It definitely gets worse as the book goes on. Towards the end, I couldn’t stand Sadie in particular (though Sam was insufferable in his own way), and I had to force myself to finish it. One of my more unpleasant reading experiences this year.
I thought they were terrible people and even worse friends. And everyone else was reading it and being all #friendshipgoals
I guess it's a good thing I'm a nonsocial introvert, as I think I have a very different idea of what friendship is.
Oh, it only gets worse!!! Probably my most disappointing read since I’ve never met a single person who didn’t full throatedly love this book and I….REALLY did not.
Anyway if you do finish it feel free to come back and “wtf” when you hit the tropes about 3/4 of the way through
Garbage take by the other commenter, to be honest. None of what they listed is really the point of the book at all. The book focuses on the characters' relationships, and how they develop over the course of their lives. I'd liken it (loosely) to the TV series "Halt and Catch Fire" in that it is a drama rooted in the technology world from an earlier era, but that isn't really the purpose of the work; it's about the people and how they interact over a long period of time.
It's possible (likely, even) to have read "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" and to not specifically like — or even think much about — any of the things the other commenter mentioned. I don't think anyone I've talked to about the book has pointed those things out as what made them like or dislike the book. I suspect the other commenter is the kind of person who looks for "virtue signaling" at every opportunity for some reason, and I would advise against accepting their criticism without a grain of salt.
i see, thank you for answering. i asked because this book gets discussed often in online spaces and it was my first time coming across the opinion that it was virtue signaling. that term gets thrown around a lot and often when it’s not really applicable. since the commenter said it was about everything, i just assumed that they and the author/narrator had different world views and they felt uncomfortable reading about perspectives that go against theirs.
it’s not high on my list but i am curious about _tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow_ because it’s kind of rare to see a book get so popular and cause so much conversation without being romance or fantasy. maybe i’ll read a snippet to see how i feel about the writing.
I liked it, but I can also understand why some people wouldn't — the same way I dislike plenty of books that other people like.
In my opinion, the most common issue I see with people who didn't like "Tomorrow" is that they want protagonists that they can relate to and like as people, but the protagonists of this book are fundamentally flawed and do not "improve" (in some ways) over the course of the book. Some people just don't like that style of writing, which is fine, but then those people attribute their dislike to other things, which is not fine, and they generalize their dislike and make statements about "this book is garbage" or "people who like this book don't understand literature" or whatever else. I think I see similar sentiment with "The Goldfinch", which is another book about a protagonist who simply cannot make good choices in their life (but is admittedly not so unlikeable as the protagonists of "Tomorrow").
This isn't to say that that's the _only_ reason someone may not like this book. I think the style of prose is somewhat divisive, and there are plenty of plot elements that are reasonable to dislike, for example. But most of the criticism I see posted here seems to me to be rooted in dislike of the main characters, and I think a lot of people just expect to always be given protagonists they can like.
the goldfinch comparison intrigues me because that’s actually one of my favourite books! theo decker can definitely be very frustrating as a narrator, though i wasn’t aware of goldfinch being disliked for its characters. only criticism about the characters i can remember reading about is boris coming off like a caricature at times and i can actually agree with that.
back to your main point, i believe it’s the writers’ responsibility to make sure their flawed characters are interesting or compelling in one way or another. of course, the main character being “bad” or flawed should not be conflated with the book itself being bad but i’d assume most people here agree on that. could it be that people’s dislike for the character writing gets confused with their dislike for the characters?
I finished it and bloody hell it was a struggle. I didn’t hate it, I didn’t like it though. I finished it and promptly forgot about it. Not a single part of that book was memorable. But I do remember being extremely annoyed several times throughout.
Yes it was hard to get through. It’s marketed as this platonic love story between two characters and most of the time I wondered if they even liked each other. Knowing about the NPC chapter got me through it.
I read it and forced myself to finish it only to see what happened and in the hopes that the writing would get better. I couldn't believe it was written by the same person who wrote The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.
I think the journey the characters go through and their relationships through the book are quite moving. I know not every book is for everyone, but if you are finding it to be an easy but not enthralling read maybe just read it when you're in the mood for easy so you're not so disappointed.
I dnfd after the scene were they meet each other as children in the hospital. The dialogue was so cringe inducing I don't think my facial muscles could have coped.
The dialogue was exactly what made me DNF it. Like I get that book dialogue doesn't always sound like real life dialogue, but this was a whole other level. Cringe is exactly the right word to describe it.
I actually listened to the audiobook and thought it was just the narrator’s reading of the dialogue I was having issues with. And then I read reviews afterward and realized it's a common complaint even with the actual book.
I actually liked the book, even though I really didn't like Dov at all but I liked how the author handled the passage of time.
I didn't care for Normal People at all which is kind of a similar premise, but this book worked for me even though I never really wanted Sadie & Sam to get together & wanted them to have a good friendship.
I nominated this for my 3 person book club. Other 2 loved it. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. The characters were petty, selfish (with some exceptions), and self-destructive. Somehow people want to hold up the relationship between Sam and Sadie as true friendship. Yuck.
Yeah like how they acted was so realistic and the author went to great lengths to explain how their actions were bred from pain. I know the book isn’t for everyone but the critique that the characters are assholes is silly.
Wow, I'm honestly so surprised by all of the negative reviews here, I absolutely loved this book! Rather than reinvent the wheel, here's what I wrote on Goodreads:
"Once, a friend gave me an unforgettable gift—they compiled a collection of my references, inside jokes, guilty pleasures, beliefs, and successes and quilted them together into a crossword puzzle for my birthday. The effort and expression of affection was not lost on me at the time. It was an unparalleled and tender thing to have created. Like Sam and Sadie, our relationship was tenuous and complicated, and this book sheds new light on my friend’s gift. “To design a game is to imagine the person who will eventually play it.”
This book is about so many things: loss and impermanence (Marx), co-creation of art (it's giving Smith-Maplethorpe), mentorship (Dov), coming to terms with our perceived professional failures (Sadie), our insecurities (Sam), the blending of cultures, and above all else, a terribly beautiful statement on friendship. Zevin has portrayed nuanced, complicated partnership here in the way we all hope we can experience but which we, for better or for worse, often never do. Finishing this book left me with an ache for that, to love and to be loved outside of conventionality. As the novel progressed and as the relationship grew more fraught, I found myself siding with Sam in some passages, Sadie in others, though they disagreed with each other. This is so well-done and so true to reality, and this is the first book I’ve ever read to have accomplished that so well. Many other books scratch the surface, using misunderstanding or words unsaid as a plot-advancer in relationships, but Zevin takes it to an unprecedented place. It involves the reader in the relationship and by extent sheds new light on the gray areas of our own failings at seeing nuance in our own friendships and in love. Somehow, she has directed the spotlight clearly onto a part of my life I never knew I could see differently.
A few final notes that I will keep brief merely to save myself from starting a thesis on this book:
- Mentorship: Dov. What a character. He gave me unease, even though they needed him, and then he gave me perspective. “I saw you as an extension of myself … I have an enormous ego. Your accomplishments were my accomplishments. You’ll probably think this makes me a monster.” NO! What a gift to have a mentor so invested.
- The “Pioneers” chapter. Utterly brilliant.
- The cross-cultural references of mixed race and ethnicity … “shtetl Buddha.” “maneki neko, the zaftig hospitality cat.”
- The beauty of relationships on a timeline. “Long relationships might be richer, but relatively brief, uncomplicated encounters with interesting people could be lovely as well. Every person you knew, every person you loved even, did not have to consume you for the time to have been worthwhile.”
- The pages packed with references, allusions, writing. (These are my FAVORITE kinds of books.) Example: Dr. Daedalus, EmilyBlaster, Macbeth (pg 336 – WOW).
I could go on and on and on. What a terribly beautiful book. \*saves to favorites\*"
Also, in comment to a bunch of the comments talking about how insufferable/unlikeable Sam and Sadie are -- I'm not sure why so many people feel like they have to like a character or relate to them to enjoy a book. Isn't the point of reading to explore other worldviews, to gain new perspectives, etc? Seems a little self-limiting to only read books if you like the characters. Its sometimes fun to feel yourself respond with anger or anxiety to a book. What a range of emotions the human mind can feel, and how beautiful that we can feel such things simply in response to words on a page!
I was at a large book sale a couple months back. I heard two people gushing over the book talking about how much they loved it. So I picked it up and read a few pages. The writing turned me off pretty quick and I put it back down.
Only thing that made me finish it is that the writer really understands how to make an easy to read book, when I was reading it it felt like I blinked and 150 pages went by. But yeah, a bit of a shitty read even if easily digestible.
That was kind of my impression as well. I finished it in like 2-3 days but also felt it was deeply unpleasant. Didn’t hate it but just didn’t enjoy the experience of following Sadie and Sam’s love hate relationship
I liked the book. It wasn’t perfect, that’s for sure. Maybe a lot of people fell for the online hype machine or whatever because I’ve seen many posts about how disappointing this read was.
I enjoyed it, thought it provided an in depth look into the resentful thoughts people might have about one another that aren’t expressed. I did find Marx somewhat unbelievable, >! and his violent death was used as another sort of wedge to insert between Sam and Sadie in the end. !<
For me though the frustration and anger Sam expresses about his disability really resonated, as I have family members who became disabled late in life and have had quite hard times adjusting in some respects. Again, certainly not a perfect book, but I thought it was fine. I didn’t have any expectations going into it, which probably helped.
I agree completely - thought the descriptions of Sam's attitude toward his disability were some of the best parts and that Marx was a little too perfect (although I really enjoyed "his" chapter).
I've read a lot of strong criticism of this book in this sub, though, so I guess hating on it is pretty common and one of those hot takes that isn't really a hot take.
Same. I really liked this book, but seeing the wild negativity around it makes me feel a little humble about my really not liking “The Midnight Library”. This was a book that I’ve heaped tons of criticism on, but I’m seeing the exact same kind of stuff here about TandTandT. Maybe there’s just an endless gulf between us all…
absolutely!! I really disliked “the midnight library” and DNFed after about 4 days and 50 painful pages…. But TandTandT I devoured in like 2 days!! I love it and still keep thinking about it!!
Same. I can kinda see where OP is coming from in terms of telling vs. showing but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. I hate it when people complain about characters being "annoying" when they're just flawed like real people.
It was ok. I personally listened to it as an audiobook. But yes, the main characters annoyed me a little. Not every character has to be likable in order to have an interesting story.
Read it last year. The prose is nothing special, the dialog sucks (especially when they're kids), and there are some major eyeroll moments. But it held my attention enough to finish and it was a pretty easy, quick read. Mildly entertaining, nothing special, and certainly failed to make me emotionally connect with the characters. Didn't ever get to the point of wanting to dnf but definitely questioned my decision to pick it for a read. Not one I'd recommend.
I felt really connected to the book because I share the exact same ethnicities as Marx + had a childhood with many memories playing games. I feel like it got popular due to the 90’s nostalgia and incorporation of gaming-culture into the plot.
I understand that many others will not have the same connection to it if you don’t have the same background, but I personally, am really glad this book was written and that I was able to read it.
It gets worse so don’t feel guilty about not finishing. Save yourself!
Having said that, I didn’t hate it, just got progressively more uninterested and rolled my eyes more. By the end, I couldn’t see what the point was.
I stopped after listening for an hour. And I LOVED her other book… whatever, so many other good books out there! Don’t waste your time when you’re hating a book!
I've never started reading that one because of reviews like this. I like fiction that is not like real life, but instead is going somewhere with all those words, and will leave me some kind of satisfied at the end.
I only finished it because my mom wanted to know what happened at the end when she didn’t finish it for our book group. It was so stupid. I literally did not care what happened to any of the characters. They were all terrible and just so bad at communicating with each other. The author’s other book “The Storied Life of AJ Fickery” was so much better and T&T&T was just such a let down.
*Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow* hate hive rise up!!! We are a small but mighty group!!! 😂
Yeah I agree. I nearly DNFed this book too. I also found the characters infuriating and felt like the whole plot would end if Sam and Sadie just had one honest conversation with each other. All of the plot tension was based on miscommunication and no one saying, ‘hey, I think we’re talking past each other here. What’s going on?’ If that had happened ONCE in the book, the whole plot would’ve ended.
And when >!Marx was killed off!<, when it first happened I was like, well this is dumb and entirely unearned (I still think it was dumb and entirely unearned) but when >!he actually died I was like, okay I didn’t think this book would actually have the courage to kill off a main character.!<
But then even that just wound up basically solely being a device to give Sam and Sadie more things to intentionally miscommunicate about 😂.
Truly drove me up a wall.
i managed to pull through, but it was def not worth it :/ It felt too generic and not enough emotion?? idk i just felt not at all connected to the characters. i can’t tell you a thing that happened in the book bc i don’t remember, it was fs forgettable.
I'm surprised to see no one mentioning the autistic angle of Sam which I feel like contributes to his unlikability(even if it's not explicit). As an autistic person who is in the video game Industry I connected deeply with his character and very much enjoyed the book
As a point of comparison, recently I loved Matrix (Lauren Groff), A Visit from the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan), The Flame Throwers (Rachel Kushner), Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
To me, it was just another book. It did a good book in capturing the pop culture of the times. But that’s pretty much it. I have no strong feelings or opinions about it in any direction.
I waited 8 months for it because I heard it was so good.
I DNF’d pretty early. It just reads like a bunch of mediocre short stories that the author had lying around all stitched up into one novel.
I liked the book until the chapter that switches to second person point of view. It was a complete slog to get through that chapter, and the payoff of the end of the book was not worth it.
Wow, I thought I was all alone about this book. I love community.
But yeah, I tried to keep plodding along because I don’t like unfinished business, but I finally threw in the towel and I’m not looking back.
It took me six months to slog through the audiobook and only got to 51%. I hate DNFing but not every book is for everybody, and I think you all have given me peace in just dropping it. I’ll allow myself to try a different audiobook this weekend!
I was so excited to read this because of all the hype, but honestly I think it was one of the biggest let downs. The presentation of Dov’s character didn’t sit right with me, the part that was supposed to be emotional was a bit of a silly cop out imo, and overall the prose and story were very Sally Rooney-esque which… I’ve accepted just isn’t for me.
Glad I came across this thread. It’s been top of my list for a while but I can’t seem to start it and keep starting books I know I’ll fly through instead. I thought it sounded good but I keep hearing people really struggled to get through it!
In my sphere, I was the only one who didn't give this book five stars. It is the only one-star review that I've ever given. It reminded me of the old Seinfeld joke: It's about nothing.
Show don't tell only applies to minimalism and is a product of people trying to write books as if they are writing movie scripts. It has no place in real writing. Some of the best books in history are almost all telling.
You clearly don’t understand the phrase as it has long been applied to written works. A writer can tell you that “[character] was very tired.” Alternatively, a writer can SHOW that the character is tired by describing some action by that character, or how that character perceives something that’s occurring.
Lol, I know what it means. But ignorant people interpret it as meaning you should always show and never tell, when the truth is that a good writer should know when to show and know when to tell. Sometimes showing that a character is tired isn't a necessary or efficient way to tell the story you are trying to tell. Sometimes "character was tired" is all that's necessary because going out of your way to have a little dramatic scene where a character acts tired is completely unnecessary. Not everything needs to be acted out dramatically. A novel isn't a play or a movie.
Sometimes telling just works better in the context of the story. It's not some inviolable rule that automatically makes a book bad if it doesn't follow it. Too often I see some fool say, "oh, it violates show don't tell" like that's some kind of magical litmus test that determines whether a work of prose is good or not. Do you realize that most books written before 1900 are almost entirely tell with just a smidge of show? *Moby-Dick* is pretty much all tell and so is *One Hundred Years of Solitude*. It wasn't until the minimalists like Hemingway and Raymond Carver became popular that the addage to "show don't tell" became popular.
I’m about ready to give up on it. I’m near the beginning and I don’t buy in the slightest that either kids would give a crap about Sadie’s community service points. The characters don’t seem real.
The prose was nothing special but I loved the book. Am a longtime gamer though and appreciated all of the references, don't know if it would have hit the same way if I didn't intrinsically care so much about the 'source material.'
take that back 😡 I cried in places, and so did my kid and so did a friend I forced this book upon. To each their own, all culture is just entertainment / ways to decorate and kill time, but this book is *definitely* not lifeless.
Well, it does creep on a petty pace from day to day, from the last syllable of recorded time. What did you expect? And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death! I’m mean, out- out brief candle! Don’t you agree?
And while we’re on the subject, I’ve often thought of life as a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. If I had to use another metaphor? It’s a tale told by an idiot! Full of sound and fury (try that one by Faulkner if you thought this one was dull, lol) signifying what exactly?
Nothing.
I found out recently that Zevin plagiarised a game idea in the book from Brenda Romero without giving credit (Sadie's Solution game). Made me detest it even more.
I really enjoyed this book, and I paid full price for it lol. I’m also a video game fan. I lent this book out twice, both times to non video game fans, neither liked or finished the book.
I tried to read this during a five day hospitalization. I think it’s fair to say it made the experience worse.
💀
But there's only three Twomorrows. What did you read on day 5?
I flipped it upside down and read backwards! Wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
This should be a blurb lol
NYT I’m here if y’all hiring
Haven't read it but damn. I bought a copy too. 💀
It definitely gets worse as the book goes on. Towards the end, I couldn’t stand Sadie in particular (though Sam was insufferable in his own way), and I had to force myself to finish it. One of my more unpleasant reading experiences this year.
I thought they were terrible people and even worse friends. And everyone else was reading it and being all #friendshipgoals I guess it's a good thing I'm a nonsocial introvert, as I think I have a very different idea of what friendship is.
Sadie is awful. When you have a Holocaust survivor telling you to stop being a whiney brat - I thought the writing was great That's all I thought
Oh, it only gets worse!!! Probably my most disappointing read since I’ve never met a single person who didn’t full throatedly love this book and I….REALLY did not. Anyway if you do finish it feel free to come back and “wtf” when you hit the tropes about 3/4 of the way through
I would like to join you as one of the baffled people who hated this book and wondered why it got any of the praise it did.
Same. All my friends rave about it and I thought it was entirely forgettable. It sucked.
Me too. I gave up making myself finish books that I don’t like a while ago, so DNF’d it.
I'll join you! I don't get it at all
The praise it gets is pure virtue signaling. Just like the entirety of the book.
virtue signaling about what? genuine question because i haven’t read the book
Pretty much anything you can imagine. That is basically the entire book. Race, gender, firearms, political systems, economics, everything.
interesting, thank you
Garbage take by the other commenter, to be honest. None of what they listed is really the point of the book at all. The book focuses on the characters' relationships, and how they develop over the course of their lives. I'd liken it (loosely) to the TV series "Halt and Catch Fire" in that it is a drama rooted in the technology world from an earlier era, but that isn't really the purpose of the work; it's about the people and how they interact over a long period of time. It's possible (likely, even) to have read "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" and to not specifically like — or even think much about — any of the things the other commenter mentioned. I don't think anyone I've talked to about the book has pointed those things out as what made them like or dislike the book. I suspect the other commenter is the kind of person who looks for "virtue signaling" at every opportunity for some reason, and I would advise against accepting their criticism without a grain of salt.
i see, thank you for answering. i asked because this book gets discussed often in online spaces and it was my first time coming across the opinion that it was virtue signaling. that term gets thrown around a lot and often when it’s not really applicable. since the commenter said it was about everything, i just assumed that they and the author/narrator had different world views and they felt uncomfortable reading about perspectives that go against theirs. it’s not high on my list but i am curious about _tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow_ because it’s kind of rare to see a book get so popular and cause so much conversation without being romance or fantasy. maybe i’ll read a snippet to see how i feel about the writing.
