Title: The Future
of Us
Author: Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Series: N/A
Published: 21 November 2011 by Razorbill in America.
UK – January 5th 2012 by Simon and Schuster Childrens’
Length: 356 pages
Warnings: sex references
13+
Source: WHSmiths
Other info: Jay
Asher also wrote Thirteen Reasons Why. Carolyn Mackler also wrote the V Valentine
series, as well as other things.
Summary : It's
1996 and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the
Internet. Facebook will not be invented for several more years. Emma just got a
computer and an America Online CD-ROM with 100 free hours. When she and her
best friend Josh log on to AOL they discover themselves on Facebook... fifteen
years in the future. Everybody wonders what life has in store for them.
Josh and Emma are about to find out.
Josh and Emma are about to find out.
Review: Josh and
Emma are your normal best friends, and have been forever. Then various things
happen and Josh joins AOL. Emma takes the disc, fires it up, and finds her
Facebook profile. Except there's something else. This is 1996. Facebook has not
been invented yet. And the entries are dated fifteen years into the future.
Armed with the knowledge of their future lives, they set around putting the
gears into motion to make these things happen. Except maybe they don't. Emma
and Josh soon learn what it's like to mess around with the future.
Read the premises, fell in love. What a great idea. And
coming from two reputedly amazing authors, well, awesomeness was sure to come
some time.
The world building is quite good. I say world building
because I'd say it was an effort to fully imagine a world where hardly anyone
knew how computers worked. It's amazing how easily I can imagine a world
completely different such as the Victorian period or some sci-fi setting with
ease, but need a little time to adjust to it being in the decade I was born.
It's quite a thought provoking book. You wouldn't think it,
but it is. For example, Josh reads on his facebook page that he and Sydney end
up married. Before then, he'd always thought of her as being out of his league,
and it's only when he knows they'll end up married when he starts flirting with
her. If you knew that in the future, something happens to you that you'd never
thought would happen, would you take steps to actively bring about the event?
Or stop it?
Emma does something similar, refreshing her page to see if
she can change her future. this all
makes for interesting events, conflict between Josh and Emma about what's
happening, and an interesting storyline.
Emma, you can understand why she'd want to change her future, but I did find myself wanting to
shout at her for playing about when she already had a good life mapped out,
according to Facebook. Josh is a very down to earth character, very likeable,
and I kept hoping that throughout all of Emma's messing about with time, that
he got a nice future.
The ending did seem a little anti-climatic, even if I
couldn't think of a better way of ending it.
I really enjoyed the dual narration. Having both Josh's and
Emma's point of view on everything made it interesting and meant we didn't see
it all from Emma's slightly pessimistic (towards the end) or Josh's happy
view on things.
Overall: Strength 4 tea to an original story that
worked out very well.
Wonderful review! I have been on the fence about this one but I think I'll definitely have to pick it up. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it too Nina! I'm yet to post a review of this on my blog but I completely agree that the ending was a little anti-climatic!
ReplyDeleteIve heard a few bad reviews of this one and its been sat on my tbr for months now. Im glad yours has made me more likely to read it soon!
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