Recently I read Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. If I am honest than I should say that YA fiction is usually not my cup of tea and I prefer Mystery Thrillers and Gothic fictions.
The only YA I have enjoyed are the few books of John Green ( The Fault in our Stars, Paper Towns), Nikola Yoon ( The sun is also a star) and Chloe Gong ( These Violent Delights, Foul Lady Fortune).
And I believe that this Gabrielle Zevin's book is going to join the list of the few YA fictions that I have ever enjoyed.
The story revolves around the life of Sam Mazer and Sadie Green, video game creators. Through four hundred and twenty three pages, we see how their lives interwine and how they see the world through their eyes.
Our protagonists go through tragedies and fortunes, gains and losses, ups and downs.
The best thing about this story for me was it felt like it had essentially no plot.
Even if I want to review it I couldn't say what happened in it because a lot actually happened and it felt like nothing happened.
The book is essentially about life. In simple words, we see that life goes on. With or without your friends. With or without your parents. With or without the things that you love.
The name comes from Shakespeare's play Macbeth:
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools."
Macbeth says this on Lady Macbeth's death. He was pretty depressed. I think he says this to explain the futility of time. Because he is now lonely and his future is bleak, he says that there is a tomorrow but now life seems meaningless to him. ( Might be because of his overambitious acts)
But I think the phrase "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" holds another meaning also. There will be tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. In our lives no matter what we do, there will always be a tomorrow. Apart from an optimistic approach, it is true.
Today I am hopeless and desperate and wretched, but there will be tomorrow. And maybe I'll be hopeless and desperate and wretched tomorrow, but there will be a tomorrow again. And there will be tomorrows and tomorrows and tomorrows.
The title reveals much of what the book is about. It's about first opportunities and second opportunities and decidious occasions and once in a lifetime chances and highly improbable probabilities.
The best thing about the book is Zevin's writing style. That's how you write a YA novel. You identify yourself with the characters you read and you learn whether you love, loathe or fear.
It is so beautifully written that I doubt I have read anything this nicely done since I read Nikola Yoon. The thing about these books is that the plot may be messed up or terribly upsetting yet the way its written makes you forget about it.
Another theme of the book which I absolutely adored was the concept of love. Through his characters, Zevin shows us that there are many forms of love. And all of them are not necessarily romantic. And not all of them are meant to be.
In my opinion, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a must read for every avid reader and such books that are so beautiful deserve to be read every now and then. This book won the Goodreads choice awards. Rightly so.
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