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.
This book ticks all the boxes for me. It's not only about game development and unrequited / platonic love, it touches on so many things. Honestly couldn't put it down, for good reasons. I kept raving about it for days after finishing it, still think about it sometimes.
Could have done without the communication issues creating unnecessary drama – they made the characters feel really frustrating at times, but those are the flaws they come with, I guess.
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.
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.
Moving story about love, friendship and death with gamedev as its core
4,0 étoiles
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.
This is a very good book about relationships of all kinds - familial, romantic, friendly - and the relationships that are harder to define in a single word. Sure, it's also about video game design, narrative structure, being empathetic and kind, and a little love letter to Southern California. It feels like the 1990s, and also timeless. Zevin writes wonderfully about gender, race, age, and all the ups and downs of those definitions across generations.
Very highly recommended, for people who like people.
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.
I liked this. I might not play enough games to fully appreciate it? But I was very into the complicated friendship and the emphasis on the rarity of that connection.
Review of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' on 'Goodreads'
5,0 étoiles
A book about video games that is never really about video games. A book on people. relationships and how those change through life's stages. Felt like an old soul explaining it all, and had me feeling all those points in my life and remembering from the wonderful descriptions in the books, not of just the doing but the feelings in doing all the mundane and sometimes amazing in living life.
