however the character's thought processes and psyche are so well developed, the miscommunication actually makes sense and is justified. The topics that are covered (particularly when Sam/Sadie and co. are in their late 20's onward) are amazingly relatable and very relative in today's culture. While not a pleasant read at times, I could not put this down and finished it within 48 hrs. I had slight reservations when I saw this was last year's winner for Best Fiction 2022 on Goodreads as I am often a snob wanting quality over feels/vibes, but the win is more than justified. If you want a legitimately good novel to read and share even half of my taste in novels, you need to give this one a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
mellowkittenreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This was an interesting read. The title and cool graphic design intrigued me. I went into it honestly not even really reading more than the first couple lines of the description. I have never read a book with this sort of plot line - gamers, growing pains, and even painful experiences of racism and discrimination all in one. The writing style was different- I read it digitally and simultaneously listened along with my spotify membership. It was easy to get immersed into this universe. I liked how there was a mix of present, past, and future AND first and third person- I’m telling y’all very different and yet it worked well for the most part. There were a few times I had to reread to make sure I understood who the narrator was embodying. I finished maybe an hour ago and am still digesting. I share the frustration with Sam and Sadie. On one side would’ve loved if they at least had an intimate experience but on the other side I wanted them to be both single and leave other characters alone with their bad communication skills and annoying behaviors. I am disheartened with how things went with Marx’s character. I liked the representation of disabilities, chronic pain, asian characters. However I wish this book included trigger warnings. I feel a bit overwhelmed and overexposed to the asian discrimination and gun violence the characters experienced. Too vulnerable for us bipoc. I am one who loves happy endings and this was as a whole bittersweet. I adored the link to the meeting up in the station and the ending - so sweet! I think that’s all for now. Give it a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Grief
Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship