Volume 25: Aces and Friends at Summer's End
*A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Welcome back to What Needs Knowing. Happy September! This week’s volume will be abbreviated in scope to allow for fun sailing activities, socializing, and general shenanigans as I wrap up my summer visiting family and friends in the Adirondacks. Do you have any end-of-summer traditions? Let me know your’s by replying to this email.
Complicated Brilliance
What does friendship as a concept actually mean? In the general shuffle of our lives it usually applies to the person you text most with or see for drinks or food on a regular basis. Occasionally it is a housemate and in rarer but special circumstances your closest friendship is with a life partner or family member. But on the surface, we rarely recall friendship as the complicated and painful thing that it really is. It is for that reason that a 35-year-spanning story of friendship like Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is so compelling.
Please notes: I’ve opted to write a revealing review of this book to fully discuss its plot and characters. If the description above piqued your interest, you can find a copy here or at your local library and I suggest you skip below to What’s Worth Knowing.
The story opens on the reconnecting moment of two friends who are both attending college in Boston—one at Harvard, one at MIT. Sadie and Sam first met in a hospital in California both under tragic circumstances and bonded over the Mario Kart video game they played together in the waiting room. This friendship persists until the first of a few betrayals occurs: Sadie has been receiving volunteer credit from her temple for the time she has spent with Sam in the hospital. They drift apart, not for the first time, until their chance encounter on the T as young adults.
To allow yourself to play with another person is no small risk. It means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt. It is the human equivalent of the dog rolling on its back—I know you won’t hurt me, even though you can. It is the dog putting its mouth around your hand and never biting down. To play requires trust and love. Many years later, as Sam would controversially say in an interview with the gaming website Kotaku, “There is no more intimate act than play, even sex.” The internet responded: no one who had had good sex would ever say that, and there must be something seriously wrong with Sam.
-page 21, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
After reconnecting, Sam and Sadie quickly decide to design video games together and find that their mercurial relationship makes for creative genius many times over. Their connection suffers in the moments of fame and imposter syndrome, anxiety, and depression creep in. The sinusoidal nature of their relationship is reflective of both the passion that is present in true friendship (Sam and Sadie regularly opt to sacrifice their own happiness for the good of the other) and the pain (they hurl angry words at each other that speak to envy, insecurity, and panic).
Their mutual best friend, Marx, and co-founder of the gaming company they started together is the grounding force between them. Carefree, genuine, and kind in the extreme, Marx tempers Sadie and Sam who aren’t always the most likable protagonists. It is for that reason that Marx’s death at the hands of a gamer turned shooter who is angry about the inclusion of same-sex marriage in one of their games is so devastating. It completely blows up Sam and Sadie’s friendship in a way that was, sadly, needed in order for them to rediscover their own identities: Sadie’s love of the creative process by way of returning to MIT as a teacher and Sam’s as the intrepid pioneer that is practiced and even excels at overcoming tragedy and creating brilliance from difficult situations.
The ending is satisfying and although it subscribes to a “happy ending” trope, it rings true for anyone who has lost a friend for a period of time and finds that when time and acceptance converge, friendship is very easily discovered again. Perhaps, pure friendship is the most powerful thing in the universe.
The brilliant moments:
The nod this story gives to the lostness that people of mixed race experience in America is profound and while I don’t label it as the main theme of this novel, it does give welcome and insightful depth to Sadie and Sam’s experiences and actions.
The character of Dov is both so frustrating and frankly slimy at times but also offers great advice and blunt reality to Sadie in particular. He is part of her story, for better or for worse.
Zevin handles the concept of love, an emotion adjacent to friendship, with expert levity. Love is on the mind for Sam during most of the book but it is Sadie that gives away her love most freely. Looking at the quote I included above for context, even while Sadie experiences multiple romantic heartbreaks of monumental power, it is Sam and Sadie’s ability to hurt each other profoundly multiple times in the story that demonstrates the immense power of friendship, not love. In fact, I’d argue that one of the main takeaways from the book is that friendship is stronger than love.
Zevin’s writing style is matter-a-fact and presents a clear but sensitive tone that I found very enjoyable to read:
Sam’s grandfather had two core beliefs: (1) all things were knowable by anyone, and (2) anything was fixable if you took the time to figure out what was broken. Sam believed these things as well.
page 96, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
The story of video games, both their design and their play, and the role it fills for Sam and Sadie’s give and take entanglement was an effective story device and I can truthfully say I have a newfound appreciation for that world and the creativity within it from reading this book.