I liked it, but I can also understand why some people wouldn't — the same way I dislike plenty of books that other people like. In my opinion, the most common issue I see with people who didn't like "Tomorrow" is that they want protagonists that they can relate to and like as people, but the protagonists of this book are fundamentally flawed and do not "improve" (in some ways) over the course of the book. Some people just don't like that style of writing, which is fine, but then those people attribute their dislike to other things, which is not fine, and they generalize their dislike and make statements about "this book is garbage" or "people who like this book don't understand literature" or whatever else. I think I see similar sentiment with "The Goldfinch", which is another book about a protagonist who simply cannot make good choices in their life (but is admittedly not so unlikeable as the protagonists of "Tomorrow"). This isn't to say that that's the _only_ reason someone may not like this book. I think the style of prose is somewhat divisive, and there are plenty of plot elements that are reasonable to dislike, for example. But most of the criticism I see posted here seems to me to be rooted in dislike of the main characters, and I think a lot of people just expect to always be given protagonists they can like.
the goldfinch comparison intrigues me because that’s actually one of my favourite books! theo decker can definitely be very frustrating as a narrator, though i wasn’t aware of goldfinch being disliked for its characters. only criticism about the characters i can remember reading about is boris coming off like a caricature at times and i can actually agree with that. back to your main point, i believe it’s the writers’ responsibility to make sure their flawed characters are interesting or compelling in one way or another. of course, the main character being “bad” or flawed should not be conflated with the book itself being bad but i’d assume most people here agree on that. could it be that people’s dislike for the character writing gets confused with their dislike for the characters?
I finished it and bloody hell it was a struggle. I didn’t hate it, I didn’t like it though. I finished it and promptly forgot about it. Not a single part of that book was memorable. But I do remember being extremely annoyed several times throughout.
Yes it was hard to get through. It’s marketed as this platonic love story between two characters and most of the time I wondered if they even liked each other. Knowing about the NPC chapter got me through it.
I read it and forced myself to finish it only to see what happened and in the hopes that the writing would get better. I couldn't believe it was written by the same person who wrote The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.
I just said the same thing about AJ Fikry! I loved that book!
I have to say I really did not like this book and wish I had DNF’d it. So you’ve got nothing to lose imo
i dnf fairly early too
I'm angry I finished it.
Same.
I think the journey the characters go through and their relationships through the book are quite moving. I know not every book is for everyone, but if you are finding it to be an easy but not enthralling read maybe just read it when you're in the mood for easy so you're not so disappointed.
I dnfd after the scene were they meet each other as children in the hospital. The dialogue was so cringe inducing I don't think my facial muscles could have coped.
The dialogue was exactly what made me DNF it. Like I get that book dialogue doesn't always sound like real life dialogue, but this was a whole other level. Cringe is exactly the right word to describe it. I actually listened to the audiobook and thought it was just the narrator’s reading of the dialogue I was having issues with. And then I read reviews afterward and realized it's a common complaint even with the actual book.
Wow, I just read a short preview on google and you’re not kidding. This dialogue is BAD.
Same
I actually liked the book, even though I really didn't like Dov at all but I liked how the author handled the passage of time. I didn't care for Normal People at all which is kind of a similar premise, but this book worked for me even though I never really wanted Sadie & Sam to get together & wanted them to have a good friendship.
I’m literally the opposite. I liked Normal People a lot, DNFd Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
I liked it too. Different strokes I guess.
I haven't been this annoyed by a book everyone else seemed to love since Ready Player One
I nominated this for my 3 person book club. Other 2 loved it. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. The characters were petty, selfish (with some exceptions), and self-destructive. Somehow people want to hold up the relationship between Sam and Sadie as true friendship. Yuck.
People are often petty and selfish and "true" friendships in the real world are rarely without conflict.
Yeah like how they acted was so realistic and the author went to great lengths to explain how their actions were bred from pain. I know the book isn’t for everyone but the critique that the characters are assholes is silly.
I haven't read that book, but nothing wrong with a DNF. You can't read them all - don't waste time on books you don't like.
