Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a fantastic novel about life, love, death and video games. This book has been on a couple of best of 2022 book list and it has made my top 5 list of 2022. The story is about how two college kids start a video game company and put their heart and souls in to each game, that can sometimes mirror their own lives. This book will make you respect the art, countless hours, and detail that go into to making a video game. I’m not a big video game player I did happen to play some of the ones mentioned, and I know next to nothing about coding and I was never lost in the narrative and actually more curious to how a gaming engine works. The book as much as it is about video games it’s about relationships, and forming a community that understands them. This book takes risk my putting the character’s in a video game when they cannot communicate any other way. This book is a n emotional ride with some general heartbreak. One of my hands down favorite novels is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, which is about life, love, death, war, and comic books. Which are easily comparable to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow since both are accessible to the main reading audience, are tearjerker with great characters and elevate the art form of their subjects video games and comics. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow had it’s film right purchased by paramount to be made into a movie which I would very much like to see. I read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin thanks to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is published on July 5th 2022.
Plot Summary: Sam 12 has been in a serious car accident that killed his mother. To get through his mother’s death he plays video games alone. Sadie 12 is in the hospital visiting her teenage sister as she is treated for Leukemia. Sadie needs a break and finds Sam playing video games she watches for a while then they trade and start a conversation. A nurse sees this and talks to Sadie. Sadie is shocked to find out she is the only person Sam has talked to six months after the accident. The nurse asked her to do a community service and spend time with Sam. Sadie who needs so many hours of community service for something anyway agrees, but a real friendship takes place. Sam finds out he was a community service and shuts her out until years later Sadie and Sam will not meet again at college, when their love of video games is fully realized and they should make games together. They form and make an international video game company, but can their friendship survive.
What I Liked: With me not being that big of a video game player, reading this book and coming away with not just an understanding of video games but respecting the art and story a whole lot more. I might have changed the way that I now play video games concentrating on the art a whole lot more now. The story and characters are very relatable. I love the story within a story about the games and how they relate to the characters lives. This novel made me very emotional at times. I love the cleverness of the within the game chapter, it was very effective. The characters are sometimes frustrating and man did I get mad at them an there sucky communication skills and how they both handle anger, but a thrill to watch them grow and get better and become the same but at the same time different people. I love all the pop culture references especially the Matrix / Ghost in the Shell conversation, the Donkey Kong tie and what it hides. I loved how the title came from Macbeth and how that fit in with the novel so well.
What I Disliked: The cover art is so bad for what this book is, I feel like so many people will not read it or hesitate because of it, I know I did when selecting it. The cover does have relevance to the story, but the novel is so visual it needed more. The pace of the novel was not always the best there are a couple of moments where it takes the reader a second to get to the point of what your reading. I will say that every side story did have a point but some did take a while to get there.
Recommendations: Please read this great book!! The story is incredible the writing is really good, so many quotable lines ( I would list a few but not line quotes is the deal I make when I read an advanced reader’s copy). I already told you how much this book reminded me of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon but another one it reminded me of is the AMC TV show Halt and Catch Fire, if you liked either of these then you will love this book. The beauty of this book is you don’t have to know anything about video games to love and read it, but if you do then you will love it more. I rated Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 5 out of 5 stars. This is my first book by Gabrielle Zevin but I plan to check out The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, which is supposed to be just as good.
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