Book Review: Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

I'm not an overly emotional person, and so by extension I tend not to read overly emotional books. I'm a fan of old sci-fi and experimental literature, but on this occasion I decided to step out of my 'comfort' zone of unfeeling androids and dystopian space regimes. This time, I let myself be immersed in a bittersweet, character-driven epic about the enduring nature of friendship and beating the odds. 

'Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow' follows two co-protagonists, Sam and Sadie, who meet at first in childhood, in a hospital in the 80s. They become the best of friends and bond over their love for video games. Their paths eventually diverge, but they're abruptly reunited at the start of university. We follow them for more than two decades from here as they figure out what to do with their lives, and once they have, how to turn their dreams into reality. They reminisce about the joy and the sense of escape that video games brought them in the hospital all those years ago, and they decide they want to make games of their own. 

The novel is therefore set against a background of the developing video game industry in the 90s and 00s, and it's clear that Zevin has a passion here. Even if you, like me, aren't a big gamer, you can't help but enjoy all the retro cultural references dotted throughout the text. She really does a great job of portraying what an exciting time it would've been for gamers when every year came with a new innovation in such a rapidly expanding world. Outside of video games, Zevin's worldbuilding is fantastic in general. Her descriptions of Sam's Massachusetts university campus during the harsh winter make you feel just as much as Sam that you want to get the hell out of there. I especially loved the way she writes about the K-Town neighbourhood in LA, and the sense of community and love which it provides. Reading about it just feels like a warm hug.

Following the two of them and the various people with whom they form connections along the way, I found myself feeling such strong empathy. When they were excited, so was I. When they cried, I did too. Zevin doesn't dress the characters up with any over-the-top traits, and you can't help but feel like these must have been real people who simply asked her to novelise their lives. The realness of each and every character is what makes everything they go through hit so much harder. You know you would've made the mistakes they made, and so you find yourself cheering them on at every step as they try to do the right thing. When they succeed, it feels like you have too. 

This book is really special in a lot of ways, and the timescale is definitely one of them. Seeing these characters over such a large portion of their lives allows for so much more emotional depth and it also lets us understand their choices and motivations more deeply than you could in most novels. Allowing yourself to invest fully in these characters makes for such a great read. I can't recommend it enough.