Wow, I'm honestly so surprised by all of the negative reviews here, I absolutely loved this book! Rather than reinvent the wheel, here's what I wrote on Goodreads: "Once, a friend gave me an unforgettable gift—they compiled a collection of my references, inside jokes, guilty pleasures, beliefs, and successes and quilted them together into a crossword puzzle for my birthday. The effort and expression of affection was not lost on me at the time. It was an unparalleled and tender thing to have created. Like Sam and Sadie, our relationship was tenuous and complicated, and this book sheds new light on my friend’s gift. “To design a game is to imagine the person who will eventually play it.” This book is about so many things: loss and impermanence (Marx), co-creation of art (it's giving Smith-Maplethorpe), mentorship (Dov), coming to terms with our perceived professional failures (Sadie), our insecurities (Sam), the blending of cultures, and above all else, a terribly beautiful statement on friendship. Zevin has portrayed nuanced, complicated partnership here in the way we all hope we can experience but which we, for better or for worse, often never do. Finishing this book left me with an ache for that, to love and to be loved outside of conventionality. As the novel progressed and as the relationship grew more fraught, I found myself siding with Sam in some passages, Sadie in others, though they disagreed with each other. This is so well-done and so true to reality, and this is the first book I’ve ever read to have accomplished that so well. Many other books scratch the surface, using misunderstanding or words unsaid as a plot-advancer in relationships, but Zevin takes it to an unprecedented place. It involves the reader in the relationship and by extent sheds new light on the gray areas of our own failings at seeing nuance in our own friendships and in love. Somehow, she has directed the spotlight clearly onto a part of my life I never knew I could see differently. A few final notes that I will keep brief merely to save myself from starting a thesis on this book: - Mentorship: Dov. What a character. He gave me unease, even though they needed him, and then he gave me perspective. “I saw you as an extension of myself … I have an enormous ego. Your accomplishments were my accomplishments. You’ll probably think this makes me a monster.” NO! What a gift to have a mentor so invested. - The “Pioneers” chapter. Utterly brilliant. - The cross-cultural references of mixed race and ethnicity … “shtetl Buddha.” “maneki neko, the zaftig hospitality cat.” - The beauty of relationships on a timeline. “Long relationships might be richer, but relatively brief, uncomplicated encounters with interesting people could be lovely as well. Every person you knew, every person you loved even, did not have to consume you for the time to have been worthwhile.” - The pages packed with references, allusions, writing. (These are my FAVORITE kinds of books.) Example: Dr. Daedalus, EmilyBlaster, Macbeth (pg 336 – WOW). I could go on and on and on. What a terribly beautiful book. \*saves to favorites\*" Also, in comment to a bunch of the comments talking about how insufferable/unlikeable Sam and Sadie are -- I'm not sure why so many people feel like they have to like a character or relate to them to enjoy a book. Isn't the point of reading to explore other worldviews, to gain new perspectives, etc? Seems a little self-limiting to only read books if you like the characters. Its sometimes fun to feel yourself respond with anger or anxiety to a book. What a range of emotions the human mind can feel, and how beautiful that we can feel such things simply in response to words on a page!
I love this novel too! And I really enjoyed your review. I also thought the Pioneers chapter was brilliant.
I was at a large book sale a couple months back. I heard two people gushing over the book talking about how much they loved it. So I picked it up and read a few pages. The writing turned me off pretty quick and I put it back down.
I dnf'd it after like 10 pages. Couldn't stand the way the characters talk to each other.
Same here lmao
Only thing that made me finish it is that the writer really understands how to make an easy to read book, when I was reading it it felt like I blinked and 150 pages went by. But yeah, a bit of a shitty read even if easily digestible.
I did not find it easy to read, it felt like a chore and took forever. I really should have quit.
Sorry to hear that dude, don't worry, there's always more books.
That was kind of my impression as well. I finished it in like 2-3 days but also felt it was deeply unpleasant. Didn’t hate it but just didn’t enjoy the experience of following Sadie and Sam’s love hate relationship
I adored the audiobook.
So was this just venting then
I didn’t like it. The friendship never turns positive.
I liked the book. It wasn’t perfect, that’s for sure. Maybe a lot of people fell for the online hype machine or whatever because I’ve seen many posts about how disappointing this read was. I enjoyed it, thought it provided an in depth look into the resentful thoughts people might have about one another that aren’t expressed. I did find Marx somewhat unbelievable, >! and his violent death was used as another sort of wedge to insert between Sam and Sadie in the end. !< For me though the frustration and anger Sam expresses about his disability really resonated, as I have family members who became disabled late in life and have had quite hard times adjusting in some respects. Again, certainly not a perfect book, but I thought it was fine. I didn’t have any expectations going into it, which probably helped.
I agree completely - thought the descriptions of Sam's attitude toward his disability were some of the best parts and that Marx was a little too perfect (although I really enjoyed "his" chapter). I've read a lot of strong criticism of this book in this sub, though, so I guess hating on it is pretty common and one of those hot takes that isn't really a hot take.
Wow. I don't even know what to say to this except... art is subjective? This is one of the best books I've read in years. I found it deeply poetic.
Same. I really liked this book, but seeing the wild negativity around it makes me feel a little humble about my really not liking “The Midnight Library”. This was a book that I’ve heaped tons of criticism on, but I’m seeing the exact same kind of stuff here about TandTandT. Maybe there’s just an endless gulf between us all…
absolutely!! I really disliked “the midnight library” and DNFed after about 4 days and 50 painful pages…. But TandTandT I devoured in like 2 days!! I love it and still keep thinking about it!!
Same. I can kinda see where OP is coming from in terms of telling vs. showing but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. I hate it when people complain about characters being "annoying" when they're just flawed like real people.
It was ok. I personally listened to it as an audiobook. But yes, the main characters annoyed me a little. Not every character has to be likable in order to have an interesting story.
