Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Published 2022 · 417 pages · 132,959 words · about 9 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction
How hard is Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow to read?
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow scores 45 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 42 out of 100
- Literary prose enriched with gaming terminology—NPCs, world-building, rendering—and cultural references spanning the 1980s through 2010s. Zevin writes for readers who appreciate both games and literature.
- Sentence structure: 45 out of 100
- Varied sentence structure with moments of lyricism distinguishes this from genre fiction. Zevin has literary ambitions; her prose rewards attention.
- Abstraction: 50 out of 100
- Explores creativity, collaboration, disability, identity, and love through Sam and Sadie's decades-long relationship. The novel is emotionally and intellectually engaging.
- Information density: 48 out of 100
- Game development details, cultural history, and two intertwined lives across decades create moderate density. The novel rewards readers who engage with its world.
- Narrative indirection: 45 out of 100
- Third-person narration shifts between Sam and Sadie, with neither fully reliable about the other. The central relationship is seen from both incomplete perspectives.
- Symbolic density: 50 out of 100
- Games become symbols of collaboration, escapism, and art-making. Ichigo's multiple identities mirror the characters' self-creation; disability and embodiment carry thematic weight.
- Ironic distance: 38 out of 100
- Zevin maintains literary distance while delivering genuine emotional payoffs. The novel is smart about its characters without being cold toward them.
- Resolution withholding: 45 out of 100
- Sam and Sadie's relationship remains unresolved in conventional terms. The ending earns its ambiguity through accumulated understanding.
- Structural complexity: 48 out of 100
- Decades-spanning narrative with alternating perspectives. The game-inspired chapter titles and structure add literary interest; the novel is more ambitious than genre fiction.
How Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is regarded
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow holds a literary regard score of 43 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.