Review: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

      

Title: The Future of Us
Author: Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Series: Standalone
Pages: 356

Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: January 5th 2012 (UK)
Source: For Review
Rating: 4.5 stars

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.

I adored Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and I could not wait to devour The Future of Us. The premise is incredible and I have to say, the book lived up to my high expectations.

Emma just received a new PC from her father and whilst logging on to AOL she sees a facebook page of her life 15 years into the future. Emma and best friend Josh find out how changing the present changes not only their own but other's future lives.

I liked Emma. She was a little superficial at times but the thing I liked about Emma was her growth. She may not have started out perfect, nor did she end up the perfect person but she learnt from her mistakes and grew as a person. There was wonderful character development there.

Josh was amazing. He was sweet and sincere and I really liked reading his chapters. I have been reading a lot of boy and girl friendships with a touch of something more and I love them. I think friendship growing into romance is a wonderful thing to read about. it is not a direct, easy path for Josh and Emma though and the ending was a nice touch and not quite was I was expecting.

The concept must be addressed. I don't know how well the book will do ten, twenty, thirty years down the road but I think it has a perfect place in YA now. It has the nostalgia factor for those who remember when you couldn't use the internet and the phone at the same time and when mobile phones were a luxury. It was a nice reality check to remember that there was a world before technology took over.


Another thing I loved about the novel was the writing. The cohesive nature of the writing and the seamless transition between Emma and Josh was incredible. I couldn't tell who wrote what. I assumed that Carolyn wrote Emma and Jay wrote Josh but I couldn't tell. It could have been written by one amazing author.

The Future of Us rocked my world and I am so glad to have read it. I will definitely be reading some of Carolyn Mackler's novels now and of course I will   never stop reading Jay Asher's works. Highly recommended.