I think this might be one of my favourite books ever! Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is an absolute wonder of a book. It is exceptionally well written, wonderfully developed and so very human. Hopes, dreams, wants, needs, love, hate, heartbreak, life and death... This book has it all and the gaming worlds just add more dimension. It is intrinsically plotted and I honestly don't know how Gabrielle Zevin managed to write something so bloody wonderful. I've played games through my life, not a great deal but enough to appreciate the gaming aspects of this book and I found it to be so very heartwarming. It's familiar and reminded me of being a kid but with the appreciation of now being almost thirty-eight and seeing games for what they truly are and how much they mean to gamers.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is going to stick with me for a long time and I'm so very glad I had the opportunity to read it. Now I just need to make some new online gaming friends so I can recommend this book to them all!
5 absolutely massive stars from me!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
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Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the wonderful Gabrielle Zevin for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't love this - I think it might be a bit like marmite. It was a bit too wordy and experimental for me.

I really liked this book, the story, the characters, the relationship between them.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I wasn't sure what to make of this at the start, is it a book about the emergence of game development? a love story? a friendship saga? To be honest it's a bit of all those and more. The lead characters are brilliant, broken, generous and selfish all at once. The dynamic between them feels believable and I was sad to leave them at the end of the book. (Copy received via Netgalley in return for an honest review)

I struggled at first with this book about gaming and thought, maybe I’m just not of the right generation? I persevered and I’m so glad I did because hiding behind the gaming front, is a beautiful story of friendship, love, trust and loyalty in all their forms - and yes, sadly, along with all those emotions there’s going to be some sadness but it doesn’t detract from what a fabulous story this is.
I think, because I’m not a gamer, I got confused by the part where Emily meets Dr Daedalus but that was a great reveal when I finally understood.
This is definitely worth a read. I’m glad I did.

What a treat of a book! Zevin's latest is a chunky tome telling of the entwined lives of three best friends brought together by loneliness and gaming. A coming of age story, it centers gaming as another form of storytelling. I absolutely loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Although I am not a gamer, many of my loved ones are, however, I do not think being a gamer is a requirement for reading this gem. This book not only pulled on my heartstrings but submerged me in a world of nostalgia and vibrant characters. Gabrielle Zevin has seamlessly made worlds within worlds and allows the reader to fall head over heels not only for the characters but for the relationships (platonic or otherwise). This story and its characters had me hooked from the first second and kept me all the way to the end. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to experience a world of gaming, love, loss and being human. I will be buying a copy of this when it is out in stores!

Rounding up to three stars.

I think I just wasn't the right person for this book.
There were parts that were just too long for me,and I almost gave up.
There were parts that dragged me back in,and kept me reading.
Not being into gaming at all,I didnt understand some of it.
I do understand friendship though,and this was the main reason I kept reading the book. .

An interesting book with authentic believable characters and dealing with many socially important topics with sensitivity. I enjoyed this book but not being a gamer I suspect that I missed many of the culturally important references. Still ,within my understanding, I enjoyed the read.

I’ve been lucky enough to read an advance copy of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by by Gabrielle Zevin and it’s really prompted a lot of meandering thoughts. The fiction book is out later this year and while it does focus on a trio of gamers, it’s actually about connection and love and relationships. It’s helped me fall back in love with fiction. It’s not a sappy book but one focusing how complicated life is but also looking at the multiple, complicated lives we all lead and how people come in and out of our lives - not just our real ones but our digital ones. It touches upon disabilities, connections and friendship. There are conversations around multiple narratives and role playing games and also how that ties into our real lives too. I’m not a gamer at all but it was really hard not to get immersed into the world of Sam and Sadie and Marx.

I'll start of by saying I was so incredibly excited to read this, especially when I received an ARC. Zevin's book "Elsewhere" was one of my favourite novels growing up and I hadn't read any of her adult fiction.

This book was incredibly compelling, the characters are unique, messy, sometimes a little toxic, selfish, selfless, ugly and beautiful all in one.

Be prepared to feel sad, you get invested in every moment and feel real loss as well as real emotion. The story explores asexuality, sex, racism, cultural appropriation, grief and homophobia is also done well.

My one criticism is that I felt that the last quarter of the novel dragged a little and could have been tighter (hence the deduction of a star).

4.5 🌟

I absolutely loved this book! I love video games and reading so two things in one was a dream. Combined with a story of an evolving relationship between two friends and how this develops as they get older and their lives change.

I liked the characters, the writing style and all of the cult references to games. I didn’t think that any of the twists were unnecessary or just there for shock value either which I was pleased with, and how the story examines things such as sexuality, sex, racism, cultural appropriation, grief and homophobia is also done well.

It is a long book and maybe there’s a little too much backstory and filler in places. I can also see why some people may not have enjoyed one of the chapters in particular near the end (no spoilers!) but personally I really loved that chapter and thought it was so clever.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow had some beautiful moments and quotes too. I really felt so invested in Sadie and Sam and their journey. Definitely recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book for review.

Good books are fun to read, great books stick with you a little longer, exceptional books have a way of crawling under your skin, digging their way through your heart and creating a home within you.

There is a poem from The Second O of Sorrow by Sean Thomas Dougherty that says

Why Bother?
Because right now there is someone
Out there with a wound in the exact shape of your words.


That is what Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was to me, a book in the shape of all the themes I love in literature. A bit of technology, a healthy dose of nostalgia, an interesting outlook on an entire generation, a Forrest Gump-esq story of two friends who became part of the digital footprint of the world we live in today.

