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

reflective relaxing medium-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

3.75

Something about this book is deeply unsatisfying but it’s unsatisfying in a way that feels very true to life. The writing is simple and straightforward, the people you meet are unremarkable despite their high scale success, no one is very likable but everyone is very lovable. I feel like most people don’t know anyone exactly like these characters but they’re somehow mundane enough to feel like people you know. I found myself touched and heartbroken and hoping for less complicated feelings in the same way I desire it in my own life. It’s one of those boring types of stories I love. Somehow, for me, it hits the nail on the head too directly for me to rate it higher. There are so many decisions that can be made across a few decades and I can’t help myself in wanting these characters to walk different paths - to be happier. The ending is happy but all I could feel was all the lost time and it hurt in the way regret always  hurts. I don’t really like these people - I don’t think I like most people or think most people like each other - but I love them. I love them and they love each other and in a book that talks so much about video games I kept wishing there could be more options and that I could change the outcome of this story. 

I like it. I really like it. There are some minor things I take issue with but I imagine it’s a general consequence of reading characters who are not only older than you but feel older than you. It makes them harder to sympathize with when something ignorant comes up but also adds to the realism. There are a few things I legitimately dislike specifically because they feel, if not too convenient, too unnecessary, to push a break. Overall, I find myself in the interesting feeling of not necessarily wanting to revisit a story that I’ve finished but still wanting to imagine life from here for these characters. 
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