Gabrielle Zevin – (Released: July 5, 2022)
Nearly ten years removed from her breakthrough novel-turned-feature-film (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry), Gabrielle Zevin once again struck proverbial gold with Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Zevin’s fifth title, which offers an immersive glimpse into the world of video-games circa the late nineties, is the rare example of a novel that requires no prior affiliation with the subject matter (more on that in a bit).
Despite the abundance of references to gaming culture, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is, at its core, a novel about friendship. The story centers on two gifted young programmers, Sadie Green and Sam Masur. Sadie and Sam first meet as children in a hospital, where Sam is a patient (recovering from a shattered foot) and Sadie’s sister Alice is also undergoing treatment for cancer. They initially bond over playing Super Mario Brothers together, but the two eventually form a connection through their mutual love of all-things video games. In need of community service hours for her Bat Mitzvah, Sadie continues to spend time with Sam long after her sister is released.
Following a series of misunderstandings, however, they soon lose touch. Six years later, they run into each other in Kendall Square, where Sam is attending Harvard and Sadie is a student at MIT. They reconnect and eventually decide to create their first video game, Ichigo. The game is a hit, and, predictably, their friendship becomes strained as a toxic mix of ambition and miscommunication overshadows their success in the gaming industry. From there, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow follows the protagonists through the unavoidable highs and lows that life has in store for everyone, offering readers the oh-so-potent mix of a surprising climax and a healthy dose of ‘what-happened-next.’
In addition to the strong character work and enchanting world-building, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow features periodic flashbacks and a number of shifts in POV (and a couple of time jumps to boot). In the hands of a lesser writer, this would equal a ‘clunky’ read, but Zevin’s unorthodox approach is anything but. In fact, the novel is so consistently satisfying, the only real sense of disappointment arrives with the final page. To that point, there’s clearly room for ‘more’ story. While this novel was designed and delivered as a stand-alone story, somehow the thought of a sequel feels appropriate (especially given the subject matter). Here’s hoping that Zevin agrees!
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