Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Future of Us: A story for all Facebook Fans...

The Future of Us
By Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
Hardcover, 356 pages
Razorbill, November 2011
Pricky says "4 Bites and Read it!"

Synopsis
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.


Pricky's Review
It's fast-paced. Entertaining. Short and simple. 

Josh and Emma are 2 neighborhood friends in 1996 who discover their future life on Facebook.

For anyone having lived in the 90s, this story is a bit nostalgic: lyrics to popular songs, references to AOL, and the fact that people had to "look up" stuff at the library. Asher and Mackler do a pretty good job...but I do wish they could have made some clothing or movie references (plaid shirts, birkenstocks, what else am I missing?) Also, one of the wealthy characters has a cell phone which (even though she was filthy rich), I still found to be a bit unbelievable; for me personally, I don't think I even knew anyone with a cell phone until almost the turn of the century...but then again, I wasn't really in the same circle as the more "privileged" kids.


The chapters switch between Josh and Emma's point of view and the chapters are short and concise, making me move quickly through each chapter. It was a definite page turner.

I thought some of the jabs at FB posts were pretty funny: the things we post to the "world" and our constant obsession with social networking. I'm guilty to both. ;) But it wasn't just a story about Facebook, there were a lot of subtle underlying themes of fear and love and the awkwardness of youth that were woven very nicely into the story.

The Future of Us was sweet and such a fun fast read. I think this would make such a cute movie starring Kristen Bell. She would be perfect!




2 comments:

Allison said...

Such a fun read! You're right- I raised my eyebrows at the cell phone too, but like you mentioned, the character was supposed to be super rich, so I could let it go. I loved the 90s nostalgia.

Overall, I loved this book. Glad you enjoyed it too! Kristen Bell WOULD be adorable in this.

Anonymous said...

I had some friends in HS who had cell phones...but it was more '01-'02. But in '96...that's really pushing it. Unless of course they lived in another will-not-be-named country.