shirarweiss's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Car accident, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
kimschouwenaar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Car accident, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Vomit, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Pregnancy, Cancer, Animal death, Drug use, and Gaslighting
sneakysquid's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Xenophobia
cytokine_storm's review
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Hits kinda hard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Grief, Murder, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
theabee's review
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, and Death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, Gore, and Vomit
aliyachaudhry's review
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Cancer, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Car accident, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Gore, Ableism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Gun violence, Grief, Sexual violence, and Hate crime
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Eating disorder
nathaliereading's review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Gore, Car accident, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Eating disorder
shelfreflectionofficial's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“This is what time travel is. It’s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently. And that mode of transport only worked with those one had known a significant time.”
I’m not sure if I was excited to read this book— I think I was more curious. For some reason I was thinking it would be more sci-fi-ish like Ready Player One since it had to do with video game creation. It is definitely plain old fiction.
I didn’t hate it but it didn’t do much for me. It felt too slow-paced and a bit ‘extra.’ Zevin shoved every major or controversial topic possible into this book instead of just focusing on one or two.
The characters were meant to be flawed but it felt like their flaws overshadowed their strengths and did more to define and drive them. This made them somewhat unlikable and their growth was harder to detect.
The primary story line follows three friends over many years and places (Boston to LA to Tokyo) as they play video games together and then create them. The two main characters— Sam and Sadie— have a volatile friendship— cyclical love/hate relationship. The third character— Marx— acts as the neutralizer and stabilizer. We know personally how messy and complicated relationships are. But we also know that relationships are a mess worth making. It takes a lot for Sam and Sadie to become convinced of that, and there’s part of me that wonders if they ever got there in an altruistic way or not.
For example: Sadie has a perpetual chip on her shoulder and fluctuates between insecurity with her abilities, standing up for herself in work but not in her personal life. Sam is overly ambitious which blinds him to others’ needs and feelings. Marx is thoughtful and managerial but sexually promiscuous and you’re not really sure what he actually cares about.
I didn’t really like how Marx became a ‘glorified’ ‘saint-ed’ character by the end.
The secondary story line (at least in my opinion) was the relationship of the characters to the worlds they create. Gaming as a way of escaping the difficulties of life. Virtual worlds that help them grieve and deal with the brokenness of the real world. The ability to be different people with different skills. The opportunity to ‘start over’ or ‘re-do’ things until they get them right. As one of their games is titled ‘Our Infinite Lives’ or as the book is aptly titled- tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. We can live again better.
“He wanted to be Ichigo… He wanted to die a million deaths like Ichigo, and no matter what damage was inflicted on his body during the day, he’d wake up tomorrow, new and whole. He wanted Ichigo’s life, a lifetime of endless, immaculate tomorrows, free of mistakes and the evidence of having lived.”
But unfortunately, the worlds they create are not real. The characters do not exist. They must still live from day to day.
“In the end, all we can ever know is the game that was played, and in the only world that we know.”
As I said before, there is a hodge-podge of topics crammed into the lives of three people. Over the course of the book they experience/discuss: disability, depression, appropriation, racism, sexism, abortion, amputation, physical abuse, gay marriage and sexuality, death, friendship, grief, murder, gun violence, suicide, and probably something else I missed.
The characters are variations of Jewish, Korean, and Japanese and much of the race and appropriation revolve around these cultures.
I think the concoction of topics takes away from the readers’ relationship to the characters because it feels like each new issue is just another buzzword.
I think it would have been more effective to focus on friendship, forgiveness, and Sam’s disability in relationship to the virtual games. Maybe, too, the loss of a friend, but the more you add in the less important everything seems.
I thought it was interesting how they recognized their desire for an ‘other-world’ where everything is as it should be. People are whole. The earth is beautiful and free of violence (well… their games weren’t void of this) and hatred. They were searching for meaning, legacy, and an escape from a broken world.
I think I have the answer for them. The current death rate is 100%. There is no second chance or infinite life. But there is an afterlife. And it can be the perfection they seek. I think they are looking for the ultimate ‘save point.’ And that is Heaven. It’s real. And for all who trust in Jesus, it is what comes next. And it will be better than an video game world that can be created.
Zevin touches on the realities and results of sin (in not so specific terms). We can all relate to so many of the hardships and heartaches the characters face. We know that yearning for something more, something bigger, something outside of this earth. That is because God put eternity into our hearts. We know in our core, that this world is not our home. Maybe this book can be a catalyst for readers to acknowledge that desire and to seek real answers for it. Not in video games. But in the Bible and the person of Jesus who is in the business of redemption, forgiveness, and restoration.
