Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

 Often when I start a book and it expires, whether from my Kindle or as an audiobook, I need to make a decision. Am I going to request the book or am I going to just let it slide - in other words, drop the book. There was never a though in my. mind that I'd drop Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I was so engaged with the characters in this novel and I needed to know how it would end. I immediately waitlisted it in both audio and e-book format, with a wait of 14 weeks for one and 17 weeks for another. I worried that I'd forget where I left off, but that didn't happen. Maybe because I only had to wait 10 weeks. Or because I was so involved in the story. I started out with the audio in February and finished up with the e-book this week.

Many say that Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a novel about video gaming. Video game development and the playing of video games is a major theme of this book, but the story is about so much more. It's a story about friendship, collaboration, partnership and identity. It's gotten mixed reviews. I loved it.

Over 30 years, much can change in relationships, twists, turns, spending every minute together to going for weeks, months without speaking. That was what I most interested in. The cast of characters were almost all flawed, but that didn't make me not care about them. I did. (The grandparents were the most lovable of the bunch.)

Sadie and Sam meet as kids in. a gaming room in a California hospital. (that has me wondering during which one of my daughter's hospital stays did I sit in a game room playing video games). Sam is a patient, recovering from a car accident. Sadie is visiting her sister. They bond over video games.

Fast forward several years. Their friendship wanes. Then, they meet up again in Boston while they're both in college. They are both still very much into gaming. Their friendship evolves.

I really don't want to say much more than this, but this book includes so many other themes. The title of the novel, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" reminds me of my mom drilling Macbeth into my head during my high school years. I was also reminded of my mom whenever the video game, Oregon Trail, was mentioned. I was already an adult when my mom introduced me to that game. I loved the idea of the game, playing it with my mom.

One of the questions in the discussion guide was "What video games have you formed an attachment to in your life, as a child and/or as an adult?" The question included a bit more but made me realize all the video games I've been attached to in my life. There are many more but these are the first that come to mind: Pong, Breakout, Tetris, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Cookie, and Dance Dance Revolution. Great memories go along with all of those.