The World of Gaming

A Review of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 

by Theresa Gauthier

This is one of those books that I wanted to read almost as soon as I heard about it. I like Gabrielle Zevin, so I was fairly certain the book would be good. It was well beyond good. 

The story follows the lives of Sadie Green and Sam Masur through a 30 year journey as they become best friends, lose touch, and find each other again. Their friendship evolves and changes throughout the book, and Zevin manages to keep the reader unsure of where exactly it’s going, but still hanging on every word and every turn of the page.

It’s an unlikely friendship from the beginning, but the pair come to depend upon each other and the reader can’t help but want to follow their relationship through its ups and downs—and it has plenty of both. The two bond as children playing video games, and later in life become video game designers. 

Their lives are intricately intertwined, and even when they’re not together, you can’t help but hope that’s a temporary situation.   I’m sure the disagreements they have will have readers picking sides, deciding who was at fault, but it’s really just like life. It all depends on your perspective. 

Perhaps the best character is Marx Watanabe, who starts the story as Sam’s friend and roommate and appears to be the most unifying presence in the lives of the two friends. Marx has a joy that the other two don’t possess, and whether that’s because his interests run more towards playing games than creating them, towards theater over academia, he proves to be both a grounding and yet a liberating factor in their friendship and their creative endeavors. In many ways, he makes the collaboration between Sam and Sadie work. 

They face their ups and downs together, this trio, and in the end, it’s how they face them that keeps them going.

The other major character in the story is Dov Mizrah. From my point of view, the less said about him the better. 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow has gotten a lot of attention, and it’s one story that deserves all the attention it gets. Gabrielle Zevin’s latest novel spans not just 30 years, but an unparalleled 30 years. When else in history could this book have been written? When else could two game designers come up from nowhere and create so much? 

The book is a love letter to gaming, games, and gamers, and it hit the target every time it took a shot.

Sadie makes choices, some good and some bad, and Sam is sometimes too focused on what he wants not always worrying about the affect of that desire on those around him. They make mistakes, but that’s human and realistic, and, while there are one or two things that I wish hadn’t happened, in the end this is a story that drew me in and made me glad to stay.