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I had never heard of it.

But it was the second best-selling book in Los Angeles, as reported by the LA “Times.” How is that possible?

Well, you can’t trust LA’s “Times” bestseller list. It is easy to manipulate. The system is opaque. And as a result, there are constant deviations. Mostly LA-centric books or authors. But this?

I immediately went to Amazon and researched it. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” had four and a half stars with over a thousand reviews. That is extremely difficult to achieve. Especially since there are always people who post one star reviews that have nothing to do with the content. They haven’t received the book, or it’s damaged, or…

And the book was published by Knopf, the Mo Ostin’s Warner Brothers of book publishers. There is no waste on Knopf. There is a reason to publish every book. But I had never heard of this author, Gabrielle Zevin, who was not a novice, she had published previous books. How did I miss this?

Not that I was ready to commit. I only trust the wisdom of the crowd so far. So I went to Libby and reserved it.

And I’ve had a Jennifer Haigh kick. “Mercy Street” is one of the best books I’ve read this year.

And I had already read ‘Heat & Light’ from 2016, but one day I went on Libby and downloaded the rest of Haigh’s books, I was tired of reading thankless work. I don’t write about everything I read, nor everything I watch, this is not a document of my life, I only put my fingers on the keyboard when I think it’s worth your time, your attention.

And the internet said “Faith” was the best Haigh book I hadn’t read, and I devoured it. Very good. And I plan to read the rest, but suddenly “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” became available.

Not that I expected much from it.

Not that I had invested much. I mean, this was a library book. I’d give it a shot, if it didn’t float my boat, no problem, I’d move on, go back to Haigh.

But “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” is amazing!

Let me make this clear. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is the new “Goldfinch”, with a little “Garp” thrown in, remember, the unexpected surprises in that John Irving book?

But Donna Tartt’s “Goldfinch” was about art. Intellectual. You would feel good reading it. Especially once it got traction. You were part of the cognoscenti, the intelligentsia, despite the criticism that it was actually a YA title (“Young Adult”) and “Garp” was ultimately about family, and well done that always resonates. While “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is about VIDEO GAMES!

And that is not gaining traction among the aforementioned intelligentsia.

But video games were the rock music of the 1990s and the first decade of this century. They thrived almost underground. They got no attention, no respect, just like rock music in its infancy/rise.

And of course the real breakthrough was Atari, there was gaming in the 1980s, but that company crashed and took away Warner stock, the ignorant thought that video games were a thing of the past. And then came Nintendo. And then came the PlayStation and the Xbox.

And then came Twitch.

In the old days, all innovation came through music, but if you want to see the very latest, keep an eye out for video games. If for no other reason there is more money in video games than in music!

The 1990s were the Wild West. Independent publishers. Like music for the seventies, like tech for the twenty-first century. It was 24/7 innovation. And then the dust settled and the big corporations triumphed. Not that the entertainment conglomerates didn’t notice the gaming tsunami. They thought it was easy, but they lost millions. Making a game that everyone wants to play can cost more than a movie to make, and the consumer barrier to entry is higher, video games cost much more than a movie to buy/watch. There are hits…and then everything else. And just because you pin the name of a famous movie to it doesn’t mean you’ll be successful. You can’t pull the wool over the gamers’ eyes, they know that.

So Sadie and Sam are addicted to gaming in the 1980s. Just like boomers in the sixties were addicted to music. That’s all they cared about.

And when they went to college…

They had a whole gaming history. Sadie carries her classics with her, for reference, to keep her warm at night, just like you rummaged through your albums.

And eventually the games go online and…

This analogy with music runs throughout the book.

But that’s not what “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is about, the place of play in the firmament. The main characters live in the game world, they are not aware of what else is going on. They work 18-hour days. If you want a life, don’t sign up. It takes a special kind of eccentric.

But are Sam and Sadie boyfriends and girlfriends? What exactly is their relationship?

Do you take the money or do you go for what feels best?

Will you make a sequel for the easy money or will you keep pushing the boundaries?

But it’s really all about relationships. connections. Acceptance. Gaming is just the framework. And “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” is in no way predictable. You get to a point where it becomes addictive and you can’t put it down, and if you don’t read it, it calls to you.

And there is too much wisdom to recite here.

Because the outsiders don’t go through the moves. They have their own philosophies.

If you were captain of the soccer team, or a cheerleader, “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” isn’t for you. If you got good grades but never had sex, enroll right away. If you realized that the only way to succeed was to own your identity and march forward, come down. If you’re willing to take the time to read a book to get the rewards, you’re going to dig this one.

But not everyone will.

Because not everyone likes everything.

But “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” is an important work. And it succeeds through word of mouth, which is the only way to hold up in today’s market. Hype can give you attention for a week at most, after that you are on your own.

I loved this book!