It's 1993 and Emma and Josh are teens who are next door neighbors. When Emma gets a new computer, Josh gives her his free AOL CD-ROM to install on her computer. Instead of AOL, Emma gets Facebook, from about 2009. So, they can see their futures, at least part of it. And, as things happen in the present, their futures on Facebook change.
So, Emma gets into the mode where she's trying to do things in the present to make her future life seem happier. Jay is doing things to make his future life (married to the hottest girl in school) become a reality.
I enjoyed the premise of The Future of Us. I enjoyed the references to the 1990s. You know, it doesn't seem that long ago to me. I was raising two small children at the time, so I guess it has been longer than I think! And, I think many teens will still enjoy this even though they weren't born in 1993. I think they can get at least some of the cultural references. The differences in technology are stunning, when you think how far we've come!
The ending was logical, if somewhat predictable, and I enjoyed it. The Future of Us reads extremely quickly. It's about 350 pages, but I read it in a couple of hours. There's a lot of white space and half pages. The Future of Us is a great book for a reluctant reader.
The only thing I had trouble with is the relationship between our two main characters. I just couldn't keep up with their changing feelings and behaviors. I know the have a past and have recently been estranged. Then, they get together because of this Facebook thing. But, they keep getting ticked off at each other and not speaking, then making up, then being mad again. I couldn't keep up with the emotional changes that were causing these behaviors. I don't know if that makes sense, but they acted like petulant children, overreacting to what seemed like nothing to me. The Future of Us is so short that maybe some more time spent with these two, working out their emotions would have helped me connect.
But, The Future of Us isn't really supposed to be a deep book, and therefore the lack of connection isn't really that important. It's a cute story that allowed me to reminisce, and I enjoyed it.
Published by Razorbill, 2011
Copy obtained from the library
356 pages (qualifies for my Books You Can Read in a Day Challenge!)
Rating: 3.5/5
Wonderful review, Annette! I was happy to see you enjoyed it. It's been on my TBR for awhile. I'll eventually get to it. :)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I see you're listening to Defending Jacob...can't wait for your review. I found it to be disturbing.
The relationship was also a problem with me, especially on Emma's part. She was so obsessed with having a perfect future and acted a bit ruthless. But I agree that the story was cute, even though I admit to expecting something deeper.
ReplyDeleteI quite enjoyed this one too, was different. Great review. :D
ReplyDeleteI would highly recommend this book for anyone writing YA because the authors created highly believable and multi-dimensional characters and did a fantastic job setting the scene without bogging the reader down in setting. The pacing is lightning fast. An un-putdownable book!
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