The Future of Us
by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Josh and Emma are about to discover themselves--fifteen years in the future
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 everything changed. Things have been awkward ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD-ROM 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 Facebook . . . but Facebook hasn't been invented yet. Josh and Emma are looking at themselves fifteen years in the future.
Their spouses, careers, homes, and status updates--it's all there. And every time they refresh their pages, their futures change. As they grapple with the ups and downs of what their lives hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right--and wrong--in the present. (description from Amazon.com)
To be totally honest, I did not really like this book. I had expected to love it, but it just never really worked for me. In the first couple of chapters I was totally into the whole nostalgia thing...I loved flashing back to my high school self...but as the story moved on, it just never grabbed me.
I thought the concept was really cool, but I didn't really connect to either character. The plot didn't seem to move enough for me. I liked the ending, but knew exactly where it was going almost from the start.
I just felt, eh, about most of this book. :/
Did any of you love it?
Nope. I felt the same way you did. And frankly, I didn't like Emma. It really bugged me that she overreacted every time there was a hint that something wasn't perfect in her future life. In general I found her pretty unlikeable.
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of glad that I wasn't the only one who had trouble with the characters! It's so funny, I *really* wanted to like this book...
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way you did! I wanted so badly to love the book but I just didn't. It was nice for the nostalgia factor but otherwise it was lackluster...
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this book, but it seems so good. I'd be very happy to read it, just to see how I feel about this. You have some very solid points here.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm one of the few who did enjoy this book. I will agree that Emma was a pain and the ending was somewhat predictable, but the nostalgia played a big part for me. In '96 I was just a few years behind Emma & Josh, so it gave me a chance to relive the days of AOL and really appreciate being part of the infancy of something that has now penetrated our lives so completely.
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