Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

What a freaking fantastic book.

I do feel that it dragged a bit in the middle and Sadie and Sam drove me crazy at times, but in such a realistically flawed way that I can't consider it a fault of the book.

I really think that Zevin nailed the pathos in this book. The second person pov was actually well done and effective (second person can be a major turn off for me if it feels awkward) and the writing was just ostentatious enough to be fitting for these characters, without making the book come off as unapproachable or self-important.

The immersiveness is the star of <I>Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow</I>. This book isn't about much in particular. We mostly just follow these characters through the most notable points of a 30 year portion of their lives. Yet somehow it's never boring. It's exciting, and frustrating, and heart-wrenching, and everything else you can feel.

I was especially effected by the way Zevin writes love (specifically pertaining to Sam's relation to it) and work (specifically Sadie's monologue about being born in a certain area)... which is fitting since the author's note specifically touches on how these are the focuses of the book. If that's all Zevin set out to write about, she achieved it, but <I>Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow</I> goes far beyond these things in a beautifully poignant portrayal of life.

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theinstaboomworm's review against another edition

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dark lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

THE GOOD: I tried physically reading this and couldn't get into it, but I found the audiobook to be much more enjoyable. This was nostalgic for me because I grew up playing video games with my brother and played a lot of the games mentioned in this book. I also thought the ending was really cute.

THE BAD: I do think this is overhyped and that it isn't as good as everyone says it is. I also felt that there were a lot of heavy themes and topics that were glazed over and probably shouldn't have been. It didn't pack as much of an emotional punch for me as it could have if those topics were more descriptive.

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rachelmarie220's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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woolgatherer's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.5

I‘m definitely in the minority here when I say that the book was okay, at best. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did, especially because it was about video games. Honestly, it was probably because it was about video games that I was driven to finish this book. Besides this, though, I felt that the book really started to fall apart at the seams around the halfway mark, and barely held together by the end of the book.

While there is a plot of sorts, it read to me as though Zevin wanted her book to be character-driven. I think she was fairly successful on this front, but it was not without fault. I was really looking forward to her dive into a very complicated friendship mired with platonic love and frustration. I thought the first portion of the book did an excellent job with this, so, it was a bit of a disappointment that what could have been a rich exploration of such friendships ended up being an unrequited love kind of situation. It felt like a lazy choice to me. I was also frustrated with how Sam and Sadie’s relationships with other characters played out, which, frankly, felt very much so like how one would interact with NPCs. It was especially the case with Marx (who was too perfect for comfort), whose role in the book later on came off as an insensitive (and, frankly, manipulative) plot device to push Sadie’s story further.

I also think another thing working against Zevin was that she was too ambitious with the second half of the novel. There was too much she wanted to explore beyond characters and their relationships with one another that she kept introducing. Notably (to me), she wanted to tackle various sociopolitical issues as well. I would have rather she tackled one or two issues rather than several surface-level discussions that left a lot to be desired.

I think it’s still worth checking out this book, especially if you love video games. Also, while I had my issues with the content, I think Zevin is a rather good writer, and I thought the way she experimented with the structure of the book was quite fascinating.

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chichisode's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

if a little life was less trauma porn and more of just "life happens to us and sometimes life means shit", also video games and just games in general. but we keep going. fucking cried when the reasoning behind the title was revealed on page. strong read for escapists— yes, even when you're not a gamer.

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owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

"Maybe it was the willingness to play that hinted at a tender, eternally newborn part in all humans. Maybe it was the willingness to play that kept one from despair."

A book that had so many lines I wanted to include here that I actually found it pretty hard to choose. Zevin has crafted such a wonderful piece of art. There are so many layers to this that I think I need to reread it almost immediately. The entire last third made me want to ugly cry. Every scene of this book was on the surface about moving its tightly-wound plot onward, yet simultaneously managed to further an extraordinary portrait of play, art, ethics, performance, love and sex, disability and illness, relationships and family. Zevin's ideas about these varied topics are finely painted, always finding room for levity, lightness, nuance and exploration. At the same time, the scenes that lean more heavily into these themes never feel like they lack depth. If anything, the lightness of touch here in everything from narrative voice to plotting to recurrent images and motifs felt carefully considered. I learned so much about the gaming world and its history which I have never really interacted with before. And yet most of all I feel the novel's important insights boiled down to how humans relate to and care for another. That despite everything, in the end, love can be very simple. The conversation with Dong Hyun near the ending of the book where he incredulously looks at Sam and says "Are you kidding? [...] Everything is funny now." Insane. I wanted to sob.

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