BookLife Review: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

start-ups, video gaming, platonic friendships, unrequited love, gun violence

I am not a gamer, never have been, and I loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Video game prowess is not a requirement to enjoy this fresh voice; it is merely the context for a compelling story about three friends who are genius coders and video game aficionados, and launch a successful company. Two of the three, Sam and Sadie, meet at a children’s hospital where Sam is a long-term patient undergoing multiple surgeries for a disabling car accident, and Sadie is along for her sister’s extensive cancer treatment. They bond over Nintendo (yes, it was a while ago), and essentially remain friends for life, with a couple of significant rifts. The relocate each other during college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and ultimately launch a wildly successful video game company, with Sam as the art designer and Sadie the coder. Sam’s bff and roommate Max gets involved as Sam’s guardian angel and ultimately the company’s producer.

As you might guess, there is a love triangle, but it comes to fruition late in the novel, is not trite and is written tenderly with a light hand, tip-toeing around the pain it causes the third wheel. A dramatic, timely and tragic gun violence event explodes the threesome’s world. Healing is painful and not linear. Ultimately the story is about creativity, friendship, healing and resilience. It is a masterful story, exquisitely wrought with vivid, introverted, wounded people at its core, but it is never sappy. Don’t make my mistake and avoid reading this for an extended time because you are not a gamer or because the cover looks like it is futuristic. Neither is a reason to miss this. Absolutely read this one!