Along the lines of the ‘escapist’ story line. I found myself pondering this outside of the spiritual realm I just mentioned. Just in terms of health, mental or physical, is it a good coping mechanism to escape into fantasy worlds? Both Sadie and Sam found it comforting in their various griefs. I understand the need and benefit of distractions every once and a while, but from what I know of gaming, it’s pretty addictive. It doesn’t seem healthy to always seek to escape from their problems instead of confronting them or working through them.
Isolation, as we see with Sadie, is not usually a beneficial choice. There is an element of community in virtual worlds but more and more studies are showing that it’s not a good replacement for face-to-face physical connection. We were made to connect with people. Experience the world together, physically, as ourselves. Empathy is often lost online and is an essential component to a healthy society.
Distractions help us grieve or deal with stress, but I think there have to be boundaries for it to be helpful and not harmful.
Another aspect of the gaming side of things is the idea of success. Sadie and Sam had differing views on what a successful game looked like:
“To oversimplify: For Sam greatness meant popular. For Sadie, art.”
I was realizing how much I don’t know about video games, especially PC games. I didn’t realize they incorporated such complex stories or that there was a way to dialogue within them. Reading this game made me have so many questions about how it works to code something that is so graphics and art-heavy. A complete video game really is a work of art.
I went on YouTube and watched a few videos of people playing popular games. I don’t think it’s a hobby I want to get into because I can see how it takes up so much of your time, but it was good to see for myself a piece of what this book was about and be able to appreciate the skill and talent and time that goes into something like that.
The Oregon Trail is a nostalgic piece of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I definitely remember the game and remember the dysentery! I couldn’t relate to a lot of the gaming aspects, but I played Oregon Trail, and mostly Super Nintendo games like Super Mario world, Donkey Kong Country, Top Gear, and PlayStation games like 2Xtreme & Crash Bandicoot Racing.
I really like that Zevin incorporated this because Sadie and Sam are pioneers themselves. They are creating new paths to unknown worlds. They are experiencing the ups and downs of the human experience and of going somewhere new and have to figure out how to survive and allow others to follow them.
Some reviewers talked about the pretentious vocabulary in this book. In some ways I would agree with them. I have a pretty big vocabulary and there were lots of words I didn’t know. I agree that I’m not sure it helped the book at all and didn’t necessarily fit the characters’ personalities, but I enjoy learning new words so it didn’t really bother me. In fact, here are some that I looked up:
- Grokking: understanding thoroughly
- Ouroboros: a snake or dragon eating its own tail
- Bloviating: to speak pompously
- Palimpsest: something that has a new layer, aspect, or appearance that builds on its past and allows us to see or perceive parts of this past
- Turpitude: vile or depraved act
- Jejune: immature and childish
First side note: I thought it was funny that the very first line of the acknowledgements says that there are no secret highways in LA which was going to be the very first thing I googled when I shut the book. So thank you Zevin, for answering that for me, even though I wish it weren’t true.
Second side note: If you’re interested in trying out the Magic Eye stuff, here’s a link to a Magic Eye book on Amazon!
Third side note: This is the second book I’ve read recently that referenced Necco Wafers. Is this something I should have known about slash eating??
Recommendation
This is a hard one to recommend. I don’t read a lot of straight fiction so the fact that this won best fiction is probably par for the course and I’m just not used to that style of writing and story-telling.
But because of the language, drug use, sexual content, the hot-topic potpourri, the length and slow-pace, and the unlikability of the characters, this book didn’t do much for me and I’m not sure it will for you either.
However, many people do love this book. I wonder if they’re gamers and the nostalgia and game content interests them.
I think people who like ‘sagas’ that explore a decades-long span of life for characters won’t be turned off by the length or pacing.
I guess I would read some other reviews if you’re still unsure if this one is for you. Personally, I feel like there are better books out there to spend your time on.
A couple other books that somewhat fit the idea of this book that I would recommend over this one would be:
Infinite by Brian Freeman
Play Dead by Ted Dekker
[Content Advisory: a lot of swearing; a paragraph on the c-word; a lot of drug use; some sexual content; a whole host of trigger issues as discussed in the review]
I’m not sure if I was excited to read this book— I think I was more curious. For some reason I was thinking it would be more sci-fi-ish like Ready Player One since it had to do with video game creation. It is definitely plain old fiction.
I didn’t hate it but it didn’t do much for me. It felt too slow-paced and a bit ‘extra.’ Zevin shoved every major or controversial topic possible into this book instead of just focusing on one or two.
The characters were meant to be flawed but it felt like their flaws overshadowed their strengths and did more to define and drive them. This made them somewhat unlikable and their growth was harder to detect.
The primary story line follows three friends over many years and places (Boston to LA to Tokyo) as they play video games together and then create them. The two main characters— Sam and Sadie— have a volatile friendship— cyclical love/hate relationship. The third character— Marx— acts as the neutralizer and stabilizer. We know personally how messy and complicated relationships are. But we also know that relationships are a mess worth making. It takes a lot for Sam and Sadie to become convinced of that, and there’s part of me that wonders if they ever got there in an altruistic way or not.
