REVIEW: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

I first came across this title when two of my go to book bloggers posted it as a really good read. Very rarely do I disagree with either of these two and so I got on the waitlist on the Libby app and 6 weeks later finally got to read it. I have many disjointed thoughts about this novel so forgive me for being all over the place.

One thing I should've realized (by reading the blurb, which I did in a very cursory way) was how much the gaming world would be part of the plot; I feel like at points the gaming world was almost a character. As someone who isn't a gamer but appreciates it, I learned more about games and gaming than I've ever known before. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is like a mini history in the evolution of games and gaming and while it wasn't heavy handed it was definitely something I probably didn't appreciate as much as gamer would.

One thing I anticipated was a love story and there's definitely that but not in the way I was expecting. This wasn't a bad thing, just was in a headspace that expected a more traditional love story and this wasn't that. Once I got my bearings, I recognized it for the love story it was. The love between these characters was both conventional and not but really what I felt for and between all parties involved was how deep their affection and care went. Even when they weren't speaking to each other, the love was always there and they always knew it, even when they didn't want to admit it. I really liked that; there was romantic love and a love between friends that really felt more like family and that made the heartbreaking moments even more devastating when they happened.

One other thing I appreciated about this novel was the inclusion of conversations and experiences of people of color and of a character who lived in and with extreme pain. While having nonwhite main characters is, thankfully, not a new thing, I really enjoyed reading from and about their perspectives and seeing the world through their eyes. Additionally, having a character live in and through pain was something I don't really read ever, so including that experience was something unique and educational for me. 

All in all, there were sections of this novel about a long, enduring, at times frustrating, friendship between these three friends that were easier than others to read. Sometimes I felt a little lost and other times I sped through the pages. I like that it spanned such a large portion of their lives and didn't shy away from the challenging seasons we have when we have lifelong friendships. I liked that I was reading something that I normally don't read about. I liked the exploration of the challenges that some of us may have. And so while my rating would range from a 3 in some places and a 5 in other, I can settle on a 4 and feel like it's accurate; I'm still thinking of these characters days later and I know it'll be a while before I put them to rest. 

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BLURB: 

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • 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.

"Utterly brilliant. In this sweeping, gorgeously written novel, Gabrielle Zevin charts the beauty, tenacity, and fragility of human love and creativity.... One of the best books I've ever read." —John Green
 
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.