Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow: Reviews by 2025 Reading Challengers

[Winter, Group Reads]

Tell us what you thought of the book! You can leave your review here. Even if you read the book outside of the group, please feel free to let us know what you thought of it.

What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

Please make sure to mark your spoilers by typing [spoiler] at the start and [/spoiler] at the end but replacing the [] with <>.

[Valerie]

chloe wrote: "[spoiler] I read this book previously to it being chosen as the April group read and I absolutely loved it. The three main characters are so interesting in their own ways, I'm a big video game nerd..."
You have not hidden the spoilers. Instructions are above. You are giving away a lot of the plot!

[Blagica , Challenges]

here is Chloe's review with proper spoilers, chloe if you read this and have questions send me a message.
(view spoiler)[I read this book previously to it being chosen as the April group read and I absolutely loved it. The three main characters are so interesting in their own ways, I'm a big video game nerd so reading about their design and development was very fascinating, and I loved the glimpse into living in LA/Cambridge.
The turn this takes where an active shooter comes to their game office and murders Marx hurt REAL bad. It made me take a stark look at mortality and I probably spent two days in a state of existential crisis. I didn't so much enjoy that Sadie was pregnant with his child and decided to become a mother despite not wanting to. Just not a storyline that appeals to me or makes me feel particularly comfortable. But the ending was tied together well. Just wish Sam got a happier ending.

(hide spoiler)]

[Rachael]

I read this book in June 2024. This is my review.
It's not you, it's me. I'm just not that into contemporary fiction. I am also not that into video games. I don't quite understand the hype and why it won so many awards but can appreciate the story Gabrielle Zevin tried to tell. 3 stars

[chloe]

Valerie wrote: "chloe wrote: "[spoiler] I read this book previously to it being chosen as the April group read and I absolutely loved it. The three main characters are so interesting in their own ways, I'm a big v..."

Sorry Valerie, I tried to follow the instructions. Blagica kindly fixed it for me.

[Valerie]

chloe wrote: "Valerie wrote: "chloe wrote: "[spoiler] I read this book previously to it being chosen as the April group read and I absolutely loved it. The three main characters are so interesting in their own w..."

No problem, I think I caught it in time. The instructions are a bit fiddly. Try using them to post something that isn’t really a spoiler to check that you can make it work properly (that’s what I did the first time) . You can always delete the post afterwards.

[Kristen]

I read this book for my 2024 reading challenge and really enjoyed the world-building aspect of the video games. However, I felt the book was too long and, in the middle, became bored and annoyed with some of the characters. There is also a great passage about a certain character and persimmons that I hope to never forget.

I rated the book 2 stars, but it seems that I'm in the minority for not loving the book. I'm excited to see what others think!

[Alina]

I read this in late 2023 (I think) and really enjoyed it.
I also like playing video games and I really enjoyed those aspects of the book ( also my boyfriend was actually happy to hear about the book I´m reading because we both were able to nerd about games lol)
This book touched so many topics and it didn´t feel too much - I really want to re-read it someday.

[John]

First time I read this. It's a book about video games that doesn't just recite tiresome references for 200 pages; of course I needed to check it out.

☆☆☆★★ 3/5

Although I was occasionally distracted by the book's stylism, erudite cultural asides, and the abrupt plot twist about three-quarters through, it was a compelling story about the sort of personalities that dared to explore the new art form of gaming in the 1990s and 2000s.

Full review here.

[Denise]

Kristen wrote: "I read this book for my 2024 reading challenge and really enjoyed the world-building aspect of the video games. However, I felt the book was too long and, in the middle, became bored and annoyed wi..."

I didn't love it either. Main complaints are the same, too long (I felt like she didn't know how to end it) and it got slow at times

[Carrie]

I almost liked this book, but just really did not and I don't even know why. It just wasn't for me.

[Angela]

I read this book prior to it being chose for our group read. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was a 5-star read for me though I'm not into gaming.

Admittedly, there was a cozy nostalgia for me in part because I lived in Boston and spent most days in Cambridge after my undergraduate degree. That aspect of the book created a vibe that likely influenced my read, but the part of that vibe that felt universal for me was the tangled, nuanced nature of relationships at this stage in life.

A few reviewers who didn't like the book noted that the book dragged in places. I ask: What's our addiction to speed? These moments felt vital to me, as they reflected the emotional state of those times in the book. Part of what I enjoy about novels is the ability of an author to capture an emotional state; another thing I enjoy is showing how characters work through their struggles.

Without creating a spoiler, I would like to say that there was one messy relationship where I think that the tension could have been heightened. This incredibly awkward relationship felt a little too breezily handled.

I found this novel to be a beautiful homage to the restlessness, the missteps, and the triumphs of early adulthood--a time in life unlike any other.

[Thom]

Thank you for picking this book; first time I've joined goodreads reading challenge.

I finished reading this love letter to Shakespeare on his birthday. The 3 decade friendship at the core of this is realistically portrayed, though at times you want to throttle the two main characters while yelling "just talk to each other!"

4 of 5 stars - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Laura]

I rated this book a 4 star; this book for me was very easy to read and get into. I liked the way the book was written and the little insights into Sam's childhood (after these little bits of information i could understand totally why Sam interacted with people the way that he did) - sometimes I felt that the writing was a bit confusing, in terms of switching to a previous time frame so it took a bit of figuring out we had switched for me sometimes and as others have said dragged on when it didn't really need to.

I liked the character development but overall I really enjoyed watching the friendship between Sam and Sadie. How it changed and fell through, but then when Sam showed his love for Sadie in the last final chapters I thought that was really sweet.

Overall I really did enjoy the book, but it was just short of being a 5 star for me,

[Gina Marie]

I loved this book so much, it's one I'll likely read again someday. What I loved the most (in no particular order):
a. The postmodern writing style.
b. How well-developed all three characters were. I felt like I knew them all really well, faults and all. No 2d caricatures here.
c. I loved the foreshadowing and callbacks throughout the novel. And there were several plot points I didn't see coming, which kept it really interesting.
d. I really liked the non-cliché resolution at the end.

Definitely a 5 star read for me!