For example: Sadie has a perpetual chip on her shoulder and fluctuates between insecurity with her abilities, standing up for herself in work but not in her personal life. Sam is overly ambitious which blinds him to others’ needs and feelings. Marx is thoughtful and managerial but sexually promiscuous and you’re not really sure what he actually cares about.
I didn’t really like how Marx became a ‘glorified’ ‘saint-ed’ character by the end.
The secondary story line (at least in my opinion) was the relationship of the characters to the worlds they create. Gaming as a way of escaping the difficulties of life. Virtual worlds that help them grieve and deal with the brokenness of the real world. The ability to be different people with different skills. The opportunity to ‘start over’ or ‘re-do’ things until they get them right. As one of their games is titled ‘Our Infinite Lives’ or as the book is aptly titled- tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. We can live again better.
“He wanted to be Ichigo… He wanted to die a million deaths like Ichigo, and no matter what damage was inflicted on his body during the day, he’d wake up tomorrow, new and whole. He wanted Ichigo’s life, a lifetime of endless, immaculate tomorrows, free of mistakes and the evidence of having lived.”
But unfortunately, the worlds they create are not real. The characters do not exist. They must still live from day to day.
“In the end, all we can ever know is the game that was played, and in the only world that we know.”
As I said before, there is a hodge-podge of topics crammed into the lives of three people. Over the course of the book they experience/discuss: disability, depression, appropriation, racism, sexism, abortion, amputation, physical abuse, gay marriage and sexuality, death, friendship, grief, murder, gun violence, suicide, and probably something else I missed.
The characters are variations of Jewish, Korean, and Japanese and much of the race and appropriation revolve around these cultures.
I think the concoction of topics takes away from the readers’ relationship to the characters because it feels like each new issue is just another buzzword.
I think it would have been more effective to focus on friendship, forgiveness, and Sam’s disability in relationship to the virtual games. Maybe, too, the loss of a friend, but the more you add in the less important everything seems.
I thought it was interesting how they recognized their desire for an ‘other-world’ where everything is as it should be. People are whole. The earth is beautiful and free of violence (well… their games weren’t void of this) and hatred. They were searching for meaning, legacy, and an escape from a broken world.
I think I have the answer for them. The current death rate is 100%. There is no second chance or infinite life. But there is an afterlife. And it can be the perfection they seek. I think they are looking for the ultimate ‘save point.’ And that is Heaven. It’s real. And for all who trust in Jesus, it is what comes next. And it will be better than an video game world that can be created.
Zevin touches on the realities and results of sin (in not so specific terms). We can all relate to so many of the hardships and heartaches the characters face. We know that yearning for something more, something bigger, something outside of this earth. That is because God put eternity into our hearts. We know in our core, that this world is not our home. Maybe this book can be a catalyst for readers to acknowledge that desire and to seek real answers for it. Not in video games. But in the Bible and the person of Jesus who is in the business of redemption, forgiveness, and restoration.
Along the lines of the ‘escapist’ story line. I found myself pondering this outside of the spiritual realm I just mentioned. Just in terms of health, mental or physical, is it a good coping mechanism to escape into fantasy worlds? Both Sadie and Sam found it comforting in their various griefs. I understand the need and benefit of distractions every once and a while, but from what I know of gaming, it’s pretty addictive. It doesn’t seem healthy to always seek to escape from their problems instead of confronting them or working through them.
Isolation, as we see with Sadie, is not usually a beneficial choice. There is an element of community in virtual worlds but more and more studies are showing that it’s not a good replacement for face-to-face physical connection. We were made to connect with people. Experience the world together, physically, as ourselves. Empathy is often lost online and is an essential component to a healthy society.
Distractions help us grieve or deal with stress, but I think there have to be boundaries for it to be helpful and not harmful.
Another aspect of the gaming side of things is the idea of success. Sadie and Sam had differing views on what a successful game looked like:
“To oversimplify: For Sam greatness meant popular. For Sadie, art.”
I was realizing how much I don’t know about video games, especially PC games. I didn’t realize they incorporated such complex stories or that there was a way to dialogue within them. Reading this game made me have so many questions about how it works to code something that is so graphics and art-heavy. A complete video game really is a work of art.
I went on YouTube and watched a few videos of people playing popular games. I don’t think it’s a hobby I want to get into because I can see how it takes up so much of your time, but it was good to see for myself a piece of what this book was about and be able to appreciate the skill and talent and time that goes into something like that.
The Oregon Trail is a nostalgic piece of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I definitely remember the game and remember the dysentery! I couldn’t relate to a lot of the gaming aspects, but I played Oregon Trail, and mostly Super Nintendo games like Super Mario world, Donkey Kong Country, Top Gear, and PlayStation games like 2Xtreme & Crash Bandicoot Racing.
