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 …
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.
Feel like everyone I know read this book last year - so I'm a little behind the curve - but finally I got around to see what all the hype is about.
I really enjoyed it. Having been a big gamer as a kid a still somewhat now, it all felt super real to me.
The characters were beautifully drawn, fully realised, deep and complex people.
There were a couple or irks I had (someone got word-of-the-day toilet paper for Christmas eh?) but nothing that stopped me having a great time with this book.
Una història sobre les relacions, la pèrdua i les fases vitals
4,0 stars
Les vivències de quan som petits i adolescents sovint ens marquen per a tota la vida, especialment les traumàtiques, i poden condicionar con ens relacionem amb els altres i com ens visualitzem nosaltres mateixos i com projectem això a l'exterior.
Aquest llibre explica la història, en el transcurs d'unes quantes dècades, d'en Sam i la Sadie, dos amics que es coneixen de petits en una situació especial.
L'autora ens desgrana les seves personalitats, permetent-nos veure totes les perspectives, incloses les menys agradables, però humanes.
Very well written book and the main characters feel real and believeable. I didn't always like them all the time, but then that's part of what makes them believable.
I thought the ending (from the "fifth game" on) was a bit weak, and could have done with some tightening up.
Certainly worth the read, in particular if you have an interest in computer games or the people who make them. Still, this is a book that while it might appeal to geeks isn't for geeks in the way for example "Ready Player One" is. This is a story that is very much about people at the heart of it.
The characters and their relationship as it evolves over time are the highlight of this book. It's a great tale of a strong friendship as it ebbs and flows over the decades. Felt very real and very human. I appreciated it for how much it made me consider my life and relationships.
The overall plotline and where it ends up are less compelling. I liked it but wouldn't read it again.
I had lots of fun reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, like a great video game with an engaging story, but there were just a few, crucial moments in the book that left me unsatisfied.
One of it's central theme, about the eternal cycle of life giving us chances to start, fail, and start again, maybe to succeed this time, like someone playing a video game, is fun, and the parallels with players on a stage (hence the quote from Shakespeare as the title) and another layer of reflection on the other theme, the role games can play in our lives.
I liked the characters but sometimes found them inauthentic, acting in ways to make a point or progress the plot, and not necessarily true to who I thought they were. Ultimately, some key moments in the narrative fell flat, jarring me into disbelief, and breaking the spell. …
I had lots of fun reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, like a great video game with an engaging story, but there were just a few, crucial moments in the book that left me unsatisfied.
One of it's central theme, about the eternal cycle of life giving us chances to start, fail, and start again, maybe to succeed this time, like someone playing a video game, is fun, and the parallels with players on a stage (hence the quote from Shakespeare as the title) and another layer of reflection on the other theme, the role games can play in our lives.
I liked the characters but sometimes found them inauthentic, acting in ways to make a point or progress the plot, and not necessarily true to who I thought they were. Ultimately, some key moments in the narrative fell flat, jarring me into disbelief, and breaking the spell. Still a good read, but missed a bit of it's lofty, and noble, target.
This is one of those books that attracts you from the very beginning and you can't stop reading (until you realise that you don't want it to end that soon, either!). An interesting and well-written story that follows the successes and failures of its complex characters, driven by their passion for video games and full of lights and shadows. This is a story about gamers, and video games. But it also about life, passion, success and failure but, above all, about human relationships, and lives and worlds that could be but are not. Like a video game with the greatest engine: our imagination. Like a book.
A deep dive into friendship; how it intersects with work and family, etc. Don't worry if you don't play video games. It's just an adjacent theme, and it never gets technical.
It's a good book; just didn't end up thrilling me.
A wonderfully written story about the adult years of growing up, on a backdrop of the intense creative processes of video game design. I want these games to be real. I want to feel the characters expression through their art.
There are books where it’s a novel situation played out through understandable and straightforward characters. And then there are books where you have no idea how someone can keep so many deep actors in their head, you wonder if they were real people. Each character with their own motivations, and perspective. Sometimes I cheered for them. Sometimes I hated them. Always I loved them.
In any case, it’s a beautiful story. Heartbreaking and tragic.
A wonderfully written story about the adult years of growing up, on a backdrop of the intense creative processes of video game design. I want these games to be real. I want to feel the characters expression through their art.
There are books where it’s a novel situation played out through understandable and straightforward characters. And then there are books where you have no idea how someone can keep so many deep actors in their head, you wonder if they were real people. Each character with their own motivations, and perspective. Sometimes I cheered for them. Sometimes I hated them. Always I loved them.
In any case, it’s a beautiful story. Heartbreaking and tragic.
Moving story about love, friendship and death with gamedev as its core
4,0 stars
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a really well written novel. Telling a story of 2 childhood friends, Sam and Sadie, reuniting to develop games together, which eventually launches them into a world of fame, business and opportunities but also hatred, dilemmas and rivalry. The character development of these two, their family and their friends is really superb, it's definitely one of the strongest aspects. There are a lot of references to games of the era and gaming culture in general. The only thing that didn't quite meet my expectations is how the actual process of developing games is a bit unrealistic and often just glossed over. While the first game that the duo makes is explained in detail, the next games just mostly happen in the background while the drama takes the stage, which for me feels like a missed opportunity, even though a typical reader might not be …
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a really well written novel. Telling a story of 2 childhood friends, Sam and Sadie, reuniting to develop games together, which eventually launches them into a world of fame, business and opportunities but also hatred, dilemmas and rivalry. The character development of these two, their family and their friends is really superb, it's definitely one of the strongest aspects. There are a lot of references to games of the era and gaming culture in general. The only thing that didn't quite meet my expectations is how the actual process of developing games is a bit unrealistic and often just glossed over. While the first game that the duo makes is explained in detail, the next games just mostly happen in the background while the drama takes the stage, which for me feels like a missed opportunity, even though a typical reader might not be interested in that aspect.
