Monday, July 21, 2014

...in books

Review
The Future of Us
by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

First sentences:
Emma:
I can’t break up with Graham today, even though I told my friends I’d do it the next time I saw him.

Summary:
It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future.

By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. And as they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right - and wrong - in the present.
source: Goodreads

My opinion:
I was intrigued by the concept of this book. I can remember a time before internet access, had dial-up internet when we first got it at home and grew up in the pre-Facebook era. 1996 I was 10 years old so I had some slightly different interests than Josh and Emma.

Josh and Emma were best friends for a long time – basically since childhood – but approximately 6 months before the books starts something happened to throw them apart. Now Josh and Emma discovered Facebook – 10 years before its invention – and are stuck in this bizarre situation together.

Emma is a typical teenage girl. Her parents divorced a long time ago but her dad recently moved away and he and his new wife became parents to a baby girl not long ago while her mum is in one relationship after the other. She struggles with her life and cannot figure out what to do in the future. Since her fall-out with Josh even eating lunch in her small group of friends, which includes Josh, became difficult and now she is thrown into this internet glitch and is able to see her future.

Emma’s struggles felt so real and I cannot say what I would do if I were able to see my future just for second. Would I meddle with it or not look at all?

I really liked that while reading you felt the two different people behind Josh and Emma. I am not sure if the authors decided that Jay Asher writes Josh and Carolyn Mackler writes Emma but it felt that way. They have two totally different voices and their ways of looking at their discovery of Facebook is different too.

The Future of Us a novel with an interesting concept and captures teenage struggles with growing up really well. I enjoyed it.

For more information about Jay Asher visit his Homepage and for more information about Carolyn Mackler visit her Homepage.

1 comment:

  1. I hear alot of praise for Jay Asher and I have his book Thirteen Reasons Why, so I'm very intrigued by this book. I also love the concept for this book; while it's not entirely original, it sounds like it would be addicting. And I AM SO HAPPY you could tell the difference between the characters' perspectives!

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