Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Mañana, y mañana, y mañana

I bought the book based on the hype it is currently receiving. I had come into it expecting great things, and great things were delivered in ways I did not imagine. When it comes right down to it, the story is a heartbreaking yet brilliant tale of friendship, determination, and unconventional love, with a strong video game theme.

It is very character-led, and at times the paragraphs jump time to speed up the plot without missing any information. That is, of course, unless something becomes relevant later on and a quick history is fleshed out in full, (imo this often feels like it is disrupting the flow of the present) but this rarely happens.

My main issues with this book:
- The amount of times the word "said" is used during dialogue.
- Part 1 and Part 9 in their entirety. These parts feel clunky to me, but they are also important to the story.
- Dov, just as a person, I understand his importance as a character. But honestly, I hate him.
- The slight sexualisation of both Zoe and Sadie. Why was it their clothing that got highlighted and never the men?
- At times the timeline of the story felt off and I didn't know where I was sometimes in relation to it.

However, I loved that these characters were allowed to be human - they were selfish, determined and frustrating at times. But they were realistic characters who experienced real life issues.

Just please to god check your content warnings before going into this because ooft.

Marx and Sadie both deserved better and I will die mad about it

Content Warnings

eleek0609's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

Content Warnings

karen_lo's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad

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

This book blew my mind and gave me such a comforting feeling that I haven't experienced in so long.
Those descriptions of everyday activities and hobbies made me feel right at home.

The characters were absolutely amazing, and the way they spilled their thoughts, emotions, histories, and fears made them feel like real human beings.

The different types of love explored in the book were simply beautiful. They all tangled together, evolving and surviving through the challenges of life.

I loved the inside jokes and the bursts of inspiration while they created video games. It even sparked my curiosity about video games as a new form of art.

I also absolutely loved how the story was told. It flowed so naturally, and I could easily kept up with the timeline shifts.

Amazing book, definitely never read a love story like this one before.

Content Warnings

gracekrupp's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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milo_sagt_hi's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad 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

5.0

Unfassbar schönes Buch! Ich war von der ersten Seite an komplett von der Storyline gefesselt und das hat sich bis zum Ende nicht geändert.
Die Charaktere hatten ein natürliches Development über mehrere Jahre, sodass man die Veränderung nicht zu stark bemerkt. Fand ich sehr cool!
Schaut euch nur unbedingt die Triggerwarungen an ;)

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

The author’s writing was so immersive and enjoyable. I don’t know a lot about video games, though I’m a millennial so I grew up around them. The premise of this book still really appealed to me, more than I anticipated. I appreciate the complexities of the characters, though by the end of the book I hated Sam. I definitely felt a lot more sympathetic towards Sadie. Another reviewer mentioned that it felt like a ton of politically significant things were thrown into the story, and I agree that it felt a little contrived. Or maybe it just broke my heart. Having the timelines switch so often was interesting, but sometimes difficult to follow when I was listening to the audiobook. There are also some scenes that take place in a video game, which again was a little hard to follow on the audiobook. I think the chapter headings and the formatting of a physical book would make those things easier. Overall, this book was meaningful and deep, with some reasonably messy and flawed characters, and I was griped by the story even though there wasn’t a strong plot to move it forward.

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shelfreflectionofficial's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“This is what time travel is. It’s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently. And that mode of transport only worked with those one had known a significant time.”

I’m not sure if I was excited to read this book— I think I was more curious. For some reason I was thinking it would be more sci-fi-ish like Ready Player One since it had to do with video game creation. It is definitely plain old fiction.

I didn’t hate it but it didn’t do much for me. It felt too slow-paced and a bit ‘extra.’ Zevin shoved every major or controversial topic possible into this book instead of just focusing on one or two.

The characters were meant to be flawed but it felt like their flaws overshadowed their strengths and did more to define and drive them. This made them somewhat unlikable and their growth was harder to detect.

The primary story line follows three friends over many years and places (Boston to LA to Tokyo) as they play video games together and then create them. The two main characters— Sam and Sadie— have a volatile friendship— cyclical love/hate relationship. The third character— Marx— acts as the neutralizer and stabilizer. We know personally how messy and complicated relationships are. But we also know that relationships are a mess worth making. It takes a lot for Sam and Sadie to become convinced of that, and there’s part of me that wonders if they ever got there in an altruistic way or not.

For example: Sadie has a perpetual chip on her shoulder and fluctuates between insecurity with her abilities, standing up for herself in work but not in her personal life. Sam is overly ambitious which blinds him to others’ needs and feelings. Marx is thoughtful and managerial but sexually promiscuous and you’re not really sure what he actually cares about.

I didn’t really like how Marx became a ‘glorified’ ‘saint-ed’ character by the end.

The secondary story line (at least in my opinion) was the relationship of the characters to the worlds they create. Gaming as a way of escaping the difficulties of life. Virtual worlds that help them grieve and deal with the brokenness of the real world. The ability to be different people with different skills. The opportunity to ‘start over’ or ‘re-do’ things until they get them right. As one of their games is titled ‘Our Infinite Lives’ or as the book is aptly titled- tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. We can live again better.

“He wanted to be Ichigo… He wanted to die a million deaths like Ichigo, and no matter what damage was inflicted on his body during the day, he’d wake up tomorrow, new and whole. He wanted Ichigo’s life, a lifetime of endless, immaculate tomorrows, free of mistakes and the evidence of having lived.”

But unfortunately, the worlds they create are not real. The characters do not exist. They must still live from day to day.

“In the end, all we can ever know is the game that was played, and in the only world that we know.”

