Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

The novel follows three friends, developers Sadie Green and Sam Masur (later "Mazer"), and their producer Marx Watanabe, over the course of their shared careers, beginning as an indie team working out of a Harvard dorm room to co-managing a successful video game studio.[1] The novel deals heavily with themes of identity, labor, love, causality, and grief.

Zevin has said that some of the fictional video games in the book were inspired by real-life games and events, such as the fictional video game Solution, which was "a take on Train", and the fictional video game Pioneers, which reflected her own feelings about playing Stardew Valley.[2] According to Zevin, she also drew inspiration for her main characters from actual game designers, including Ken Williams, Roberta Williams, John Carmack, and John Romero.[3]

The novel was well received by critics,[4] including starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews[5] and Publishers Weekly.[6] Kirkus said the novel is "[s]ure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their life".[5] Publishers Weekly called the novel "a one-of-a-kind achievement".[6] In a review for The Washington Post, Ron Charles wrote favorably of the book's moral complexity, and related its Shakespearean title to the generative possibilities inherent in gameplay.[7]

Wired called the novel "utterly absorbing", and The New York Times Book Review referred to it as "delightful and absorbing" and "expansive and entertaining".[8] Paste recommended readers listen to the audiobook to better navigate "the complex, perspective-shifting format".[9] NPR's Maureen Corrigan praised the "big, beautifully written" book for placing a non-romantic relationship at its center, and for taking on the issue of cultural appropriation.[10]

In March 2023, game designer Brenda Romero told The Washington Post that the game Solution represents a substantial, uncredited appropriation of Romero's own game, Train, and the way "being complicit" was presented by Romero as the theme and purpose of the game is presented as if invented by the one of book's protagonists and by extension the book's author. “I have no doubt that Train is the best game I’ll probably make,” Romero said. “It is the one thing I will have to show for dedicating my life to games. And somebody decided that was just fair game.” Todd Doughty, Knopf Doubleday’s senior vice president for publicity and communications, was quoted in reply: “‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ is a work of fiction and when crafting a novel, every author draws from the world around them. As Gabrielle Zevin publicly stated in last year’s ‘Wired’ interview, Brenda Romero’s undistributed board game, ‘Train,’ which Zevin has never played but was aware of, served as one point of inspiration among many for the novel, including books, plays, video games, visual art and locales. The entire world, characters and themes of ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ are solely Zevin’s fictional creation and the only games listed in the author’s acknowledgments are video games. Again, ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ is a novel and not an academic or nonfiction text containing indexes, notes, or works cited. Knopf stands behind Gabrielle Zevin and her work.” [11]

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was a New York Times Best Seller, being listed on its 2022 Notable Books List, and an IndieBound best seller.[5] In July 2022, it was a book club pick for Amerie and Barnes & Noble,[12] as well as an Apple Books best seller for Fiction and Literature.[13] It continued to be an Apple Books best seller[14] in August and was also a Belletrist Book Club pick.[15] Amazon named the novel the best book of 2022,[16] as well as a Goodreads Choice Award winner in Fiction.[17] Indigo[18] and Kirkus[5] also included Tomorrow in their lists of the best books of the year.

In 2022, Paramount Pictures and Temple Hill Entertainment purchased the film rights for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow for $2 million.[1][19][20] The film will be produced by Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, and Isaac Klausner,[19] with Zevin writing the script.[19][1]