Book review of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
A forgotten piece of nostalgia crafted into beautiful hues of love, friendship, heartbreak and most important bits of life, Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is the “gamer’s “ version of life, spiced by an amazing world-building, closer to life characters and most importantly that immersive quality
When you land up with your hobby becoming your profession you will end up with no single day of work.
Yes, Gabrielle Zevin is a literary gamer, literally defined as someone for whom reading and playing are and always have been the same voyage. Yes, this time she has chosen to write about gaming, which happens to be one of her joys in life.
THE PLOT AS IT GOES
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a story of 2 friends Sam and Sadie and their chance meeting and their discovery of their mutual love for gaming. And this story is also about Marx, Sam’s best friend who is his roommate and his biggest support and becomes both Sadie and Sam’s life support as I would call it. Marx plays the part of the angel who is always there to soothe their ruffled feathers and tame the hard demeanour and stances these 2 depict.
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.
A story which centres around 3 brilliant artists who create something big and exceptional, this piece of astounding writing is their journey through their struggles, friendship, and love.
Zevin has taken the opportunity to provide a loose gaming history through this one. Sam and Sadie meet, by coincidence at a Los Angeles hospital, Sam is recovering from a serious accident and Sadie is visiting her sister who has cancer. While the 2 keep playing Super Mario Brothers in the Children’s wardroom, they tend to part on poor terms owing to a misunderstanding. When the 2 meet after years, they decide to collaborate on a game. Marx, who is Sam’s roommate and a theatre major gets involved too since both Sam and Sadie are techies, they need a manager too.
MY THOUGHTS
You know this piece of reading was such a different immersive sort an experience for me that I alternately went from sympathizing to getting frustrated with Sadie. I could resonate with Sam and his mannerisms and discretions. The 2 gamers, their unadvocated, unrequited sort of love for gaming and their penchant towards their purpose in life, the whole thing Emily created was awesome to the power of X!
Yes, the entire plethora of emotions played through this one was something that will make you travel onto the vortices of multiple feelings, all at once. I must commend how much the title seems completely something of a fascination to me, having been inspired by Macbeth, William Shakespeare’s soliloquy. A perfectly character-driven story, this one was about so many beautiful things all at once, finding love, friendship, a balance in one’s life and so much more.
THE IDEA WAS…
Well, TBH the core essence of the book for me was sheer gold. Yes, on the path and pursuit towards our goals in life, don’t we all try to put our best foot forward, playing life’s quintessential games with all possible gusto and reverence? Trying our level best to score like how we do while playing a game, relentlessly working towards winning that huge jackpot, striking it for that glittering pot of gold? And yet, on this very path we also come face to face with many who might turn into someone who inspires and influences us, becoming our discreet or even active partner along the way. Some of these stay with us, whilst several others we may bid adieu to. And yet all of them surely fit into this path of our lives, “playing” alongside us relentlessly till the end of the game of life.
Sam and Sadie are romantics but not your usual lovers. Their communion is more at a mental level than physical courtesy their shared love for gaming. Being much purer and higher than any platonic physical attraction, the relationship is achingly beautiful, pure and sweet. Even Marx, Sam’s best friend is always there alongside them, celebrating their thicks and shielding them through their thins. I love the synergy created by the trio.
Zevin’s prose for me was sheer magic. She is definitely blessed extraordinarily when it comes to the power of the pen since her amazing world-building as well as her exotically rich character development was what kept me glued to this fantabulous read right from the start. Yes, I was absolutely wrenched out akin to a rag cloth somehow, by the end of the narrative and yet there seemed to be this small smile playing at the corners of my mouth, a clear indication of how much closer to life this fiction truly is.
Related: The Best Beach Read of 2022 – Book Lovers by Emily Henry
You know when I went through the blurb for this one, I was like what could I possibly be having in common with these characters? I mean cmon’ they are gamers and I was like ok, this is something like a slice of your daily life. But no, this one was for me a true stark reminder that yes, indeed however small or insignificant be our life, even putting together its humdrum, its earthly routines, its ludicrous and absurd goofiness, its harebrained nonsense, its preposterous foolhardy demeanour, these petty issues do actually matter and even in spite of all of this, our lives are indiscernible and heartbreakingly beautiful.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Summary
Two kids meet in a hospital gaming room in 1987. One is visiting her sister, the other is recovering from a car crash. The days and months are long there. Their love of video games becomes a shared world — of joy, escape and fierce competition. But all too soon that time is over, and fades from view.
When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment. The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love – making games to delight, challenge and immerse players, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives. Their collaborations make them superstars.
This is the story of the perfect worlds Sadie and Sam build, the imperfect world they live in, and everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest as it examines the nature of identity, creativity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play and, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.
So, I hope you guys liked my musings on this one. Stay tuned with us right here at Booxoul for the best in the field of entertainment, lifestyle, fun, finance, tech and gadgets, fashion, education as well as all things bookish.
Adios Amigos!
An internationally accredited book blogger, voracious reader and the founder of Booxoul, one of India’s leading book and lifestyle blogs, Neelam is a person with a penchant for bringing out the best in people. A website designer, a renowned book blogger and a leading creative influencer on Instagram, here is a lady who is candid, closer to life and sensitive to the softest of emotions…
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