The Games People Play: Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow By Gabrielle Zevin

I am old enough to remember text-only computer games and spent many an hour playing Colossal Cave Adventure and Hampstead (I confess they’re the only two titles I remember – it was 40 years ago - although somewhere along the line I recall also being plagued by a villainous, axe-wielding dwarf in some mystical land).

I am also old enough to remember Magic Eye pictures and although I still do not understand how they work on the brain, there was a sense of real satisfaction when you actually perceived the hidden image and felt enveloped by it. This novel begins with a crowd looking at a huge magic eye image and two old friends, Sadie and Sam who meet, by chance, for the first time in years. Long separations, we discover, seem to be a feature of their relationship.

The novel follows the path of their friendship: two unlikely characters who share a love of computer games and the ability to make them. We learn about its inauspicious beginning and see it almost end when Sam feels betrayed by Sadie. Believing the hours they had spent, as children, playing computer games together, at the hospital where Sam was a patient, he suddenly discovers they hadn’t been an act of genuine friendship on Sadie’s part at all, but a means to an end. Meeting again in a crowded station, however, they renew their trust in one another and are able to move forward. Sam and Sadie are both loveable, arrogant, infuriating, and flawed, and both need a good telling-off on occasions.

Sam and Sadie are both loveable, arrogant, infuriating, and flawed, and both need a good telling-off on occasions.

Spending a summer together, they navigate their way through the building of a new computer game. As gaming partners, they are natural foils for one another, with complementary skills. The novel offers an interesting insight into gaming and of the peace which can be found when it ‘felt as if the universe could be ordered.’ They take gaming to a whole new level, where graphics and narrative and challenge combine to create a gripping and addictive pastime. It’s not a love I share but it is not necessary to be ‘a gamer’ to enjoy this novel. Their collaboration results in ‘Ichigo’ which is a huge success and, despite their youth, brings them fame and fortune in the world of gamers.

The narrative structure offers details of the friendship between Sam and Sadie; they are in love but never lovers - it is far more than just love. There are flashbacks to its origin, interspersed with the development of computer games and a burgeoning production company, funded, at first, by Marx who becomes central to both their lives. Sadie’s relationship with her university tutor, Dov, sees her tangled up emotionally but ultimately, he too, becomes a friend and advisor. They are joined by Simon and Ant who develop a series of games called Counterpart High. When tragedy strikes, Ant explains he is grateful for CPH because ‘it is perfectible’ whereas he can do nothing about ‘the actual world’s (computer) code’. Occasionally, the reader is even dropped into a computer game; I am thinking particularly of a chapter towards the end which becomes a metaphor for Sam and Sadie’s life and sees them reunited once again.

I am also old enough to remember Magic Eye pictures and although I still do not understand how they work on the brain, there was a sense of real satisfaction when you actually perceived the hidden image and felt enveloped by it.

‘Both Sides’ is one concept Sadie develops into a game and it reminded me of the film Sliding Doors. The same person can be in exactly the same place at different times and it feels totally different, begging the question: what changes? The world or the individual? It’s a thought-provoking notion.

There are time shifts for the reader to recognize and negotiate, necessary to understand the relationship between Sam and Sadie, and it sometimes takes a moment to find your place but it becomes a common feature which ultimately, you just accept. The narrative is also slow moving, perhaps reflecting the time it takes to perfect a computer game of quality. It is easy to become emotionally engaged with the characters. The plot spans thirty years and examines the nature of identity, disability, failure and redemption. It is a love story although there is little romance; more, it explores the human need to connect. The novel is an original idea and as such may not appeal to everyone but it’s a best-seller and my friends all rate it.

The title is taken from a speech by Macbeth which Zevin explains is describing ‘infinite rebirth’ and ‘infinite redemption’; here she reinterprets it to mean there is always a chance to start again. The advantage of gaming is that it is a world of ‘infinite restarts’ and Sam and Sadie frequently do just that. At the end, Ludo Quintus and Ludo Sextus offer them one more chance.


Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is published by Vintage