I really like that Zevin incorporated this because Sadie and Sam are pioneers themselves. They are creating new paths to unknown worlds. They are experiencing the ups and downs of the human experience and of going somewhere new and have to figure out how to survive and allow others to follow them.
Some reviewers talked about the pretentious vocabulary in this book. In some ways I would agree with them. I have a pretty big vocabulary and there were lots of words I didn’t know. I agree that I’m not sure it helped the book at all and didn’t necessarily fit the characters’ personalities, but I enjoy learning new words so it didn’t really bother me. In fact, here are some that I looked up:
- Grokking: understanding thoroughly
- Ouroboros: a snake or dragon eating its own tail
- Bloviating: to speak pompously
- Palimpsest: something that has a new layer, aspect, or appearance that builds on its past and allows us to see or perceive parts of this past
- Turpitude: vile or depraved act
- Jejune: immature and childish
First side note: I thought it was funny that the very first line of the acknowledgements says that there are no secret highways in LA which was going to be the very first thing I googled when I shut the book. So thank you Zevin, for answering that for me, even though I wish it weren’t true.
Second side note: If you’re interested in trying out the Magic Eye stuff, here’s a link to a Magic Eye book on Amazon!
Third side note: This is the second book I’ve read recently that referenced Necco Wafers. Is this something I should have known about slash eating??
Recommendation
This is a hard one to recommend. I don’t read a lot of straight fiction so the fact that this won best fiction is probably par for the course and I’m just not used to that style of writing and story-telling.
But because of the language, drug use, sexual content, the hot-topic potpourri, the length and slow-pace, and the unlikability of the characters, this book didn’t do much for me and I’m not sure it will for you either.
However, many people do love this book. I wonder if they’re gamers and the nostalgia and game content interests them.
I think people who like ‘sagas’ that explore a decades-long span of life for characters won’t be turned off by the length or pacing.
I guess I would read some other reviews if you’re still unsure if this one is for you. Personally, I feel like there are better books out there to spend your time on.
A couple other books that somewhat fit the idea of this book that I would recommend over this one would be:
Infinite by Brian Freeman
Play Dead by Ted Dekker
[Content Advisory: a lot of swearing; a paragraph on the c-word; a lot of drug use; some sexual content; a whole host of trigger issues as discussed in the review]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Drug use, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Abortion, Alcohol, Gore, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Death, and Gun violence
kristinallard's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident and Gun violence
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Abortion, Drug use, Gore, Cancer, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
thatenbyisisreads's review
emotional
hopeful
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
4.5
This emotional masterpiece sends every reader into the world of video game development with sprinkles of love, friendships, and embracing of failure
Spoiler
The relationship between Sadie and Sam made me yearn for more, but I couldn't be more understanding of their ending. Originally, I was so against Marx and Sadie's relationship, but over time they really started to grow on me, despite my feelings for her and Sam. Honestly, this was the perfect time to implement a polyam relationship. Then, that's when everything came crashing down on me when Marx had passed on. That passage about the strawberry field brought me to tears, it was so beautiful, yet so tragic to lose such a profound, genuine person who didn't deserve that fate.Currently, I'm dealing with a break up with someone who I love so much and hold to such a high regard. I was so grateful to have read this quote during this trying time. "'Marx, you had better be alright. I absolutely can't bear the thought of a world without you.' She squeezes your hand and kisses your cheek. 'No, I won't bear it. I refuse to bear it. Love you madly, my sweet friend.'
Love you madly.
The way to turn an ex lover into a friend is to never stop loving them, to know that when one phase of a relationship ends it can transform into something else. It is to acknowledge that love is both a constant and a variable at the same time." As devastating as this phase of my life may be, this quote is a reminder that when things don't go as we had hoped, we can still expect that love to manifest into something beautiful.
As a fellow artist, it is quite easy to fall into that disappoint that comes with failure and not wanting to try again. This following quote helped further expand my way of thinking on the topic of failure. "This was William Morris's garden. These were his strawberries. These were birds he knew. No designer has ever used red or yellow in an indigo discharge dyeing technique before. He must have had to start over many times to get the colors right. This fabric is not just a fabric. It's the story of failure and of perseverance, of the discipline of a craftsman, of the life of an artist." Thanks to Marx's mother, I wish to let failure take me on it's journey towards success.
However, I do wish that they held more of a discussion on why it was highly inappropriate for Sadie's professor to have had taken advantage of her at 19 years old while he was in his 30's.
Overall, yet again, I couldn't have picked a more appropriate time to read a book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who's an artist afraid of failure, but everyone else should read nonetheless!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Cancer, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, and Sexism
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, and Fatphobia
Minor: Abortion and Eating disorder