Review: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

In this exhilarating novel by the best-selling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before. ~ Goodreads

Source: ALC (Advanced Listening Copy) from Libro.fm in exchange for an honest review

Review: I read this book in August of 22' and it left me feeling...discombobulated lol

On one hand, I loved the story of two people (Sam & Sadie) meeting as children as we follow their professional and personal relationship over decades. I also loved the deep dive into the gaming industry in the early 80's - from the design to production of their game (Ichigo) from the ground up to the toxicity towards women in gaming and cultural appropriation. Despite not being into gaming, or knowing much about it, I found it interesting and woven into the story in a seamless way.

However, this book was a big downer most of the time and I'm not a fan of downer books. I like to escape and end the book with a big smile on my face and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is not that book.

Having said that though, it's such a realistic portrayal of a friendship and life - the ebb and flow that naturally happens. There are very few friendships that are completely drama free for almost 30 years. Sam and Sadie are no exception.

They meet in the children's ward at the hospital where Sam is a patient. Sadie is the only person who seems to be able to get him to talk after a car accident that crushed his foot and leaves him in chronic pain and with painful memories. Their shared love of gaming sets the course for a decades long friendship where they create the game Ichigo, sell it, get rich, but then have a falling out. 

They are never as good apart as they are together though and their mutual friend Marx and, Sadie's then boyfriend, Dov encourage them to join forces again.

Sadie and Sam have such an interesting (platonic) relationship. They can finish each others sentences, create brilliant, beautiful things, pull each other out of moments of despair in ways that no one else can - yet they hurt each other in ways that no one else can too. They also walk away from each other at low points so easily and it's hard to grapple with that as a reader. You want to root for them so badly, but they aren't always people who behave in a way worth rooting for.

Yet...this is being human right? We don't always do the right things and we do let each other down. The (complicated) beauty of this book is how Zevin tears things apart but pieces it all back together again. Not in a neat, wrapped in a bow way - but in a messier, more complicated - this is reality - way. 

While the book is mainly about Sam and Sadie's story, there are several other characters that play prominent, influential roles. 

There were a few things that I didn't love about Zevin's writing - although not explicit - some of the sex(ual) scenes were just plain weird, especially in Sam's case and disturbing with Sadie and Dov, her professor/lover. 

I did appreciate how Sam's disability and chronic pain were addressed. He was not miraculously cured and is shown making needed adaptations (a cane) and having periods of debilitating pain and just begin an ass to everyone because of it - which I think is natural. He is also successful and has relationships (he is bi sexual)/ friendships.

Sadie on the other hand was not handled as well, IMO. From an improper, then abusive relationship that's sort of not romanticized, exactly, but dismissed, to her, I felt, clinical depression that's also not really addressed. 

And there's just a lot of pain. Bad things kept happening. And happening. As much as I laud this book for being realistic, it got draining, but again...I usually read much lighter fare. Your milage may vary.

It' so hard for me to give a clear cut opinion on this book. I loved it, I hated it, it made me sad, made me hopeful....I don't know. I'm still working through it 5 months later so maybe that's all you need to know about it. lol

Ethan over at A Book A Week listed it as one of his favorites for 2022 so check out his review here.