Review: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

🎮 🕹️ 💔

4.25 ★

There's something fascinating about two people who can create entire worlds together but sometimes struggle to figure out how to exist in the same one.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is, at its heart, a story about friendship. Sam and Sadie's relationship is complicated, occasionally frustrating, and difficult to define, but it's also a beautiful one to follow. Their shared history and passion for creating games bring them together, while their individual struggles, misunderstandings, and unspoken feelings repeatedly pull them apart.

One of my favorite aspects was the evolution of the gaming industry across several decades. Gabrielle Zevin clearly knows her subject, and I appreciated how she explored game development and gaming culture without letting the technical details overwhelm the story. The games Sam and Sadie create feel personal, often reflecting their own experiences and the things they're trying to make sense of.

I also really appreciated the book's exploration of women in gaming. Sadie's contributions are repeatedly overshadowed by Sam's, not necessarily because he deliberately takes credit for her work, but because society is often more willing to recognize and celebrate men. Her frustrations are about more than their friendship; they're also about an industry that doesn't always give women the recognition they deserve. The exploration of racism, Asian American experiences, and LGBTQ+ representation adds another important dimension to the story.

I did have my frustrations, particularly with Sadie's relationship with Dov. That man tested my patience, and I spent far too much time wanting her to walk away from him. Meanwhile, the question of what Sam and Sadie might have been to each other adds another bittersweet layer to their already complicated relationship.

Despite everything these characters experience, the story doesn't pretend that life eventually works itself out perfectly. I appreciated the ending's balance of hope and sadness, and its suggestion that moving forward doesn't mean erasing what came before.

That said, I wasn't as emotionally devastated as I expected to be. Reading this over the course of a month, with other books in between, might have affected my experience, and coming straight from The Nightingale certainly didn't help.

Ultimately, I enjoyed this book and respect what Zevin has accomplished. It's an original, thoughtfully developed story about friendship, creativity, and the worlds we build with other people. I just didn't love it quite as much as I thought I would.

View all my reviews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: A Court of Splintered Harmony

Image
A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas My rating: 5 of 5 stars 🗡️ đŸĻ‡ đŸĢ€ Some books entertain you. Some books make you feel things. And then there are books that somehow manage to get their characters under your skin until you're laughing, screaming, getting emotional, and wondering how on earth you're supposed to wait for the next installment. A Court of Splintered Harmony did exactly that to me. Picking up in the aftermath of House of Flame and Shadow and the events of A Court of Silver Flames , this first movement throws us straight into a Night Court dealing with fractured relationships, political tensions, and the growing threat surrounding Koschei. There's a lot going on, but Sarah J. Maas handles the setup beautifully. The political landscape expands, old conflicts gain new weight, and every chapter feels like it's contributing something to the larger story. This never felt like filler to me. It feels intentional, and...
Read more

Book Review: Close My Eyes, Sophie McKenzie

Image
Close My Eyes     by Sophie McKenzie Adult/Mystery Thriller | 391 pages | 2013 (St. Martins Press) " When Geniver Loxley lost her daughter at birth eight years ago, her world stopped… and never fully started again. Mothers with strollers still make her flinch; her love of writing has turned into a half-hearted teaching career; and she and her husband, Art, have slipped into the kind of rut that seems inescapable. But then a stranger shows up on their doorstep, telling Gen the very thing she’s always wanted to hear: that her daughter Beth was not stillborn, but was taken away as a healthy infant and is still out there, somewhere, waiting to be found. It’s insane, unbelievable. But why would anyone make that up? A fissure suddenly opens up in Gen’s carefully reconstructed life, letting in a flood of unanswerable questions. Where is Beth now? Why is Art so reluctant to get involved? To save his wife from further hurt? Or is it something more sinister? And who can she tr...
Read more

Review: The Maidens

Image
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides My rating: 3 of 5 stars The Maidens is a gripping psychological thriller that pulls you in from the very first page. Alex Michaelides delivers a fast-paced mystery centered around a prestigious Oxford college where a group of young women fall victim to a charismatic and enigmatic professor. The atmosphere is tense and intriguing, keeping you engaged throughout. The protagonist, Mariana, is a complex and compelling character. As a psychotherapist, she brings depth to the narrative, and her personal journey adds emotional weight to the mystery. However, her character arc feels somewhat uneven—there are moments where her decisions feel frustratingly prolonged, and you wish she'd push harder to uncover the truth earlier. That said, her struggles feel human and real, which makes her ultimately likable despite her flaws. The pacing is consistently fast, which is one of the book's strongest assets. Michaelides keeps t...
Read more