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A review by jaduhluhdabooks
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
challenging
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
I mean, how can you create such a vivid and heartbreaking timeline of lives strung together by “happenstance” and call it anything other than what it is… a masterpiece of both wills and defiances, of an inability to deny oneself of suffering.
I recently read (in a book that I hilariously rated 1 star) a quote on suffering that basically read in summary, just because one is accustom to suffering doesn’t mean they always have to. And at first I thought this was stupid, because no person would choose suffering and the choice is not in the hands of those who encounter it. But that’s not always true, nor is it always truthful…. What I mean by that and what I found with these characters doing often is fixating on (unresolved and unheard) wounds of tragedy and self articulation. These moments that happened to them, defined parts of themselves that inevitably drove their relationships and their focal points in life. Obviously, that’s not profound because that’s relatively the human existence, but what I think Gabrielle does so well is even the playing field of fiction and humanity. Fiction is on this higher plane of “semi relational” and “this only happens in a book”. This novel is almost to on the nose with the existence of life lived in relationship with pain and grief. Even Marx, who I would argue was the first one to not choose suffering in the end, and it set him free, very much shows this narrative of altruism and decay. It’s an excellent contrast throughout the book and I just can’t wrap my head around it entirely yet, but it’s sitting with me.
I know that’s morbid, buts it’s true. Sadie and Sam are this feedback loop of pain and neither one are willing to disrupt the cycle to seek out a potential, otherworldly circumstance of good, that maybe, just maybe, would result in…more good. I think Sadie tries, but the reality is that a loop can only break if it severs all ties with the end that it’s contributing shape to, and in the end, Sadie is just as unable to let go of the things and reminders just as much as Sam. But isn’t that the cycle trauma and the reality of life lived in relationship with pain? We greet grief and loss as a friend, and the choice of joy and happiness is fickle and ludicrous and downright stupid without considering the stipulations that drive the efforts of creating such a reality. A figment. A virtual. A game. And that’s where they seemed to go to create such understandings in themselves and of the world.
I’m rambling. Basically. It’s hauntingly beautiful. A codependent masterpiece of broken people, in a savage world, seeking their next escape in each other, even if they’re estranged. Their actions are driven by the potential connection with the other and it maddeningly hits so close to home.
I could talk about so much more. The representation of chronic pain and life lived disabled and how well that represented and depicted. The translations of grief and toxic relationships. the nuance of race and racism, misogyny both external and internal, and the search for belonging through two different decades of American histories. The beauty of gaming and the creativity of the story. I could. But I’ve said too much already.
I recently read (in a book that I hilariously rated 1 star) a quote on suffering that basically read in summary, just because one is accustom to suffering doesn’t mean they always have to. And at first I thought this was stupid, because no person would choose suffering and the choice is not in the hands of those who encounter it. But that’s not always true, nor is it always truthful…. What I mean by that and what I found with these characters doing often is fixating on (unresolved and unheard) wounds of tragedy and self articulation. These moments that happened to them, defined parts of themselves that inevitably drove their relationships and their focal points in life. Obviously, that’s not profound because that’s relatively the human existence, but what I think Gabrielle does so well is even the playing field of fiction and humanity. Fiction is on this higher plane of “semi relational” and “this only happens in a book”. This novel is almost to on the nose with the existence of life lived in relationship with pain and grief. Even Marx, who I would argue was the first one to not choose suffering in the end, and it set him free, very much shows this narrative of altruism and decay. It’s an excellent contrast throughout the book and I just can’t wrap my head around it entirely yet, but it’s sitting with me.
I know that’s morbid, buts it’s true. Sadie and Sam are this feedback loop of pain and neither one are willing to disrupt the cycle to seek out a potential, otherworldly circumstance of good, that maybe, just maybe, would result in…more good. I think Sadie tries, but the reality is that a loop can only break if it severs all ties with the end that it’s contributing shape to, and in the end, Sadie is just as unable to let go of the things and reminders just as much as Sam. But isn’t that the cycle trauma and the reality of life lived in relationship with pain? We greet grief and loss as a friend, and the choice of joy and happiness is fickle and ludicrous and downright stupid without considering the stipulations that drive the efforts of creating such a reality. A figment. A virtual. A game. And that’s where they seemed to go to create such understandings in themselves and of the world.
I’m rambling. Basically. It’s hauntingly beautiful. A codependent masterpiece of broken people, in a savage world, seeking their next escape in each other, even if they’re estranged. Their actions are driven by the potential connection with the other and it maddeningly hits so close to home.
I could talk about so much more. The representation of chronic pain and life lived disabled and how well that represented and depicted. The translations of grief and toxic relationships. the nuance of race and racism, misogyny both external and internal, and the search for belonging through two different decades of American histories. The beauty of gaming and the creativity of the story. I could. But I’ve said too much already.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Abortion