Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

 

"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin

Published by Knopf, July 5, 2012

Genre: Fiction

Format: Listened via Audible

Gamers experience perfect worlds, over and over. Then, they blink as they eventually power down the console to shower, eat, and participate in the world outside the game.  They've been so engaged in the fantasy of this otherworld that the real world comes as a shock. Tom Bissell of The New York Times, calls Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow a love letter to literary gamers or gaming readers. I was struck by the way Zevin emphasized the joy and creativity of gaming by weaving gaming into a harsh reality.

Sadie meets Sam at a children's hospital where he is being treated for a foot injury, and she is hanging out with her sister--who is battling cancer. They start playing the hospital's Mario Brothers and through hours of brick busting adventure and jumping flags together, they launch a powerful friendship. Even though life has thrown them some major challenges, games give them challenges they can conquer.

Years later, they reunite when Sadie is studying at MIT, and Sam is at Harvard. Sam has never been able to see a hidden picture in a Magic Eye book while Sadie can. On impulse, Sadie hands Sam a disc of a game she has designed, and Sam winds up testing the game with his loyal roommate Marks. The story unfolds as Sadie, Sam, and Marx become dynamic trio with Marks running the logistics and human elements of the business while quirkier Sadie and Sam conceive of and develop games. 

Real life happens.

People die (not like they do in games).

People bleed (more painfully than they do in games).

Sam and Sadie's relationship changes, but it endures. 

Zevin took the title from some of the most famous lines in Macbeth:

Marx takes inspiration from the lines. I think they show how bright gaming shines in the bleakness of life. Maybe life is a walking shadow---but maybe it's a shadow of something deeper, the kind of deep love friends can share. These kinds of relationships do not "signify nothing." Rather, they're the bedrock that makes our hour on the stage meaningful. 

If you love the book, someone has actually developed Emily Blasters. Maybe Ichigo is next? 

LOVELY BIT

“What is a game?" Marx said. "It's tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It's the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”

RATING

I love Jane McGonigal's TED Talks and work related to the impacts of gaming on life. Zevin sees the world through the eyes of a gamer, and the relationship reboots in this game book kept me turning pages.