Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Review
"How I will miss the horses"
We’re turning the page on our February book pick, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
One Sentence Summary:
This is a tough one to distill in one line, but here’s my best attempt:
A kinda-sorta love story spanning thirty years of an intimate creative relationship between two video game designers who are sometimes friends and always competitors.
My Thoughts
In the author’s note (which you should always read!), Gabrielle Zevin says, “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a novel about work…..Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is equally about love.”
This book was like nothing else I’ve ever read — and it’s definitely not a typical love story.
According to Goodreads users, that makes it either the best or worst book ever.
People call it pretentious. They say the characters are unlikable, the writing is wordy, and some parts are too experimental (ie: cutting to interviews in the future, second-person chapters, gaming references etc..)
That’s all true, but it’s also what makes this book so memorable!! It works because Zevin takes risks. The writing is ambitious and sometimes a bit philosophical. The characters are dynamic, interesting, and perfectly flawed.
Except for Marx. Marx was perfect (more on him later).
I concede that the book is too long, BUT the benefit of having 100 too many pages of Zevin’s writing is that you get beautiful lines and commentary on themes like….
Sam’s health struggles.
As someone with chronic pain, these moments about Sam’s foot were *chef’s kiss*:
“Sam’s doctor said to him, “The good news is that the pain is in your head.” But I am in my head, Sam thought.” (pg 190)
“Sam was happiest when his body was feeling nothing. He was happiest when he did not have to think about his body — when he could forget he had a body at all.” (pg 194)
Intimacy
What does it actually mean to know someone? To love someone? Is a creative relationship as important as a romantic one? I could talk about this forever (and I think Zevin can too!)
This exchange from pg 207-209 is just flawless:
Sadie says: “Because we never say anything real to each other. We play games, and we talk about games, and we talk about making games, and we don’t know each other at all.”
And Sam thinks: “Tell me I don’t know you when I could draw both sides of this hand, your hand, from memory.”
Other moments that made me pause:
“This is what time travel is. It’s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently.” (pg 8)
“‘Zweisamkeit’ is the feeling of being alone even when you’re with other people…. Before I met you, I felt this constantly…I felt it so often that I thought this was the nature of living. To be alive was to accept that you were fundamentally alone.” (pg 271-272)
“He would know her handwriting anywhere” (pg 11 and the last line. I love a callback!)
The marketer vs the artist:
Throughout the book, Sam and Sadie argue about their contributions to the work. They have a classic push-pull between selling and creating.
In the opening chapter, Sadie asks Sam, “Don’t you want to see with magic eyes?”
A few lines later, Sam asks Sadie, “How much proof do you ever have that we’re all in the same world?”
This alone is so interesting to me! These vantage points! This understanding of creation! They needed each other to be great and vehemently disagreed with each other the whole time. This divide was worth all 416 pages.
Play
You can’t write a book about video games without commenting on the power (and intimacy) of play.
“To allow yourself to play with another person is no small risk. It means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt…” (pg 21)
“The thing I found profoundly hopeful when I’m feeling despair is to imagine people playing, to believe that no matter how bad the world gets, there will always be players.” (pg 389).
Work and the creative process
I could read about people’s creative processes forever. That might not be for everybody, but it is for me!
I highlighted this line from Marx’s mom giving the textile to Sadie before reading Marx’s chapter. What a stunning moment: “This fabric is not just a fabric. It’s the story of failure and of perseverance, of the discipline of a craftsman, of the life of an artist.” (pg 230)
Speaking of Marx….I can’t review this book without dedicating a section to The Tamer of Horses. Wowowowow, did I ever love that character. It takes a special person to wrangle creatives, and Zevin created the perfect one. Three major moments I have to call out:
The persimmons!
“Sam used to say that Marx was the most fortunate person he had ever met — he was lucky with lovers, in business, in looks, in life. But the longer Sadie knew Marx, the more she thought Sam hadn’t truly understood the nature of Marx’s good fortune. Marx was fortunate because he saw everything as if it were a fortuitous bounty. It was impossible to know — were persimmons his favorite fruit, or had they just now become his favourite fruit because there they were, growing in his own backyard?”
The NPC chapter. This will stick with me forever. Holy moly those pages made me cry so much. I cry even thinking about them. I will never see The Strawberry Thief the same way again. I will never see birds the same way again. “How I will miss the horses” (pg 302)
The book’s namesake: This quote says it all. Just wow.
”What is a game?” Marx said. “It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.” (pg 336)
Pretentious or not, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow made me stop and think about video games, creativity, and intimate relationships.
It made me stop and think. Full stop.
Rating
All that said, I give Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow 4.5 stars.
I loved this book. I will remember this book. This book will inform how I see creative work and relationships. Marx might go down as one of my favourite characters ever.
Was it a super easy read? No. Was the plot amazing? Also no.
Ultimately, I only took away .5 stars because it was too long and dense. I would’ve deducted more, but Zevin’s writing was just too beautiful.
I’d recommend this book to…
Gamers (duh)
Artists, marketers, and anyone who spends time with creatives
Philosophy majors (hello!)
People who love a pretty sentence but don’t need a fast-paced plot (hello again!)
Fans of Salley Rooney - the queen of long-term, complicated friendship dynamics
Our Next Chapter:
Help me choose what My Side Plot should read next:
Roundabout, Phong Nguyen
This book confounds me… 200 pages without the letter “e”?!? HOW? WHY? I must know. I must read.
When Women Were Dragons, Kelly Barnhill
I’ve been dying to read this speculative feminist fantasy book about women in the 1950s turning into dragons. Are you kidding?! That’s so cool! Also, what a perfect Women’s History Month choice.
Stay tuned for the winner's announcement on Fable, Instagram, and your Hump Day Quickie.
Also On My Shelf
Good Material, Dolly Alderton
I’m about a third of the way through this book and am really enjoying it! More so than Ghosts, tbh.
Us Against You, Fredrik Backman
I just finished this one and will share my thoughts in our next My Side Plot newsletter.
Set My Heart to Five, Simon Stephenson
A robot on a quest for love. What’s not to like?
Shut Up You’re Pretty, Téa Mutonji
A debut collection of short stories by a Canadian author from 2019. The cover caught me in the bestseller sale section of Indigo, and it looks like a speedy lil’ read.
A Quick Book Report
Epilogue
What did you think!?!?
Are you following along on Fable??
How are you tracking for your 2024 goal?