Social media has hyped the heck out of “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin. From TikTok to Instagram to Twitter, I’ve seen this book plastered everywhere, always accompanied by a five-star review. I genuinely hadn’t seen a single criticism.

But then I started reading it. Now, if you’ve been following me for even five minutes, you’ll know I’m a harsh rater. I’m an English lit grad and a writer, so I tend to be critical when I’m reading. I like to look for things that aren’t working so that I can make my own writing the best it can be. I also tend to think more about the author than I do the characters, especially when the characters are being questionable and inconsistent.

But also, when a book has so much love, I have high expectations. Once I’d started sharing my thoughts about “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” by Gabriella Zevin on my Instagram and my book club, I realised that I wasn’t the only person who felt this way.

Rating: ☆☆☆/☆☆☆☆☆

I’m giving “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” (Tx3) by Gabrielle Zevin 3 stars, out of five. Let’s see why.

Here’s my overall rating:

• Plot – 6 ☆
• Writing – 7 ☆
• Characters – 5 ☆
• Pace – 3 ☆
• World-Building – 6 ☆
• Diversity – 7 ☆
• Ending – 6 ☆
• Enjoyment – 6 ☆

“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” started out strong

For the first 50 pages or so, I loved the novel. The opening was fun and deep, and readers went straight into the emotion. I was instantly invested in Sam and Sadie’s friendship and could definitely see chemistry straight away — of course, we didn’t yet know if that was platonic or romantic, but it didn’t matter. It was nice to read about it.

I liked that there was an element of deception already. Zevin set their friendship up to be super intriguing. You really couldn’t write a better opening! I thought — yay, this book will definitely lead up to the hype. Lit-fit with juicy drama? Gimme more.

Then we got into the creation of the games — the strongest element of the novel for me — and I fell in love even more. EmilyBlaster sounded so cool, and I loved going to uni with Sadie and seeing what she could create.

But the characters became annoying

We got to meet Marx, who I instantly adored. And Sadie has this problematic relationship with her tutor, Dov. While I didn’t like him (obviously), it kept the novel gripping and interesting.

However, we also flash-forward a lot to interviews after Sadie and Sam’s gaming company was successful. There is a significant bump in the friendship, and the two main characters don’t like each other that much anymore. From then on, I found it hard to invest in the friendship when I knew there would be massive conflict.

At the same time, it kept me wanting to read more. But there’s something annoying about knowing the ending of a novel (or the middle of the novel) right at the start, without much context. I don’t think writing the book this way was necessary when 95% of it is linear. There are just these random flash-forwards that kind of muddied up the book for me.

While Sam and Sadie’s friendship was still super sweet, the characters’ consistency began to break down. Sadie, who under the surface is a fiercely feminist woman, is stuck in this relationship with, if not an abuser, then someone who takes advantage of his power and status. Her friends, Marx and Sam, figure this out and don’t do much to help out.

In fact, Sam repeatedly puts her back in touch with Dov, which I felt was dangerous, considering what Dov does to Sadie. Meanwhile, Sadie can’t be outwardly feminist — it’s the 90s, and things are different. However, Sam and Marx, who claim to love and support her, are enablers. They let her be walked all over and walk all over her themselves: Sam, more so than Marx, but it became tough to read.

Sadie and Sam’s relationship has multiple moments of breakdown. They fall out, don’t speak for a while, make up, create a game together, profit from the partnership, and repeat. While there was a lack of communication on both parts, I saw so much more effort from Sadie than I did with Sam.

Yet sprinkled throughout this narrative are all these tragic and terrible moments in Sam’s life, written in a way that makes us empathise with Sam. It became morally difficult for me to dislike him because I could see why he was the way he was, but it also became hard for me to like him because he was, indeed, a jerk. So I was stuck in this in-between with him, and it really distracted me from the narrative.

Nobody held Sam accountable for his actions, and nobody stuck up for Sadie.

I became frustrated from about 40% in, and that never ever changed.

Their friendship completely shifts, and while it makes me sad, Sam is 100% influenced by toxic masculinity in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, and to be honest, I have zero time for that, especially in a book written recently! Sure, give me toxic masculinity, of course, it happens, but don’t try and make me feel bad for the toxic man — pleeeeeease. It’s just annoying.

Emotions in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin

Despite being frustrated, I also found this book deeply sad and, at times, moving. So that’s one of the good things I will say about it. While the novel had so many repetitive scenes, it also had a few really powerful scenes.

The ones that stick out to me include The Other Anna Lee, The Car Crash, The Lobby, and Pioneers. If you know, you know (no spoilers!).

It felt like this book was made for these scenes. To be honest, I wanted more of this and less of the miscommunication trope. Zevin is a professional at writing sad scenes. The Car Crash was one of the most devastating yet shining scenes I’ve ever read. The Lobby scene was phenomenal and heartbreaking, especially with the switch to second person.