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Storygraph'
Keine Bewertung
TTT is not something I would usually pick up on my own. Not fantastical enough in premise. But these characters are alive. I love them. Gabrielle Zevin’s writing of their interactions, how they process the world, their emotions is fantastic. How she flows from plot, introspection, and memory is effortless. I understand each character’s point of view. And I grieve how these relationships break down over the unsaid and assumed.
I am learning so much about how to write a character’s inner world—characters that can be known. I am learning so much about relationships in real life. I love to learn.
És un llibre, com diu a la portada, «Una declaració d'amor a la vida.» que funciona pausadament, tranquiŀlament, amb tendresa pels seus personatges i que et fa sentir segur, que per més que pateixin, no pot acabar malament. Com en un videojoc, saps, des del principi, que al final, guanyes, signifiqui el que signifiqui això. om en un videojoc, saps que al final guanyes, signifiqui el que signifiqui això i et permet relaxar-te i gaudir de la resta: la fotografia d'un moment molt important per la creació i consolidació dels videojocs com a art i producte comercial a la vegada. Els anys 90 del segle XX van marcar com evolucionarien i quins dilemes morals produirien els videojocs, sempre amagats a l'ombra d'una societat que no els entenia, però que ells, els pioners, tenien clar què feien. Però no només això. L'autora, hàbil i ambiciosa intenta traslladar l'ambient de cada videojoc …
És un llibre, com diu a la portada, «Una declaració d'amor a la vida.» que funciona pausadament, tranquiŀlament, amb tendresa pels seus personatges i que et fa sentir segur, que per més que pateixin, no pot acabar malament. Com en un videojoc, saps, des del principi, que al final, guanyes, signifiqui el que signifiqui això. om en un videojoc, saps que al final guanyes, signifiqui el que signifiqui això i et permet relaxar-te i gaudir de la resta: la fotografia d'un moment molt important per la creació i consolidació dels videojocs com a art i producte comercial a la vegada. Els anys 90 del segle XX van marcar com evolucionarien i quins dilemes morals produirien els videojocs, sempre amagats a l'ombra d'una societat que no els entenia, però que ells, els pioners, tenien clar què feien.
Però no només això. L'autora, hàbil i ambiciosa intenta traslladar l'ambient de cada videojoc que dissenyen els seus personatges a la noveŀla i se'n surt prou bé. En tot moment tens aquella sensació de diversió del videojoc, de fugida endavant: Demà, i demà, i demà.
El joc conté pinzellades d'assaig sobre videojocs i societat, sobre tecnologia, etc. Es nota que coneix bé el mundillo, tot i que segurament no en forma part directament.
A part d'això m'ha fet molta enveja, sobretot per haver-se inventat els jocs que a ella li hauria agradat jugar. Solutions, EmilyBlaster, Ichigo, Both Sides... son jocs que es nota que l'autora s'ha divertit descrivint-los, donant-los forma i fent que la gent hi jugués. I a mi, que la meva vocació frustrada és guionista de videojocs, només podia sentir enveja per algú que ha escrit els jocs que volia jugar i hi ha jugat, encara que fos imaginàriament per muntar un món com aquest.
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Goodreads'
5,0 stars
This is the first book in a while that I've had trouble putting down, it kept me reading later than I intended more than once. It's a complex, touching story about friendship and the value of play, which spans several decades. During that time Sam and Sadie meet, have quarrels, make up again, quarrel again, fall in love with other people, and make video games both together and separately.
It's set in the world of video game development so knowing some of those terms probably helps a little but I don't think it's really necessary; it's more about creating art together than the games themselves. (The game making is a little simplified, and as someone who works in the game industry I found it a little unbelievable in places - making an MMO with the staff they appeared to have? No way.) But waving those beside in suspension of disbelief, …
This is the first book in a while that I've had trouble putting down, it kept me reading later than I intended more than once. It's a complex, touching story about friendship and the value of play, which spans several decades. During that time Sam and Sadie meet, have quarrels, make up again, quarrel again, fall in love with other people, and make video games both together and separately.
It's set in the world of video game development so knowing some of those terms probably helps a little but I don't think it's really necessary; it's more about creating art together than the games themselves. (The game making is a little simplified, and as someone who works in the game industry I found it a little unbelievable in places - making an MMO with the staff they appeared to have? No way.) But waving those beside in suspension of disbelief, I doubt they'd bother anyone who doesn't actually make games for a living.
Really the book is about friendship, and flawed, complex characters, and art, and loss, and being human. It's refreshing to read an entire book about a couple that is about friendship rather than romance. It was sweet, and touching, and thought-provoking, and also occasionally annoying when the characters are clearly being idiots, but they're so well written that at least you can understand why they're being idiots. I would highly recommend this book.
Trigger warnings: there are a couple of violent deaths mentioned, and there's non-graphic description of an inappropriate teacher-student relationship with non-consensual bondage elements. These are not dwelled on any more than needed for the story's purposes, but are unavoidable elements of the plot.
