Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022 Vintage Kindle eBook 401pp)

 

“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” got a lot of publicity when it first was published in 2022. I recall quite a buzz for it online, people were calling it their favourite book of the year and a film version was said to be in the works. Then all the buzz went away and a few months later I found it on sale in Kindle eBook form for $1.99.

I have never read anything else by Gabrielle Zevin – I probably never even heard of her before this book came out, yet I understand this is her fifth novel and her previous book was a bestseller too.

I’m happy to report this book is worth all the positive PR it got on release. Sometimes you come across a book that’s so damn readable and enjoyable that if you had a chance you’d read it in one sitting – “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is one of those books.

This is mainly the story of a man and a woman’s relationship over three decades or so. Sam and Sadie first meet as children when circumstances bring them both together in a Los Angeles hospital ward. They lose touch for several years then meet again when they are college students. A shared passion of theirs is videogames and it’s the videogame industry and the games themselves that act as a sort of backbone for the book.

Sam and Sadie end up developing video games together first for fun but then as a business. The stresses and strains of the work and life itself cause them to fall in and out with each other over the years. Grudges and misunderstandings are held for years and some are never forgiven. Sam longs for a romantic relationship with Sadie but instead they share an intense, stronger form of friendship as lovers come and go around them.

Both main characters have demons from their past that haunt them and affect their actions. We flash back and forwards in time and develop an understanding what makes them tick.

Sam’s college room-mate Marx plays a pivotal role in the story as he progresses from being a friend to a lynch-pin in the main couple’s videogaming empire. Parents, grandparents and siblings also feature in well-rounded roles.

The book covers the period from the late 1980s through to the present day. Progress is mainly shown by what the current hot videogame and videogame types are – having lived through that era I recognised most of them, a non-gamer may not quite understand some of that side of things perhaps.

The only thing a found perhaps less believable was that some of the games the main characters produce sell in their millions when they all seem more like what we’d call ‘Indie Games’ these days and probably wouldn’t set the world on fire.

As you might be able to tell, I very much enjoyed this book. It does go to some dark places in parts but never unnecessarily. It’s a good story well told.