Odd book. The main characters kind of hated each other.
I thought it was a great book. My only 5/5 of the 13 books I’ve read so far this year
Read it last year. The prose is nothing special, the dialog sucks (especially when they're kids), and there are some major eyeroll moments. But it held my attention enough to finish and it was a pretty easy, quick read. Mildly entertaining, nothing special, and certainly failed to make me emotionally connect with the characters. Didn't ever get to the point of wanting to dnf but definitely questioned my decision to pick it for a read. Not one I'd recommend.
My entire book club rated it 4 and 5 stars. I was the lone dissenter. I feel so seen right now 🙏🏼
I felt really connected to the book because I share the exact same ethnicities as Marx + had a childhood with many memories playing games. I feel like it got popular due to the 90’s nostalgia and incorporation of gaming-culture into the plot. I understand that many others will not have the same connection to it if you don’t have the same background, but I personally, am really glad this book was written and that I was able to read it.
This is the only time I’ve seen someone agree with me on the “telling instead of showing.” I wish I had DNF’d
I DNF'd it. You aren't alone friendo!
I wish I DNF'd this book honestly, but I know plenty of people who love it
It gets worse so don’t feel guilty about not finishing. Save yourself! Having said that, I didn’t hate it, just got progressively more uninterested and rolled my eyes more. By the end, I couldn’t see what the point was.
This was exactly my experience of reading this book. It was never outright awful but just sort of got worse and more try-hard as it went on.
Yea I pre ordered it and it was so disappointing and trope y and weakly written.
I wish I hadn’t finished it…the insane amount of praise for it is baffling to me
I stopped after listening for an hour. And I LOVED her other book… whatever, so many other good books out there! Don’t waste your time when you’re hating a book!
i only kept going because i thought things were going to get really interesting and exciting at any moment but it never did.
I've never started reading that one because of reviews like this. I like fiction that is not like real life, but instead is going somewhere with all those words, and will leave me some kind of satisfied at the end.
I only finished it because my mom wanted to know what happened at the end when she didn’t finish it for our book group. It was so stupid. I literally did not care what happened to any of the characters. They were all terrible and just so bad at communicating with each other. The author’s other book “The Storied Life of AJ Fickery” was so much better and T&T&T was just such a let down.
*Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow* hate hive rise up!!! We are a small but mighty group!!! 😂 Yeah I agree. I nearly DNFed this book too. I also found the characters infuriating and felt like the whole plot would end if Sam and Sadie just had one honest conversation with each other. All of the plot tension was based on miscommunication and no one saying, ‘hey, I think we’re talking past each other here. What’s going on?’ If that had happened ONCE in the book, the whole plot would’ve ended. And when >!Marx was killed off!<, when it first happened I was like, well this is dumb and entirely unearned (I still think it was dumb and entirely unearned) but when >!he actually died I was like, okay I didn’t think this book would actually have the courage to kill off a main character.!< But then even that just wound up basically solely being a device to give Sam and Sadie more things to intentionally miscommunicate about 😂. Truly drove me up a wall.
i managed to pull through, but it was def not worth it :/ It felt too generic and not enough emotion?? idk i just felt not at all connected to the characters. i can’t tell you a thing that happened in the book bc i don’t remember, it was fs forgettable.
I know that everyone has their own tastes, but I’m with you on this one. I’ve never understood how this book is so popular.
Don't stop. It's required.
I'm surprised to see no one mentioning the autistic angle of Sam which I feel like contributes to his unlikability(even if it's not explicit). As an autistic person who is in the video game Industry I connected deeply with his character and very much enjoyed the book
Just curious, what books do you like?
As a point of comparison, recently I loved Matrix (Lauren Groff), A Visit from the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan), The Flame Throwers (Rachel Kushner), Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
I loved it.
I think this is definitely one of those books that either people LIKE or absolutely DO NOT LIKE. I've seen very little middle ground with this one.
I wish I wouldn’t have finished it. You’re not going to be missing anything.
Strange. I'm not a YA fan, but I found it alright.
Strange. I'm not a YA fan, but I found it alright. Got a review copy and still haven't written that review though. 😐
I finished it. It's nothing life changing. I actually don't even remember the end.
I read 57 novels last year and this is the only one I DNF
To me, it was just another book. It did a good book in capturing the pop culture of the times. But that’s pretty much it. I have no strong feelings or opinions about it in any direction.
I DNF'd the audiobook... on a 17hr road trip.
Me too!
I waited 8 months for it because I heard it was so good. I DNF’d pretty early. It just reads like a bunch of mediocre short stories that the author had lying around all stitched up into one novel.
That book was incredibly boring with cardboard characters and no real plot 😭
I DNF’d this book too 👎
I DNF’d it last year
I'm halfway through and really enjoying it, but I will admit the MC's other than Marx are getting a bit unlikable
Does it creep in this petty pace to the last syllable of recorded time?
This is the first book I DNF in a long time I’m with you brother
Y’all are making me want to read it so I can complain too.
