I'd heard good things about Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow from various media outlets and thought a YA fiction book that looked at the creative process behind videogames from the perspective of two young adults growing up as the industry grew and matured was intriguing. So, setting aside a couple of days I read the whole thing.
I bought the book soon after release but only got to it several months later.
The synopsis is quite simple: two pre-teens meet in a hospital and become friends over a shared love of video games. Sadie is visiting her sister who is undergoing cancer treatment whilst Sam is getting his foot fixed after a tragic car accident. Years later, they meet by chance on the platform of a train station and reconnect. They share their fond memories of the past and bond over the game making process, making a hit game. What follows is the highs and lows of their professional and personal relationship and the impact that achieving fame so young can have on the ego.
Reading the book, I felt waves of nostalgia for my history with videogames. The period of time covered in the book was coincidentally similar to my formative teen years, and author Gabrielle Zevin’s, so I could relate quite well. The characters of Sam and Sadie felt realistically portrayed as they are presented as creatively eloquent yet not always able to express their emotions or feelings clearly. Their behaviour was redolent of teens trying to figure out the way forward and not always making the right choices. It rang of truthiness and had me reflecting on my past behaviours and how I would act in those situations now. Dov, the antagonistic game designer and creepy lecturer, is well written and I am sure representative of a lot of people within academia who are sketchy. Marx, Sam's friend is a saintly figure and came across as too perfect in places. Sure, he was a confident player but he also lacked any personality to make him seem well rounded.
The book jumps about in time quite a bit through Sam and Sadie's life but I didn't find it confusing as it is clearly signposted if it was set in the past, present or future. I felt many occasions of dimpsy, a feeling where the past speaks to us, as the book namedrops videogame and pop culture references all over the place.
The games it mentioned included: Donkey Kong, Frogger, Oregon Trail, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, Commander Keane, Doom, Space Invaders, Tetris, King's Quest 4, Zelda, Chrono Trigger, Metal Gear 3, Wolfenstein 3D, Zelda: Oot, Mario 64, Ms. Pacman, Myst, Diablo, FF, Ultima, Leisure suit Larry, Warcraft, Monkey Island, The Colonel's Bequest, Persona, Madden, Harvest Moon, Everquest, Half Life 2, Halo 2, Unreal Tournament, Call of Duty, The Sims, Journey, Uncharted, Braid, Bioshock 2, Heavy Rain, Wii Sports,
On top of this, the book is full of pop culture references including: D and D, Kotaku, Studio Ghibli, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Hokusai, Yoshitomo Nara, Haruki Murakami, Toshiro Muyuzami, Dickens, Philip Glass, The Bible, Homer, Shakespeare, Chuck Close, Escher, Wired, Mary Lou Retton, Rube Goldberg, James Bond, William Morris Agency, Speed Racer, Takashi Murakami, Sigaharu Fujita, Philip Glass, Brian Eno, Miles Davis, John Cage, Terry Reilly, The Heroes Journey, The Odyssey, Call of the Wild, Call of Courage, The Language Instict, Chris Cornell, Soundgarden, Antigone, That Love is All There Is by Emily Dickenson, Jackson Pollock, Game Depot, Simon and Garfunkle 1981 concert, The Matrix, PlayStation, Nintendo, Xbox, Gameboy, Kafka, Titanic, Thomas Anders Junior, Noh Theatre, Cherry Blossoms at Night by Katsushika Oi, Strawberry Thief by William Morris, Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen, Kurt Vonnegut, Macbeth and Visual Novels.
The book is an interesting read and, as a fictional account of achieving fame at a young age, would be a good companion to the book Masters of Doom which looks at the creation of Doom by John Romero and John Carmack. There are some emotional beats here that hit hard, such as the comment on real-world identity politics and how putting your head above the parapet can have consequences, or how depression can immobilise and isolate you.
Overall, the book is well plotted and paced but the language is serviceable rather than exemplary. Sure, it doesn't match the eloquence or style of a Murakami, Gaiman, Márai or Mitchell but then it doesn't have to; it is an interesting story well told and I am sure the inevitable film will be solid, if fan-servicey.
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LINK- Uncharted 4- Video Games As Art