Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
By Gabrielle Zevin
Published 2022
Read Aug 2023
Like many readers of this book, this is the first Gabrielle Zevin book this reader has read. Apparently, she has had some big hits as well as some books that haven’t achieved commercial success even if the critics liked them. Based on this book, this reader looks forward to reading more of her work.
This reader is not a gamer but that doesn’t matter because the book is really about people, their relationships, and product development.
Product development leverages current technologies and creates new ones as necessary to create a design that will be appealing to its customers. Fast product development is universally desired by owners of companies so that revenues can be generated as fast as possible. In small start-ups like the one described here—owned by two college dropouts who are the product designers/developers and their friend who is “producing” it—everyone pitches in to do all the stuff needed beside the actual product development. The descriptions of the intensity of the work to get it to market is pretty believable given the need to generate revenue—they are starving otherwise—and the intensity of the market they are in. The book also nicely describes the evolution of companies as they move into second generation products—how the relationships between various starting members can and perhaps must change.
Reading about the games that the characters play and develop was actually quite interesting to this reader. As a non-gamer it was a rare glimpse into this world. Two aspects of particular interest: 1) The complexity of the computer programming required to create the video games of our times—players moving around in complex landscapes, interacting with various “artificial” characters in the game and interacting with various other players that are on-line and in the game at the same time. 2) The male dominance of video game production. This was accented in the book by the female protagonist who deals with the condescending way non-company members treat her but not her colleagues with whom she has equal importance in the organization as a primary programmer.
This glimpse of gaming has been useful as this reader has read other books recently (particularly The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith and The Three Body Problem by Cixin Li) that involve gaming in one way or another. This reader anticipates this will be increasingly common in current modern fiction. Video games, although not a part of this reader’s life, is a huge component of society so having some understanding of the culture is as useful to non-gamers as having an understanding of recorded music would have been to the generation who was raised before its popularity.
The characters are great—each has attributes that make them deserving of a reader’s interest and empathy while also having flaws or attributes that make them real and believable. This reader’s opinion of and warmth towards each of the main characters varied substantially at different parts of the story—something this reader greatly appreciates.
This reader may be reading more of this author. Certainly, this reader would really enjoy discussing this book with others—also something this reader greatly appreciates.
MarshaReads.com 