Downtime: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a novel that spans 30 years, navigating an up-and-down friendship in relation to their joint career advancement and in reaction to the world around them. Meeting when they’re adolescents, they come together again in college by chance and make a video game that forever changes not only their lives, but also the gaming world. The way Zevin weaves the characters' backstories into the present day and consistently foreshadows the future is a truly unique way to tie together a story. 

The characters go through so many phases (and levels) in their lives together, and also separately. Even in their separation, they remain together, constantly thinking of the other person and their relationship. Their communication, or lack thereof, is how the book is structured. The book begins when they reunite in their 20s, foreshadowing and even referencing events to come, making it seem more biographical than fictional. When the female main character, Sadie, is trying to code the game's graphics, she’s also navigating her life as a student and a woman, and attempting to map out her future while simultaneously coding what will launch her professional life. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow beautifully portrays two strong, brilliant minds working together and lashing out against each other, fighting against and even dismissing the love they have for each other in trying to get away. The voice of the novel really does the work to make you see how the characters' brains are working, and even more so, how they’re not working. 

Published in July 2022, I first read it in September of 2023 and have always looked at it on my shelf with love and respect. I get excited when I see it in bookstores, as many readers often do. I’m actually in the process of re-reading it right now, and it’s almost better than it was the first time, so I suggest getting started now so you can reread it later. I rated this 5 stars on Goodreads.