Book Review - The Future of Us

The Future of Us
Author: Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 16th October 2012
Publishers: Razorbill
No. Pages: 365
Source: Gifted
Rating:

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.

My expectations for The Future of Us were pretty mellow to say the least, which is definitely something that should be considered when talking about my reading it. Very few of my friends had read the book, and very few of them had actually enjoyed it on the whole, so I was far from expecting the next big favourite contemporary to have ever grazed my shelves. I expected something simple, something quick and something, on the whole, without much depth, much development and much emotion, and I'm pleased to say The Future of Us didn't let me down on my expectations, but it could have been better..

For a Magical Realism read, The Future of Us had a pretty interesting premise - who wouldn't want to see their future 15 years down the line? I know I definitely wouldn't mind having myself a sneak peak, even if it was what I was having for dinner or complaining about my future partner, but Asher and Mackler really could have developed this idea so much more than how they did. There really could have been some complicated issues, some much more, life changing situations, and dare I say, life or death scenarios; they're changing the future decision after decision, I expected a few more changes than just 'now lives in London' or 'now works as'.. They seem like pretty big changes in life, but for a teenager in preparing for college, I don't think marriage it's what's on their mind, it wasn't for me anyway..

I think what also disappointed me a little with The Future of Us was that I just didn't feel very connected the characters. Granted, I didn't mind them, I thought some of the issues within the families and the connections and relationships with one another were very nice, but were they really enough to grab me? I don't think so. I cannot deny that the diversity involved was pretty good considering the quality of the read, there was your hints of LGBT and different backgrounds and classes involved, and I admit, I didn't even mind the small amounts of nostalgia when reading, but they just weren't that noticeable to have much on an effect, much like the plot wasn't really there - it just felt like an insight to two teenagers finally getting the guts to get together, and seriously, if it took seeing the future to decide to 'life in the now', then I fear a little for the generation claiming to be wiser than I.

I guess you could say that The Future of Us was one of those books you read with very little expectations. It's not a read I can promise character development and real emotions from, nor is it a read I'd recommend when you're trying to find some fluff. It's definitely a very simple, slightly magical story involving a lot of Facebook references, which are now, pretty much out of date, some really good, really funny and really supportive friendships and relationships, and a cheesy as hell romance spanning over a handful of days. Its definitely not a bad read, it's just definitely not a good read either..