📖 Introduction & Why This Book Matters
“To allow yourself to play with another person is no small risk,” writes Gabrielle Zevin. “It means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt”. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is not really a story about video games; it is a sprawling examination of the intimacy of collaboration. It posits that the shared act of creation—building worlds together—can be more profound and enduring than romance.
This book matters because it validates the medium of video games as high art, capable of expressing the deepest human truths: love, loss, and the desire for redemption. It explores the concept that while life is often unfair and final, games offer us “infinite rebirth, infinite redemption”. Through the decades-spanning relationship of its protagonists, the novel asks us to consider what it means to truly know another person, and whether we can ever forgive them for their flaws.
✍️ Plot Summary
Sam Masur and Sadie Green first bond as children in a hospital gaming room, where Sam is recovering from a shattered foot and Sadie is visiting her sister. Years later, they reconnect on a subway platform in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sparking a creative partnership that will define their lives.
With the help of Sam’s charismatic roommate, Marx Watanabe, they launch Ichigo, a game inspired by the artwork of Hokusai and the tragedy of a lost child. The game becomes a global phenomenon, propelling them from college students to wealthy industry titans. However, as they move their company, Unfair Games, to Los Angeles, the pressures of fame, artistic ego, and unspoken resentments threaten to tear them apart.
From the creative highs of building the virtual utopia Mapleworld to the devastating lows of a workplace tragedy that changes everything, Sam and Sadie navigate a relationship that is neither romance nor friendship, but something deeper and more painful. They must ultimately decide if they can keep playing the game of life together, even after “Game Over.”
💡 Key Takeaways & Insights
- Grief is a level without a skip function
The characters use gaming metaphors to process trauma because reality is often too painful to face directly. Sam views his body as a “flesh bag with bone chips” and prefers the invincibility of an avatar. When tragedy strikes, such as the death of a beloved character, the survivors struggle because, unlike in a game, there is no restart button. The narrative suggests that grief is the one level you cannot skip; you must play through it. 2. Creation is an act of love (and war)
The collaboration between Sam and Sadie is depicted as a marriage of minds. However, Zevin illustrates that creative ownership is messy. While Sadie does the heavy lifting of coding and engine building, Sam often receives the public credit as the “face” of the games. This dynamic highlights the tension between the invisible labor of creation and the public performance of genius. 3. The “NPCs” are the heroes
While Sam and Sadie view themselves as the protagonists, the book argues that the “Non-Player Characters” (NPCs) are the glue holding the world together. Marx Watanabe, often dismissed by Sam as a “tamer of horses” or an NPC because of his stability, is revealed to be the essential force that allows the “geniuses” to function. Without the NPC, the hero has “no one to talk to and nothing to do”. 4. Virtual worlds can heal real wounds
The book argues that virtual spaces allow for a “utopian vision” where people can be their better selves. In the game
Pioneers
, Sam and Sadie are able to interact as “Dr. Daedalus” and “Emily,” stripping away their baggage to rediscover their love for one another. The virtual world offers a safety that the real world, with its car accidents and shooters, cannot.
🤯 The Most Interesting or Unexpected Part
The most structurally fascinating section of the book occurs within the game Pioneers. Following a devastating tragedy that leaves the characters estranged, the narrative shifts entirely into an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) set in the Old West. For chapters, the reader follows “Emily” (Sadie) and “Dr. Daedalus” (Sam) as they build a life in a virtual town called Friendship. It is a quiet, domestic existence involving farming and playing Go, devoid of the bitterness of their real lives. The twist lies in the revelation that Sam built this entire world specifically to lure Sadie back from her depression, creating a safe harbor where she could heal without the pressure of their real-world identities. It is the ultimate act of love—not a grand romantic gesture, but the coding of a quiet space where his friend could simply be.
🏛️ How This Book Applies to Real Life
- Workplace Dynamics:
The book offers a stark look at the gender disparities in the tech industry. Sadie struggles to be taken seriously as a female coder, while Sam is hailed as a visionary. * Coping with Disability:
Sam’s struggle with his foot, chronic pain, and eventual amputation provides a visceral look at living with disability. It challenges the toxic positivity of “fighting” illness, acknowledging that sometimes survival is just endurance. * The Nature of Success:
It questions the value of commercial success versus artistic integrity, a conflict every creative professional faces.
Who should read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow?
Lovers of Normal People by Sally Rooney, Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, or The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker
Gamers and game designers
Anyone interested in the complexities of long-term platonic love
Creatives who work in collaborative partnerships
Readers who enjoy multi-generational sagas
📚 Final Rating
4.8 / 5 Stars. Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a storytelling triumph that functions as both a sophisticated literary achievement and a deeply engaging page-turner. The narrative masterfully illustrates the passion, conflict, and vulnerability inherent in the creative process, translating the complexities of game development into a story that is profoundly moving and easy to connect with.
🎯 Should you read it? Yes — as of yesterday, and yesterday, and yesterday.Even if you have never played a video game, this book’s ethereal writing style and fantastic storyline will captivate your attention and tug at your heart. The language of gaming is simply how Zevin explores universal themes of connection, time, and forgiveness. However, readers should be prepared for heavy emotional content, including a jarring depiction of gun violence that fundamentally alters the story’s trajectory.
🔥 Final Thought Life is the ultimate unfair game—there are no extra lives, and the difficulty settings are hidden—but as Marx Watanabe reminds us, “tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” offers the “possibility of infinite rebirth,” if only we are brave enough to keep playing.
Discussion Topics
- The Intimacy of Play and Creative Partnership vs. Romance Early in the novel, the narrative states, “To allow yourself to play with another person is no small risk. It means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt.” Years later, Sam controversially states in an interview that, “There is no more intimate act than play, even sex.” Sam and Sadie's relationship spans decades, surviving massive arguments, betrayals, and estrangements, yet they never become a traditional romantic couple.
Discussion Question: How does the novel challenge our conventional hierarchy of relationships, which usually places romantic love at the top? Do you agree with Sam that their shared act of creating virtual worlds was a more profound and intimate connection than a romantic or sexual relationship would have been?
- The Meaning of the Title and Games as "Infinite Rebirth" The title of the book comes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a famously bleak soliloquy that Marx reinterprets to defend their work in video games. Marx argues, “What is a game? 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.” Throughout the story, characters use games to survive reality: Sam uses avatars to escape his chronic, agonizing physical pain, and Sam builds the game Pioneers to coax Sadie back to life after she falls into a deep depression.
Discussion Question: How do video games function as a coping mechanism for the characters' real-world traumas and physical limitations? Do you think the novel portrays these virtual worlds as a healthy way to process grief and heal, or as a way to hide from the unavoidable "game overs" of real life?
- The Myth of the "Main Character" and the Role of the NPC Sam often views himself and Sadie as the brilliant protagonists of their story, and he diminishes Marx’s contributions. During a bitter argument, Sam insults Marx by calling him an "NPC" (Non-Player Character) and compares him to Hector from The Iliad, dismissing him as a boring "tamer of horses." Marx pushes back, defending the necessity of the NPC by pointing out that without them, "There’s just some bullshit hero, wandering around with no one to talk to and nothing to do." Ultimately, Marx is the one who keeps Unfair Games running, cares for Sam's physical needs, and literally takes a bullet to save an employee.
Discussion Question: How does the book challenge the modern cultural obsession with having "Main Character Energy?" Discuss Marx's role as the "Tamer of Horses"—do you view his life of producing, organizing, and caring for his friends as being just as valuable and fulfilling as Sam and Sadie's lives as "visionary" artists?
Discussion
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