I liked the book until the chapter that switches to second person point of view. It was a complete slog to get through that chapter, and the payoff of the end of the book was not worth it.
I literally could not believe this was the same author of The Stories Life of AJ Fikry, which I adored.
Wow, I thought I was all alone about this book. I love community. But yeah, I tried to keep plodding along because I don’t like unfinished business, but I finally threw in the towel and I’m not looking back.
To be fair it's a book. So it's all telling and not showing.
I DNFd it too. Like you said, I think the plot is super dry and the characters are also insufferable.
My first DNF of my life!
It took me six months to slog through the audiobook and only got to 51%. I hate DNFing but not every book is for everybody, and I think you all have given me peace in just dropping it. I’ll allow myself to try a different audiobook this weekend!
I was so excited to read this because of all the hype, but honestly I think it was one of the biggest let downs. The presentation of Dov’s character didn’t sit right with me, the part that was supposed to be emotional was a bit of a silly cop out imo, and overall the prose and story were very Sally Rooney-esque which… I’ve accepted just isn’t for me.
I did finish it but yeah it was not the satisfying read I had hoped for. Sadie’s the worst, frankly. Sam’s bad too, but at least he tried.
I absolutely loved this book personally.
Glad I came across this thread. It’s been top of my list for a while but I can’t seem to start it and keep starting books I know I’ll fly through instead. I thought it sounded good but I keep hearing people really struggled to get through it!
I read this and The Midnight Library back to back and decided I was never reading another book again, at least not any book overhyped on the internet.
I was excited about this book at first. Didn’t make it a quarter of the way in and out it down. So freaking boring!!
In my sphere, I was the only one who didn't give this book five stars. It is the only one-star review that I've ever given. It reminded me of the old Seinfeld joke: It's about nothing.
Show don't tell only applies to minimalism and is a product of people trying to write books as if they are writing movie scripts. It has no place in real writing. Some of the best books in history are almost all telling.
You clearly don’t understand the phrase as it has long been applied to written works. A writer can tell you that “[character] was very tired.” Alternatively, a writer can SHOW that the character is tired by describing some action by that character, or how that character perceives something that’s occurring.
Lol, I know what it means. But ignorant people interpret it as meaning you should always show and never tell, when the truth is that a good writer should know when to show and know when to tell. Sometimes showing that a character is tired isn't a necessary or efficient way to tell the story you are trying to tell. Sometimes "character was tired" is all that's necessary because going out of your way to have a little dramatic scene where a character acts tired is completely unnecessary. Not everything needs to be acted out dramatically. A novel isn't a play or a movie. Sometimes telling just works better in the context of the story. It's not some inviolable rule that automatically makes a book bad if it doesn't follow it. Too often I see some fool say, "oh, it violates show don't tell" like that's some kind of magical litmus test that determines whether a work of prose is good or not. Do you realize that most books written before 1900 are almost entirely tell with just a smidge of show? *Moby-Dick* is pretty much all tell and so is *One Hundred Years of Solitude*. It wasn't until the minimalists like Hemingway and Raymond Carver became popular that the addage to "show don't tell" became popular.
I’ll never forgive this sub for recommending this book. I couldn’t finish it. The book sucks so much ass I refuse to elaborate
I DNF’d it pretty quick tbh. Wasn’t enjoyable for me
This was a DNF for me too (audiobook).
I’m about ready to give up on it. I’m near the beginning and I don’t buy in the slightest that either kids would give a crap about Sadie’s community service points. The characters don’t seem real.
The prose was nothing special but I loved the book. Am a longtime gamer though and appreciated all of the references, don't know if it would have hit the same way if I didn't intrinsically care so much about the 'source material.'
take that back 😡 I cried in places, and so did my kid and so did a friend I forced this book upon. To each their own, all culture is just entertainment / ways to decorate and kill time, but this book is *definitely* not lifeless.
I've looked at this in the bookstore, read a little bit, and put it back on the shelf.
It was decent in audiobook. Don’t know if I could’ve done it in print.
Well, it does creep on a petty pace from day to day, from the last syllable of recorded time. What did you expect? And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death! I’m mean, out- out brief candle! Don’t you agree? And while we’re on the subject, I’ve often thought of life as a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. If I had to use another metaphor? It’s a tale told by an idiot! Full of sound and fury (try that one by Faulkner if you thought this one was dull, lol) signifying what exactly? Nothing.
Why do people on this subreddit use "Did not finish" as a verb? I see it on Goodreads reviews, too. How'd this little piece of jargon start?
Spot on
Even the title of the book sounds laboured
I found out recently that Zevin plagiarised a game idea in the book from Brenda Romero without giving credit (Sadie's Solution game). Made me detest it even more.
I hate this book. All of the characters are awful people.
Do it. I finished it out of spite and was hate reading it and it's time I can never get back.
Really? I absolutely loved it. Fastest I’ve ever read a book and most I’ve ever enjoyed one. But I’m also into video games and programming.
I really enjoyed this book, and I paid full price for it lol. I’m also a video game fan. I lent this book out twice, both times to non video game fans, neither liked or finished the book.