As I said before, there is a hodge-podge of topics crammed into the lives of three people. Over the course of the book they experience/discuss: disability, depression, appropriation, racism, sexism, abortion, amputation, physical abuse, gay marriage and sexuality, death, friendship, grief, murder, gun violence, suicide, and probably something else I missed.

The characters are variations of Jewish, Korean, and Japanese and much of the race and appropriation revolve around these cultures.

I think the concoction of topics takes away from the readers’ relationship to the characters because it feels like each new issue is just another buzzword.

I think it would have been more effective to focus on friendship, forgiveness, and Sam’s disability in relationship to the virtual games. Maybe, too, the loss of a friend, but the more you add in the less important everything seems.

I thought it was interesting how they recognized their desire for an ‘other-world’ where everything is as it should be. People are whole. The earth is beautiful and free of violence (well… their games weren’t void of this) and hatred. They were searching for meaning, legacy, and an escape from a broken world.

I think I have the answer for them. The current death rate is 100%. There is no second chance or infinite life. But there is an afterlife. And it can be the perfection they seek. I think they are looking for the ultimate ‘save point.’ And that is Heaven. It’s real. And for all who trust in Jesus, it is what comes next. And it will be better than an video game world that can be created.

Zevin touches on the realities and results of sin (in not so specific terms). We can all relate to so many of the hardships and heartaches the characters face. We know that yearning for something more, something bigger, something outside of this earth. That is because God put eternity into our hearts. We know in our core, that this world is not our home. Maybe this book can be a catalyst for readers to acknowledge that desire and to seek real answers for it. Not in video games. But in the Bible and the person of Jesus who is in the business of redemption, forgiveness, and restoration.

Along the lines of the ‘escapist’ story line. I found myself pondering this outside of the spiritual realm I just mentioned. Just in terms of health, mental or physical, is it a good coping mechanism to escape into fantasy worlds? Both Sadie and Sam found it comforting in their various griefs. I understand the need and benefit of distractions every once and a while, but from what I know of gaming, it’s pretty addictive. It doesn’t seem healthy to always seek to escape from their problems instead of confronting them or working through them.

Isolation, as we see with Sadie, is not usually a beneficial choice. There is an element of community in virtual worlds but more and more studies are showing that it’s not a good replacement for face-to-face physical connection. We were made to connect with people. Experience the world together, physically, as ourselves. Empathy is often lost online and is an essential component to a healthy society.

Distractions help us grieve or deal with stress, but I think there have to be boundaries for it to be helpful and not harmful.

Another aspect of the gaming side of things is the idea of success. Sadie and Sam had differing views on what a successful game looked like:

“To oversimplify: For Sam greatness meant popular. For Sadie, art.”

I was realizing how much I don’t know about video games, especially PC games. I didn’t realize they incorporated such complex stories or that there was a way to dialogue within them. Reading this game made me have so many questions about how it works to code something that is so graphics and art-heavy. A complete video game really is a work of art.

I went on YouTube and watched a few videos of people playing popular games. I don’t think it’s a hobby I want to get into because I can see how it takes up so much of your time, but it was good to see for myself a piece of what this book was about and be able to appreciate the skill and talent and time that goes into something like that.

The Oregon Trail is a nostalgic piece of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I definitely remember the game and remember the dysentery! I couldn’t relate to a lot of the gaming aspects, but I played Oregon Trail, and mostly Super Nintendo games like Super Mario world, Donkey Kong Country, Top Gear, and PlayStation games like 2Xtreme & Crash Bandicoot Racing.

I really like that Zevin incorporated this because Sadie and Sam are pioneers themselves. They are creating new paths to unknown worlds. They are experiencing the ups and downs of the human experience and of going somewhere new and have to figure out how to survive and allow others to follow them.

Some reviewers talked about the pretentious vocabulary in this book. In some ways I would agree with them. I have a pretty big vocabulary and there were lots of words I didn’t know. I agree that I’m not sure it helped the book at all and didn’t necessarily fit the characters’ personalities, but I enjoy learning new words so it didn’t really bother me. In fact, here are some that I looked up:

- Grokking: understanding thoroughly
- Ouroboros: a snake or dragon eating its own tail
- Bloviating: to speak pompously
- Palimpsest: something that has a new layer, aspect, or appearance that builds on its past and allows us to see or perceive parts of this past
- Turpitude: vile or depraved act
- Jejune: immature and childish

First side note: I thought it was funny that the very first line of the acknowledgements says that there are no secret highways in LA which was going to be the very first thing I googled when I shut the book. So thank you Zevin, for answering that for me, even though I wish it weren’t true.

Second side note: If you’re interested in trying out the Magic Eye stuff, here’s a link to a Magic Eye book on Amazon!

Third side note: This is the second book I’ve read recently that referenced Necco Wafers. Is this something I should have known about slash eating??

Recommendation

This is a hard one to recommend. I don’t read a lot of straight fiction so the fact that this won best fiction is probably par for the course and I’m just not used to that style of writing and story-telling.

But because of the language, drug use, sexual content, the hot-topic potpourri, the length and slow-pace, and the unlikability of the characters, this book didn’t do much for me and I’m not sure it will for you either.

However, many people do love this book. I wonder if they’re gamers and the nostalgia and game content interests them.

I think people who like ‘sagas’ that explore a decades-long span of life for characters won’t be turned off by the length or pacing.

I guess I would read some other reviews if you’re still unsure if this one is for you. Personally, I feel like there are better books out there to spend your time on.

A couple other books that somewhat fit the idea of this book that I would recommend over this one would be:

Infinite by Brian Freeman

Play Dead by Ted Dekker

[Content Advisory: a lot of swearing; a paragraph on the c-word; a lot of drug use; some sexual content; a whole host of trigger issues as discussed in the review]

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