“What is a game?” Marx said. “It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”


We follow mostly Sam and Sadie, two childhood friends who connected over video games. Sam was in the hospital after a car accident, Sadie was visiting her sister who was recovering from cancer. They played Oregon Trail, Mario Bros, and other classic titles. They were both relentless and competitive, and one day, their friendship was over.

Many years later they find each other, they are different, older, wiser, they might even be frenemies. But, still, after all, they can't deny an invitation to play. Sam wants to create something new and unique - he wants Sadie to build games with him.

Spaning 30 years, this book is about technology, the gaming industry, how millennials learned how to speak "videogames" and how that not only shaped our lives but also the world that we live in. After all, the gaming industry is a multibillion-dollar giant. But mostly it's about people, a psychological study in humanity and how we earn to connect.

This was also the story of Marx, their close friend and an NPC. A Non-playable character that is essential to the story, the one who will allow the hero to be heroic. Close to the end, Marx is gifted with a few pages in his POV, and they were absolutely beautiful.

Just like Chris McCandless wrote "Happiness is only real when shared", Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow invites the reader to dwell on what truly matters in life. Is it family, friendship, love, collaboration, how we thrive over our own limitations, our jobs, our fortune, our story, or the trails we leave behind?

There is no right answer, this book is deeply moving and I believe it to be a personal experience to whoever reads it. What I can tell you is: this is an instant classic and one of the greatest pieces of literature of our modern generation.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction

I really, really enjoyed the beginning of this, when Sadie and Sam were kids, but as the years went by in the book, and they grew to adults I found I'd lost that spark in the novel that so caught my interest in the beginning.
I'm not a gamer, but with kids that grew into teens in the late 70s, early 80's gaming is something I've watched grow from clunky hand held devices, ( Nintendo game-boy anyone?) through the first gaming consoles ( the excitement of the NES, and then the SNES!) into the sophisticated games available now, with graphics that make those early games look so different.
This book brought back echoes of those early days, of my boys learning programming and how to work ( and work round!) those early games. Personally Legend of Zelda is the only one I could ever cope with....the gaming side of the story brought back many of those memories, of the boys trying to write games, of excited conversations when a new game came out.
As the story continued I started somehow losing interest in what happened with Sadie and Sam and though the story as a whole was interesting, its not one I'd reread. I'm sure its perfect for others, and I'm not really sure just why my attention slipped but it went from being a story that gripped me and kept me wanting to know what happened next, to one where I just felt indifferent to what was happening.

Stars: Three, a book that started well for me but kind of fizzled out.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

I am an occasional gamer and this book was interesting to me as I've never read a book set in a gaming world before. New author for me too and I enjoyed the read. It is a little different for me but I think it's good to get out of your comfort zone once in a while.
If you enjoy video games then I think this is worth a read for you.
Thank you to netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this one.

This is the second book featuring gaming that I have read this week, despite not being at all interested in the subject. The first one was a light romance which featured playing a virtual game. This one is very different. It is about the complex issue of creating games from the concept to the engineering and business side of it, and how it developed from the early years. Which is more than I wanted to know but it is interesting. However, at the heart of it is the story of Sadie and Sam and how their relationship grew from their early teens to their late thirties. It is billed as not a romance but a love story, and it is just that. Sam stays steadfast from the beginning but Sadie's mental state forces periods of estrangement during which they lead totally separate lives. But Sam does not give up hope. I loved how the plot flowed and the writing style is assured and competent. I did think it was over long and the periods where Sam and Sadie were apart could have been shortened by a long way. The final game description went into too much detail, but you can feel the author's enjoyment of this new world she had created so t was forgivable.

This is a stunning book - so imaginative and epic, and yet intimate. I loved each character and inhabited their worlds so deeply. It was devastating, but also beautiful, I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

This was a pleasant read, I wouldn’t be a gamer but yet this book caught my interest and was a good read….

A surprisingly poignant, sensitive novel that spans the relationship of two flawed but entirely authentic protagonists. I didn’t expect to enjoy the novel as much as I did, and there was something nostalgic about the 90s/gaming theme that really impacted me (despite knowing nothing about the gaming world!). Sadie’s character, in particular, was so refreshing. Something about her resonanted with me in a way I can’t quite explain, but I imagine I won’t be alone in this…

Thank you so much to NetGalley and RandomHouse Vintage for the privilege!

I’ve been a fan of Zevin’s work for many years. She has the ability to write freely in any genre and doesn’t fit into a mould. Every book is something completely different from the last.

I was drawn to this one as it was set in the 1980’s (an era I know very well). It follows the lives of two gamers brought together by fate. Sam is in hospital after a serious car crash and Sadie is visiting while her sister undergoes cancer treatment. Their mutual love for video games sets them on a path where they eventually become working partners, creating some of the most popular games of the period.

I loved that Sam and Sadie’s relationship was based on friendship all the way through rather than romance. They are like minded and can bicker like siblings. Through their lives their relationship swerves from amicable to tempestuous, but by the end they realise how important their friendship is.

I’ve never read any books about gaming and I felt like I learned a lot about how they are produced from this book. I could never see the attraction of games before reading this, but through the story I realised how important video games are for people, especially when times are tough. The video games created are an escape from reality.

You can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Sadie and Sam had never met. If appears they were brought together after a couple of horrendous events and if they hadn’t happened, would they have found a way to meet.

This book deals with some hard topics but it shows how important friendships are in life.