An abundance of tomorrows

In the spirit of the purpose of A to Zedding I will try and keep my blogging mojo up and not leave this book review for another week (and the library is sending threatening emails) (though they've stopped charging late fines). 'Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow' by Gabrielle Zevin was what I think of as an easy read. I had felt like I was reading too much hard stuff and not enjoying it enough. While I did enjoy it the stuff about gaming, and significantly creating computer games, went right over my head. Not that it spoiled the book to skim read some parts, and the group of characters at the centre of the book were very engaging and believable. I like a book that follows the characters over time, watching their lives and relationships evolve. Sam and Sadie meet in hospital as children, Sam recovering from an accident and Sadie visiting her sister who has cancer. They drift apart and then reconnect at university where Sadie is studying computer game design. Sam's roommate Marx has taken Sam under his wing, and caring for Sam becomes the glue that bonds them together. They create together what becomes a cult computer game, form their own company, move to California, fulfilling the adage 'do what you love and you will never work a day in your life'. Of course stuff has to happen that undermines all the perfect life. It was a weakness in the book that stuff happens, rather than being character driven, and there were element of plotting that were somewhat predictable but on reflection it fitted with the obsessive nature of computer game fandom. John Green gushes about the book on the cover and it was his books that it reminded me of most, very much about the lives of young people and the concerns that they have.

Only have one quote noted down, from the very beginning, and it was just a nice thing, letting you inside Sadie's thinking, telling you about Sadie but also somewhat typical of Gabrielle's style:

"Around lunchtime, Sadie felt hungry and, thus, somewhat less sorry for Alice and sorrier for herself. It was irritating the way Alice acted like an asshole and Sadie was the one who was punished. As Sadie was repeatedly told, Alice was sick, but she was not dying. Alice's variety of leukaemia had a particularly high remission rate. She had been responding well to treatment, and she's probably even be able to start high school, on schedule, in the fall. Alice would only have to be in the hospital for two nights this time, and it was only out of, according to her mother, an 'abundance of caution.' Sadie liked the phrase 'an abundance of caution.' It reminded her of a murder of crow, a flock of seagulls, a pack of wolves. She imagined that 'caution' was a creature of some kind - maybe, a cross between a Saint Bernard and an elephant. A large, intelligent, friendly animal that could be counted on to defend the Green sisters from threats, existential and otherwise." (p.14)

Stay safe. Be kind. Enjoy your tomorrows.