Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Published: July 5, 2022
Knopf Publishing Group
Pages: 481
Genre: Action & Adventure
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Gabrielle Zevin is the New York Times best-selling and critically acclaimed author of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Young Jane Young. She has also written books for young readers, including the award-winning, Elsewhere. Her books have been translated into thirty-nine languages.
Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.
“Time was mathematically explicable; it was the heart—the part of the brain represented by the heart—that was the mystery.”
Sam has lived a hard life. He witnessed a stranger die at his feet, lost his mother in a tragic car accident, and spent much of his childhood in the hospital for injuries to his foot from the accident that killed his mom. But that is where he meets Sadie. Sadie lived a hard life as a child of privilege whose sister had cancer as a child. Luckily, she survived, but Sadie was often an afterthought during her treatment. But that lead her to Sam. And started what would be the most incredible love affair in the history of love.
This is not my typical story. I’m not a gamer, and I know next to nothing about games. The only game I can say I play with any expertise is The Sims, and I am forever a fan.
What is unique about this novel is the complete story arc. You start at the beginning, work through a series of trials and tribulations, and come to an end. But that end isn’t necessarily the end.
I loved the themes. The relationships, the complexities. I love that the characters were so complicated and layered. Marx was larger than life, easy to love, and have love easily. He was loyal and a true friend.
Sadie was a complicated character. I spent a lot of time not caring for her. But I also understood where her feelings were coming from. She spent so much of her life being in the shadow that she wanted to shine.
Sam was a heartbreakingly beautiful character. Very mechanical but deeply emotional. He was a true visionary who could see and solve a gaming problem immediately. But give him a human issue, and he would be stumped.
This novel is so much more than I expected it to be. It’s about life, love, passion, trauma, pain, growth, forgiveness- the list could go on.
This is one of those books that should be recommended and read. Every book club should consider this title. The book presents so much to discuss—beautifully written, incredibly heartfelt, and dynamically different.