A review by bookdyer_y
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I’m tossing up between 3.5 & 4 stars but since I did tear up I decided to be generous. When reading very popular and hyped books it can be quite difficult to enjoy read & enjoy beyond the binary of lived up to/did not live up to the hype; however in this case I feel I was successful. I did enjoy this book and found myself very enamored with the lives of Sadie & Sam and surrounding characters more namely Marx (who I feel got the short end of the deal since it was marketed as a book about 2 friends when I felt it should be three). All of the gaming elements went over my head in saying that it does make me want to buy animal crossing lol (another hobby I do not have time for). My question about this book is are we meant to this Sam & Sadie are good/tolerable people? Because I don’t think they are. I found the long standing back and forth / grudge holding only to return back to each other to be quite irritating. It’s like when you’re friend keeps getting back with a shitty ex.  I found their relationship to be so incredibly moving in their early days, I nearly cried during the “I love you. terribly” scene before he goes into surgery. As an extension of that my further question would be: should you still do something just because you’re good at it if it seems to bring you zero joy? Do you think they got addicted to the lifestyle their success afforded them? Did they enjoy the off and on nature of their relationship?. In the end when Sadie moved on to teaching it was almost like a relief. It is a good contentious story but it doesn’t really make sense, for two analytical people to keep themselves stuck in an endless loop. But I guess that’s a game right? As they always say go back to the save point. My last qualm is the Dov/Sadie relationship. I know the nature of this relationship is somewhat addressed and used to drive conflict in the book but I duno, I had the ick about it from the start. The same relationship could have carried out in a setting where it wasn’t teacher/student. All of that being said, the characterization of everyone was really great. They were quite clear in my mind. I’d love to see this book as a movie. Despite my question & criticisms, I did feel very moved at times and found the story very captivating. I think I’d read another of Zevin’s book if I came across one at the library or it was again the big thing to read on the internet but I don’t think I’ll actively be reaching for the backlog. After, writing this review I think I’m going to change my rating down the 3.25. I’ve had to much to say for it to be close to perfect. Also, the cover is absolutely horrific. 
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