Loved it ( )

I've never really gotten into video games, like many of my peers. This is mostly because my highly academic & educated parents did not allow video games at home. The games I did get to play were far and few in-between. One of the games I did have access to, however, was the Oregon Trail, which features pretty prominently in the first 3rd of the book and is referenced throughout the rest of the book. So in that respect, I am this book's *sorta* target audience in that I played that game (a later version though) and I am an *elder* millennial. That's not why I loved the novel though.

While this book's main characters and the main plot focus on the creation of video games, there are far deeper, more complex, issues that lie at the heart of this story. The author uses the video and the metaphor of the video game to examine and challenge human's perceptions of love, friendship, work, family, sense of belonging; as well as life, death and grief. I think this quote, from the last 3rd of the book (336), encapsulates why I loved this book and why it resonated with me.

"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." ( )

I’m not a gamer but I really enjoyed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow nevertheless. It opened my eyes to the world of gaming and I started to see games as an art form, a world a gamer can escape to, as creative, as intricately constructed and as immersive as a book is to a reader.
Gaming is everything to Sadie and Sam. They meet and connect over a Nintendo consul, reconnect and develop their first game together after bumping into each other in Cambridge and go on to become partners in a successful gaming company. Their special friendship is incredibly moving from beginning to end. The heartbreaking acts of support, love and kindness are as impactful as the misunderstandings, jealousies and rivalries. The recurring themes of Macbeth’s Tomorrow soliloquy, Emily Dickenson’s Freight fitting the Groove and The Illiad’s Tamer of Horses add emotional depth and poignancy. When life sucks – death, tragedy, depression, disability, discrimination – press reset and start again. A glass heart might shatter, a maze might not lead you home but there is always tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
“Maybe it was the willingness to play that hinted at a tender, eternally newborn part in all humans. Maybe it was the willingness to play that kept one from despair.” ( )

I thought the relationships in this were a touch toxic and that there were some really big things just thrown in for shock factor ( )

Overall, a really great book, although I did feel like some parts got in the weeds about the inner workings of how a video game is made. I really enjoyed the focus on friendship and chosen family. I think the author also skillfully described how small misunderstandings and grievances can destroy a relationship if folks aren’t willing to have those difficult and authentic conversations. ( )