Some books are hyped and win awards, but when you read it, you don’t connect with the story or the writing. Others you’ll read and realize are everything you hoped for and more. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin fits into the second category for me, though I know it may not be the same for you. This novel won the 2022 “Lolly,” meaning it was voted Book of the Year for Book of the Month book club, an online subscription service which offers its members five brand-new selections to choose from each month, which is how I received my copy for free two years ago. I had wanted to read it but other books kept getting in my way — so many books, so little time! Then for Christmas 2023, I asked my family to choose some books on my shelves to wrap up so I could open a new one each month to read. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was one of those books, yet I still did not get to it in 2024! In May 2025, an online book club that I belong to did a challenge to read books on your shelf, so I finally grabbed this one. Now I’m asking myself, Why did I wait so long?!
I was immediately drawn into the story of Sam and Sadie, two friends who had experienced separation before coming back together to do something incredibly epic – design a video game together that would change the world. With a story reaching back into the 1980s and lasting through more recent history (yet not necessarily labeled by an exact date), the reader enjoys a nostalgic trip down pop culture memory lane as the story bounces from one time to another and back again in a conversational style not unlike talking to an old friend. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was a story told from multiple points of view and in unique ways, with section titles to form the storyline. Though there was foreshadowing throughout the narrative, this book did not feel predictable and often took me by surprise.
What is it about, though? Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is about friendship, love, competition, discrimination, business, pain, grief, adventure, communication, political topics, and, yes, video game design. I particularly found the last point extremely interesting as my daughter recently graduated college with her degree in video game art. Often, while reading the design process of Sam and Sadie, I came to a new understanding of what my daughter will someday be able to do, making a more personal connection to the story.
At just under 400 pages, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a longer story, but one that I will someday read again. There is so much to take in that I even went back and reread the last section a week after finishing it, partially to come to a decision about how I felt about the ending and partially to be able to enjoy these characters one more time before I put it on the shelf. (My decision was that I loved it– I had originally tried to finish the book too late at night and missed some of the connections so I didn’t like it at first.) A final word about content: I read a lot of different genres and subject matters. This book includes situations which may make you uncomfortable or possibly be triggering, depending on your sensitivity to language, sex, death, and other topics. If this is a concern for you, I urge you to do an online search for trigger warnings (or message me and I will tell you about them) so you can decide if it’s a book you want to read or skip. They are key to the story, and therefore I choose not to put them into the review as spoilers.
All of this to say, check out Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow if you’re in the mood for something a little different from your regular read. I think you’ll be glad you did. Also check out my bookshelf of recommended reads here. This is an affiliate link. Thank you for your support of my writing.
