Soapbox features allow our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random things they’ve been chewing on. TodayMichelle is reading an amazing novel about games and claims that books and games should be on the same page…
Two children study Super Mario Bros in the hospital playroom. One asks the other: ‘What is the secret of landing high on the pole?’ This is the beginning of Sam and Sadie’s friendship, the centerpiece of Gabrielle Zevin’s novel, Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.
For anyone who tried and struggled with hitting the masthead, jamming buttons and sighing in frustration, it’s a nice nostalgic nod to the NES game. For all of them, this is the beginning of a deep friendship that will play out on the pages of this epic book.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the first book I read that took games seriously, but still spoke to a mainstream audience.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow shows the friendships of these characters from meeting when they were children, through students making amateur games, to world-famous programmers. It offers insightful and witty commentary on creativity and maturity. It’s not a ‘gamer book’ but a book about games; you don’t have to be a gamer with a capital G to enjoy it.
Zevin proves that a novel can defend characters playing games and that anyone can read it. But why is this so unique? Where are the books where the character comes home after a long day and relaxes with a Nintendo Switch? (I’m not basing this on my own life). Why aren’t there more books about games?
Google “games books” and you’ll see non-fiction books (Blood, sweat and pixels, The console warsart books, encyclopedias), and novels that occupy the space of science fiction (Ready player one, Snow accident).
Novels that weave games into the narrative, like T&T&T, are rare. Ready Player One, the poster game novel, is loaded with references that are integral to the reader’s understanding. Its sci-fi label is firmly attached, and it doesn’t try to make the games accessible or appealing to a non-gaming audience. Nothing wrong with that, in theory. But it’s typically the first game novel people think of, and that fact alone means that when it comes to books, games are still somewhere ‘else’, in an arena where non-players don’t live.
the way mainstream media views games and ‘gamers’ hasn’t changed much since the Game Boy. Zevin opposes this cliché
I’m sure there are plenty of aspiring novelists writing manuscripts like T&T&T, and reference games in a way that’s accessible to everyone. But publishers, like readers, might see a manuscript like that, think it’s Ready Player One-A, and toss it on the slush pile. The real literature still doesn’t reflect the way games are played and consumed in real life. Maybe this is how filmmakers once saw games: a good medium, sure, but too mundane to be presented as reality. Yet even as filmmakers improve their relationship with games (more on that later), authors resist. The ‘oldest’ medium has yet to be embraced by the ‘newest’.
That’s exactly why Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is like that — hmm — a game changer.
The literary world may hold its strongest shield against the gaming sector, but whatever the reason, its defenses need to be lowered. Games are more popular than ever. About 3 billion people worldwide play mobile games. Nintendo Switch sales surpassed Game Boy and PS4 sales. During the pandemic, Switches were sold out, and our favorite lockdown island escape Animal Crossing: New Horizons flew off the shelves. Non-gaming news might call it a “booming” industry, but it has already boomed.
However, the way mainstream media views games and ‘gamers’ hasn’t changed much since the Game Boy. Zevin opposes this cliché. It gives player characters dimensions that go beyond their enjoyment of playing.
Sam was raised by his grandparents, and we are brought into this loving relationship as they take care of him, guide him, and give him life advice even as he grows up. They run a pizzeria, which is the scene of Sam’s first gaming (and ‘greatest spiritual’) experience, on a Donkey Kong machine. In Sadie, we see a child who is worried about her sick sister/best friend, even though her parents ignore her and she is forced to grow up at the ripe old age of 11. Games become one of the few solaces in her life, even if she can only play for one hour a week. Sam and Sadie are more than players – they’re people.
In the world of entertainment, things have shifted, albeit by a few inches. The games are more on the screen, and the players are not just anti-social teenagers. In 2010, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World showed us that video game references can appear in a widely loved movie. Apple TV+ show A mythical quest first it’s a workplace comedy, then it’s a game show – it was made to be watched by not only players. Game adaptations are improving and attracting people who have never touched a console (I mean The last of us, Warlock, Isteriouslyand upcoming ones Tetris biographical and Movie Super Mario Bros).
Gaming and reading also share a kind of intimacy. In T&T&T, Sam says: ‘There is no act more intimate than play, not even sex’
Games of all sizes are increasingly based on more complex narratives with multi-dimensional characters. I consider the plot to be the main card to play and buy. For me, the emotional investment makes achieving that final boss fight, that final quest, that grandpa’s assessment all the sweeter.
There are even games that reflect the books, like Disco Elysium (created by novelist Robert Kurvitz) and Beacon Pines. Both are largely text-based, stimulating the reader’s imagination in the way a novel does.
Gaming and reading also share a kind of intimacy. In T&T&T Sam says, ‘There is no act more intimate than play, not even sex’ (!) When you spend so much time getting to know the characters and sharing their aspirations, it’s impossible not to care about their lives and ambitions.
This intimacy gives the consumer an active role in the development of the story. If you leave the room while the movie is playing, it continues. But books and games are necessary your to start the story – whether it’s turning the pages or pressing a button. And reader gamers like me do this for both, with the same only a little ardor.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the first book I’ve read that took video games seriously while also addressing a mainstream audience. It also made me laugh, cry and google all about it. The captivating story and broad appeal make for such a perfect blend of the oldest and newest media that it could influence the broader conversation about games in the literary space. Now that his recognition is growing (i is being adapted into a filmof course), we could see a greater presence of games in literary worlds.
That’s the tomorrow I’m looking forward to.
