Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

What a phenomenal book. I gobbled it up it five days. Just a really wonderful story about creativity, and love between friends, and growing as an adult from ages 18 to 35.

The author's writing style is so great. Very direct and frank in times, also a bit emotionally detached. But all in ways that draw me in and make the personalities and emotions feel very real and personal. There's a lot of complicated feelings in this book, in a bunch of directions, and it pretty much all lands.

I particularly enjoyed the early sequences when Sadie and Sam are young students in Cambridge, MA. A lot of fun details told particularly well, like the mentions of the Necco factory. And I can certainly relate to the student experience and the feeling of intense creativity. I also enjoyed the details of Sadie's experiences as a woman developing games, including her uncomfortable relationship with Dov for good and bad. That all felt very true and subtle to me.

The fact the book is about computer games definitely helped me to connect to it. But it's not some Ready Player One knockoff as I feared the first few pages; there's way more emotional and story depth here. The games serve as a metaphor, particularly for recovering from failure and for thinking about death. But I think the interest of the novel goes way beyond gamer culture.

Just a great read all around.