A review by isabellahsieh
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.25

I think considering all the hype, this disappointed me. Ignoring all the hype, it was a solid and enjoyable book. I have my gripes, but I also appreciate the depiction of disability and the chronic pain that comes with it. I don’t know that I’ve read a book so far that does talks about that. If I did, it clearly wasn’t a memorable representation. I also really enjoyed the conversations surrounding death. The game death vs real death comparisons/metaphors, for example, were fascinating perspectives that I didn’t really think about. Makes the topic of games in this book feel more than just a thing the characters do and are connected by. Makes it much more intentional. It didn’t suffer from what Ready Player One did in that the game references/descriptions weren’t big focal points- more like context/setting.

When Sadie and Marx got together, I was like “okay so Marx is gonna die because they wouldn’t separate them for Sam and Sadie unless he dies. And boom- what do you know? He dies. I did enjoy his focus chapters as he was dying. It made me a little emotional because Marx is a lovable character. As a dying person myself, I was like OOP. I was very glad that Sam and Sadie didn’t end up together romantically because that would’ve pissed me off. I was slightly annoyed that post-Marx, they never rekindled their friendship because that made the end of the book drag on. In retrospect though, I understand why. It was more realistic that way. And the true ending was a good callback that insinuated they’re friendship is everlasting despite everything (distance, life, responsibilities). It showed they’ll work together again in the way they always have. I think the ending just could’ve been slightly more condensed because there was essentially no character interaction between Sam and Sadie.

All in all, I probably could’ve given this a 4.5 or maybe even higher. However, idk if that’s just me trying to believe in the hype or if my 4.25 is me reacting to the hype.