Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

(No Spoilers)

3 stars

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is an intricately woven novel about Sam and Sadie; two game-obsessed best friends who over the span of thirty years, work, resent, grow, and love one another.

I don’t know if I’ve ever read something quite like this. The style was overall so elegant despite it being jarring in places when it changed perspective or time. The prose was very pretty and full of profound metaphors. I’ve read some reviews about it being too ‘woke’ and busy, I feel like that’s rubbish. There were a lot of themes and topics covered (but it is across thirty years)! It covered sexism in the gaming industry, domestic abuse, disability, racism, grief – it was boasting with emotion and life.

Saying that, while I did appreciate all the themes…strangely, I didn’t particularly like the characters (save Marx) which is a weird contrast. I’m not criticising; I don’t think a story owes you likeable characters. I can empathise with them, but Sam and Sadie never seem to be particularly nice people. Nor do they ever grow out of their childhood resentments or patterns. They differ slightly, but I never quite believed they changed or got over animosities. I can appreciate multi-dimensional flawed characters but the pair kind of sucked the life out of one another and it was frustrating reading their years of avoidance. Maybe because the novel doesn’t ever capture them with any vitality or happiness? To paraphrase a quote from the novel: to create something truly great, like a whole new virtual world, you have to be in pain. Maybe their lives were too sorrowful and that’s how it's supposed to be for them to work together. Bittersweet characters and a bittersweet ending.

Overall, it’s worth a read, it captures life beautifully and I’m definitely highlighting a few quotes.