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.
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.
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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