August 2023 Book Club - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Ahhh.... one of my favorite reads of the year so far!

 

A friend said this was great too! I will finish my murder mystery and get started!

 

I have a computer engineer son and my roommate when I first moved here to Chicago many moons ago was a video game designer for Bally/Midway. So maybe I just had a different connection with it?

 

I have a three week waiting time at the library for this one.

 

I just finished it. Loved it. I don’t have any interest in video games and it sucked me in and kept my attention.

 

good to know, because I also don't have any interest in video games.

 

Spoiler: Thoughts

4 stars - I had pretty high expectations for this one since there was so much hype. In the end, I thought it was pretty good and also a bit boring in places. I really enjoyed the comparisons of video games to life and the video game development in general. But there was so much angst, quite a few dysfunctional relationships. Well developed characters, and some interesting sections where Zevin plays with structure.

 

I really liked this one. I did the audiobook and when I finished and still had a week for the loan I listened to it again. I wasn't ready to let go.

Spoiler

So on my second read I paid better attention to what was going on when they were in the video game together. That part on the first read was hard for me to understand what was happening. On the second read it was really touching to see the details of how he made the game for her, and what was happening along the way with the amputation and them getting married and she didn't know who it was.

It was interesting to think how it must have been during the early days of video games. I got a kick out of the part where Sophie comments that all video games are just men's fetishes. Then her game is Emily Blaster - shooting ink blobs to form Emily Dickenson poetry. Hah!

The 2 of them both had some shortcomings with social skills and Marx was personality plus and really was an important part of them working together. I read that before this book came out Paramount Plus got the rights. I can't wait to see what they will do with a movie or tv show of this one.

 

Ok, after I read my book club IRL book I'll grab this one!

 

I just finished this one last month! It was really different than my usual listen (audiobook) but I really enjoyed it!

 

I read this! I finished it January 4 but apparently did not remember/know it was a TLP book club choice. I can't remember enough detail to talk about it now, but I searched my journal and found I'd written something about it!

Spoiler: Spoiler

It’s really good. I hate that Marx was killed. I’m ambivalent that Sam and Sadie didn’t end up together, although I think they still could. They’re still only in their late 30’s when the book ends. I was kind of disappointed it ended without us even knowing whether they make another game together. But there are a lot of wonderful things in the book, like how kind and generous Marx is and the sweet parental figures and how Sam made the Friendship game to try to get Sadie’s attention.

 

Love this audiobook. It was very different from some of my normal reads/genre, but I really enjoyed it even though I could care less about gaming.

Spoiler

It was interesting to learn about what it took to create games 'back in the day!' I'm hoping they eventually ended up together, but I guess that's left for us to decide- sometimes I like when not everything is wrapped up in a shiny perfect bow!

 

I really enjoyed this book. Like most of you I'm not a gamer but I liked learning a bit more about the gaming world and what it is like creating games. I found the characters interesting, also a bit infuriating at times!

Spoiler: Spoiler

I liked how she wrote from Marx perspective as sort of an NPC in the story - he was so essential to the way Sam and Sadie were able to work together but not a creator like they were. I loved the idea of world building as a way to cope with the world they are stuck in, and as a way to better understand the world we are in and possibilities and limitations of it. I hoped Sam and Sadie would be able to find a way to have a closer relationship, but I felt like if it didn't happen in the book it probably never will - they are only able to coexist in the worlds they create, not the real world.

 

I just finished reading this and have to say that although I loved the early part of the book, I was disappointed the ending seemed flat.

Spoiler: Spoiler

After Marx’s death, I felt the book went downhill. I really didn’t like the Pioneers play through section and skipped over it. It felt as though the author was trying to find a good ending for the story but it just trailed off.