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A review by zoekatereads
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
5.0
“We are all living, at most, half of a life, she thought. There was the life you lived, which consisted of the choices you made. And then, there was the other life, the one that was the things you hadn't chosen.”
Heartwarming, heartbreaking, inspiring - a genuinely beautiful story about friendship, love, and video games.
This has immediately become a favourite. While I often feel like I can connect with some books I read in one way or another, this one really got me. As a video game audio graduate and aspiring developer, I felt so many of the highs and lows of this story when it came to creativity, navigating storytelling, working amongst conflicting opinions and dealing with feedback (and sadly, the toxicity found in the industry).
Sam and Sadie are beautifully flawed. The book follows their ever evolving friendship from when they first met in a hospital game room right into adulthood as they navigate the complexity of working in the games industry. This story beautifully highlights how friendships change over time, and how time can sometimes not mean anything at all. Sam, Sadie and Marx are incredibly complex individuals who can either work together really well or create their own microcosm of miscommunication and toxicity.
On a related note, I think this is one of my favourite things ever said in a book: “Friendship,” Marx said, “is kind of like having a Tamagotchi.” Yes.
There was so much love in this book. Love for friends, collaborators/colleagues, partners, family. I found it really refreshing to read a story where the love for friends really shone through. Non-romantic love and relationships can sometimes be even more fulfilling (or fulfilling in different ways) to romantic relationships, and I felt this was really thoroughly explored. There was more passion and tension between Sam and Sadie at times than in a lot romances I've read. This story really embodied the idea that love can be both beautiful and messy (and reallytoxic, looking at you Dov).
Another element I particularly enjoyed was the way the main characters would compare real life to a game. Sam in particular often reflected on how his life would be different if certain things didn't happen, if he could start over, if he could do that part of his life (a 'level', I guess?) over again.
I also really enjoyed learning about the main characters backgrounds and seeing how it made them who they are at each stage of their journey. Sam especially experienced a lot that I think feeds into why he behaves the way he does.
The games that Zevin created for the novel genuinely sounded incredible! She spoke about them recently at an event on her paperback release tour and it was interesting to hear her process for creating them. Like in real life, the art really reflected the characters and what they were going through, but were also used as coping mechanisms or as ways to communicate.
Some other things I loved that I could spend hours talking about
Heartwarming, heartbreaking, inspiring - a genuinely beautiful story about friendship, love, and video games.
This has immediately become a favourite. While I often feel like I can connect with some books I read in one way or another, this one really got me. As a video game audio graduate and aspiring developer, I felt so many of the highs and lows of this story when it came to creativity, navigating storytelling, working amongst conflicting opinions and dealing with feedback (and sadly, the toxicity found in the industry).
Sam and Sadie are beautifully flawed. The book follows their ever evolving friendship from when they first met in a hospital game room right into adulthood as they navigate the complexity of working in the games industry. This story beautifully highlights how friendships change over time, and how time can sometimes not mean anything at all. Sam, Sadie and Marx are incredibly complex individuals who can either work together really well or create their own microcosm of miscommunication and toxicity.
On a related note, I think this is one of my favourite things ever said in a book: “Friendship,” Marx said, “is kind of like having a Tamagotchi.” Yes.
There was so much love in this book. Love for friends, collaborators/colleagues, partners, family. I found it really refreshing to read a story where the love for friends really shone through. Non-romantic love and relationships can sometimes be even more fulfilling (or fulfilling in different ways) to romantic relationships, and I felt this was really thoroughly explored. There was more passion and tension between Sam and Sadie at times than in a lot romances I've read. This story really embodied the idea that love can be both beautiful and messy (and reallytoxic, looking at you Dov).
Another element I particularly enjoyed was the way the main characters would compare real life to a game. Sam in particular often reflected on how his life would be different if certain things didn't happen, if he could start over, if he could do that part of his life (a 'level', I guess?) over again.
I also really enjoyed learning about the main characters backgrounds and seeing how it made them who they are at each stage of their journey. Sam especially experienced a lot that I think feeds into why he behaves the way he does.
The games that Zevin created for the novel genuinely sounded incredible! She spoke about them recently at an event on her paperback release tour and it was interesting to hear her process for creating them. Like in real life, the art really reflected the characters and what they were going through, but were also used as coping mechanisms or as ways to communicate.
Some other things I loved that I could spend hours talking about