Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Summary:
In this exhilarating novel, two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.
On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.
Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
There are a lot of things to love about this book, but it also fell flat for me on a lot of levels too. On the positive side: Zevin’s writing is extremely lyrical and very easy to process. Her descriptions of the video games were so wonderful I was disappointed that they don’t exist in real life. The slice-of-life elements are sometimes my favorite in contemporary fiction and that they were definitely some of the highlights throughout this read. Another element that was elegantly managed were some of the social commentaries throughout. Things are introduced in a way such that they don’t seem out of place and a perfect demonstration of showing, not telling.
On the flip side, I really struggled with the core friendship between Sam and Sadie. For example, Sam is *in love* but feels he can’t tell her and frankly Sadie treats him horribly throughout a very large chunk of the book. So where does this love come from? I also struggled with their resolution from their big fights as well because it lacked actual processing and communication of the problems. Instead, they just ignored that it happened and moved on. There seems to be the implication that this ability is what makes their friendship so beautiful and frankly, I refuse to agree. Add in convoluting friendship with unrequited feelings and I feel the intended theme is undermined. All in all, I can’t say this book was bad, but it’s certainly not going to be on the list of rereads.
Rating: 3 stars!
Who should read it? Folks intrigued by the hype or enjoy a slice-of-life read.