The title of the book comes from a monologue in Macbeth following the death of the title character’s wife that is coveted and performed by Marx. Marx also earns the meaningful nickname “Tamer of Horses” from the ending of The Iliad. It is his presence that offers context and moderation not just for Sadie and Sam’s friendship but also brings some of the brightest parts of this book to life. While Sadie and Sam are the protagonists, Marx is my favorite character.
My, albeit few, grievances:
Sadie’s character development is slightly lopsided in comparison to Sam’s after the author pulls back the curtain on his struggle with phantom limb syndrome and his anxiety and depression while barely uncovering the postpartum depression that Sadie experiences after the death of Marx and the birth of their daughter, Naomi. In addition, Sam’s family is fully explored throughout the book with ample flashbacks. Sadie’s flashbacks are limited to the moments in her childhood that mostly relate to her meeting Sam in the hospital while her sister recovers from cancer. Zevin ultimately could’ve done Sadie’s emotional and familial storyline more justice.
The chaptering structure of the book is confusing to me. There are ten parts to the story each with its own chaptering system. The restarting of the progression for each part made the story choppy at times, especially near the end.
You never really find out what happens when Sam supposedly finds the secret highway system in L.A. Its existence and discovery certainly is a metaphor for his eventual acceptance of the tragic occurrences in his life but the metaphor doesn’t fully play out despite Zevin setting it up with a childhood flashbacks early in the book.
The Non Player Character storyline broke my heart. That isn’t a grievance but I did grieve.
What’s Worth Knowing
NASA will make a second attempt to launch the Artemis mission on Saturday (tomorrow) afternoon at 2:17pm ET after some technical issues caused the agency to scrub the launch this past Monday. The technical issues had to do with fuel temperature not getting low enough for optimal ignition. A faulty sensor also contributed to the problem. If the launch is scrubbed on Saturday, they will make another attempt on Monday.
Max Verstappen was thoroughly dominant at the Belgium Grand Prix last weekend while more strategy errors plagued Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton’s mistake and subsequent crash on the first lap ended his race much earlier than expected. This week, drivers head to the Netherlands for the second to last European race in the 2022 season. It is Verstappen’s home race and I expect his domination tour to continue despite an engine failure during practice this morning. My prediction: 1st: Max Verstappen, 2nd: Lewis Hamilton, 3rd: Carlos Sainz.
Oscar Piastri has been confirmed as the second driver for McLaren next season. After being officially approved following the drama with the false Alpine announcement during the summer break, it has become clear that his contract was inked all the way back in early July following a particularly poor race from Daniel Ricciardo. The disfunction at McLaren is particularly clear when you consider the fact that the team signed Piastri on July 4th without telling Danny Ric, made evident since he posted a statement on July 13th reaffirming his intention to race with the team through 2023. Not going to lie, it’s kind of a bad look for Zak Brown (the boss at McLaren). We are still awaiting Danny Ric’s official plans for the 2023 season.
Serena “the GOAT” Williams is here to play in this year’s US Open. Despite minimal matches and underwhelming performances so far this year, she has played the lights out in New York. She faces Ajla Tomljanović this evening in Round 3 after defeating the #2 ranked Anett Kontaveit in a thrilling match on Wednesday night. Tune in tonight on ESPN at 7pm ET. Bonus: this clip from her interview after the second round match has gone viral. It is a privilege to get to watch an athlete of this caliber play. If you watch this and think, “wow, what a cocky thing to say,” remember that if Rafael Nadal or any male player was quoted saying that, he would be described as confident, not cocky. Serena's impact on freedom of expression in women’s sports can’t be under-appreciated.
Just a little more on Serena because why not!
With the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon being released on HBO Max, this chuckle-worthy video made it back into my newsfeed:
This week, I’ll be reading Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Earlier this year (pre-WNK), I read and enjoyed Malibu Rising, also by Reid, in which Carrie Soto was a supporting character. I hope this will be the perfect end-of-summer read before I return to slightly more serious material. You can find a copy here or at your local library branch.
A parting shot:
Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend! Get outside, soak up the sun, spend time with the people you care about, and toast a G and T to a great fall ahead. Talk soon,
-Mackenzie “abbreviated, lol” Timbel
Loved, Loved the book Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow!!! Your review was right on!!!