A review by kgc8
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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? Yes
4.5
This is a very character-driven story as you see Sadie and Sam grow up and both get closer and farther apart (physically and emotionally). As a casual gamer with very little knowledge of the tech behind the scenes, I enjoyed the peek into the game development, but the draw is the emotional journey and the complex relationships between long-time friends. I cried often seeing the hardships they endured and the way they hurt each other sometimes. The book is a really honest look at how a relationship can change and evolve and the author is skilled at drawing out emotion, but it ran a little long which kept it from being 5 stars.
An interesting question posed by my book club was whether we thought the protagonist was Sam or Sadie and we were split down the middle. While both made bad choices at times and neither is always likable, I personally thought it was Sam. I empathized more with Sadie (such as the rampant sexism and feeling marginalized at work), but I didn't think she was good at reflecting on her situations or growing from her mistakes.
If it's important to you, I would check out content warnings for this book because a number of incidents are described in detail from a third-person omniscient POV.
An interesting question posed by my book club was whether we thought the protagonist was Sam or Sadie and we were split down the middle. While both made bad choices at times and neither is always likable, I personally thought it was Sam. I empathized more with Sadie (such as the rampant sexism and feeling marginalized at work), but I didn't think she was good at reflecting on her situations or growing from her mistakes.
If it's important to you, I would check out content warnings for this book because a number of incidents are described in detail from a third-person omniscient POV.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Mental illness
A spoiler related to the gun violence:experiencing the tragedy in real-time. This did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book, but I had to take a breather after this sequence of events.