Razorbill, November 2011
The Future of Us takes place in the old-fashioned year of 1996, well before widespread access to the Internet and the constant tracking presence of Facebook. How old timey! Coauthors Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler tell the story of Josh and Emma, formerly close teenage friends who live next door to each other:
"We camped in our backyards, build forts, and on Saturday mornings he carried over his cereal bowl to watch cartoons on my couch. But then, last November everything changed."
When Emma's dad gives her a computer, Josh provides her with an AOL CD-ROM and Emma logs onto the Internet. Here's the twist: Emma is able to access her future self's Facebook account. And even beyond that, Emma observes how her actions today have an impact on her posts and relationships in her future. When Emma changes how she interacts with her current boyfriend, Graham, it alters the status update that the Emma-of-the-future posts, and this holds true for Josh, as well.
The chapters in the novel alternate between Emma and Josh's perspective. For Emma in particular, the draw of seeing her future is addictive and painful. Where Josh's future appears bright, successful, and sunny, Emma is unhappy in her marriage and dissatisfied with her life.
It won't be a surprise to anyone who has ever read time-travel fiction that her actions to change her future generally make the situation worse. She makes change after change, attempting to fix her future, but her Facebook updates continually reveal that she is "not happy. Again!"
The Future of Us takes place in the old-fashioned year of 1996, well before widespread access to the Internet and the constant tracking presence of Facebook. How old timey! Coauthors Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler tell the story of Josh and Emma, formerly close teenage friends who live next door to each other:
"We camped in our backyards, build forts, and on Saturday mornings he carried over his cereal bowl to watch cartoons on my couch. But then, last November everything changed."
When Emma's dad gives her a computer, Josh provides her with an AOL CD-ROM and Emma logs onto the Internet. Here's the twist: Emma is able to access her future self's Facebook account. And even beyond that, Emma observes how her actions today have an impact on her posts and relationships in her future. When Emma changes how she interacts with her current boyfriend, Graham, it alters the status update that the Emma-of-the-future posts, and this holds true for Josh, as well.
The chapters in the novel alternate between Emma and Josh's perspective. For Emma in particular, the draw of seeing her future is addictive and painful. Where Josh's future appears bright, successful, and sunny, Emma is unhappy in her marriage and dissatisfied with her life.
It won't be a surprise to anyone who has ever read time-travel fiction that her actions to change her future generally make the situation worse. She makes change after change, attempting to fix her future, but her Facebook updates continually reveal that she is "not happy. Again!"
It's clever of Mackler and Asher to use Facebook to reveal the future. Adults so often wonder how kids grow up in the era of the Internet; this book flips that question around for its young adult audience: How did teens interact before the advent of the Internet? Peppered with references to the 1990s - rollerblading, the Dave Mathews Band, finding a phone number with a phonebook, photocopies, etc - The Future of Us feels highly realistic. But are these nostalgic references to the recent past interesting to the teens of the 21st century?
The Future of Us is a breezy, fast read; Emma and Josh are sweet and sympathetic characters and readers will root for them to find happiness in high school, as well as in their adulthood. And yet the novel ultimately feels light and fluffy, perhaps as a function of the characters' extreme solipsism. One of future-Emma's status messages reads:
"Hit my sixth month of unemployment. They say it's the economy, but I'm starting to believe it's me. Thirty-one is too young to have a failed career."
It's understandable that Emma is upset to read this, but there's something exceedingly self-absorbed about her reaction - and, perhaps, also to the status message, although Facebook seems to have that effect upon nearly all of us.
Some adult readers, lacking fond memories of high school, may find it disconcerting how much of an impact Josh and Emma's minor actions as 16-year-olds play upon their 30-year-old selves. Despite the fun, entertaining premise and endearing characters, the plot follows predictable lines and there is little depth to the characters' actions and discoveries.
The Future of Us is a breezy, fast read; Emma and Josh are sweet and sympathetic characters and readers will root for them to find happiness in high school, as well as in their adulthood. And yet the novel ultimately feels light and fluffy, perhaps as a function of the characters' extreme solipsism. One of future-Emma's status messages reads:
"Hit my sixth month of unemployment. They say it's the economy, but I'm starting to believe it's me. Thirty-one is too young to have a failed career."
It's understandable that Emma is upset to read this, but there's something exceedingly self-absorbed about her reaction - and, perhaps, also to the status message, although Facebook seems to have that effect upon nearly all of us.
Some adult readers, lacking fond memories of high school, may find it disconcerting how much of an impact Josh and Emma's minor actions as 16-year-olds play upon their 30-year-old selves. Despite the fun, entertaining premise and endearing characters, the plot follows predictable lines and there is little depth to the characters' actions and discoveries.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