Although this book disappointed me, I will look back on it fondly and remember it as a book that made me feel something.

How I felt about the writing

On the topic of emotion, it was definitely achieved through writing. Zevin is a solid writer. She doesn’t overdramatise her sentences or experiment too much, which I mostly liked.

She also has some really beautiful lines. I highlighted many quotes in this book, and I think I’ll be dipping back in for a long time to see what I highlighted.

She does a great job introducing characters and instantly making them dimensional. There are a lot of characters in this book, so that’s quite the achievement.

One thing Gabrielle Zevin does super well is dialogue. Sam and Sadie have about 2 million arguments in this book, and while they are repetitive in their substance, they’re not repetitive in their word choice. Plus, they are cringe-worthy and awkward arguments in the best way possible! I truly felt like I was invading super personal moments. I literally gasped dozens of times while reading this book: the things they say to each other are genuinely terrible. More from Sam to Sadie, but still. Dialogue is Zevin’s strong point.

Does Sam use Sadie?

My biggest gripe with the story was the inconsistency of the characters, especially Sam. The novel opens with Sadie kind of using Sam, but it felt like the entire novel, Sam was retaliating.

When you think about it, any time he reaches out to Sadie, it seems to be for his benefit. He hasn’t spoken to her in a long time, and when they finally get back in touch, he wants to make a game with her. Yes, it’s sweet because, to Sam, that’s as loving as you can get. Gaming is how he displays intimacy.

But Sadie is in a rough spot, and he pulls her out of it because he wants this from her. He does it, like, five times. They make games together, they profit a ton of money, repeat. But in between, they have these arguments, and every time they resolve an argument, he instantly wants to make games with her again.

He rarely steps out of this cycle to check how she really is in other aspects of her life. He doesn’t really help her out with Dov; he doesn’t emotionally invest in her other relationships; he doesn’t care too much about what’s going on in her life at the end of the novel. Multiple times, we see him say that he doesn’t care or want to get to know the person Sadie lives with at one point in the book.

I know Sam has been through a lot, but he really is such an asshole beneath it all. Like, grow up. You’re an adult — be a big boy and check in with your friends.

I felt like Sadie settled, especially towards the end. And I 100% think she put Sam first every time they had to make decisions for Unfair Games (their company), and he never did the same. When she wanted to make her own game, he made her feel terrible about it. She developed severe imposter syndrome and spent most of the novel depressed, and Sam made this worse. This might just be how I interpreted the book, and I admit I’m very loyal to Sadie, but the actions speak loudly.

Sadie isn’t there for Sam either

Now, I get that Sadie isn’t the best friend in the world, either. When Sam has his foot surgery, she completely neglects him. She went from pretending to be his wife to assuming that he set her up with Dov.

This was obviously super toxic, and I’m upset with Sadie for it. But she didn’t seem to hold any resentment towards Sam for disappearing from the company for a while. Yet when she did it (for super valid reasons!!!), he was furious. He made her feel terrible. He bombarded her with calls and messages. And never once checked in on her.

Honestly, the two are toxic together, but I thought that Sadie was a stronger written character than Max, and I understood her a lot more. Especially since Sam does have that toxic masculinity energy that I can’t stand.

The power of the games

The video games were the strongest element of this novel. Each game was so unique and sounded absolutely incredible, even the ones that got terrible reviews. I loved the author’s description of each one: I thought I’d find it boring to read about, but no — it was amazing.

I also loved how the games brought each friendship together. I loved seeing the characters play together and how it replaced the need for intimacy in other ways. There was this whole idea that gaming together was more intimate than sex. The author had some really cool ideas throughout the novel and implemented them well. I’d love to see her write some poetry or flash fiction.

I do think the evolution of the gaming was done super well, too. They banded together to create Ichigo, hunkered down for one summer, and they had so much passion that slowly dissipated. Obviously, this is what ties Sam and Sadie together; without their games, what are they to each other?

I want to play every game they made.

While it annoyed me that Sam used the video games to connect with Sadie in so many ways, even when it wasn’t appropriate, I still think the author did a phenomenal job using the games as a character and a point of tension, a bribe, a reward, a love language.

Final thoughts: “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” book review

Overall, I think this novel was brilliant, and I’d read something else by Zevin. I might love this book if I reread it and interpreted it differently. But this time round, it was too much of the same thing over and over again. Too much toxicity. Not enough gentleness, especially when this is a story about people who love each other. I wanted to have my heart broken, and I did, but I didn’t want to see feelings hurt over such petty things and miscommunication. This book could have felt more tragic than it did petty, but unfortunately, the pettiness outweighed the raw emotion for me.

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