The Future Of Us By Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

 * * * 1/2

It’s 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They’ve been best friends almost as long – up until last November, when everything changed. Things have been awkward ever since, but when Josh’s family gets an America Online CD-ROM in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so 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 their profiles fifteen years in the future.  Their spouses, homes, and status updates – it’s all there. But it’s not what they expected. 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.

What a clever idea for a book! I’m sure if ever our futures were available for preview we’d take it or at least consider it out of curiosity. But when you’re given that glimpse into a future that’s 15 years away without any reference or milestones leading to that point, how would you interpret it?

That’s what Emma and Josh face. Already dealing with a strained friendship, they suddenly have a door to their adult lives when they stumble upon Facebook, giving them an opportunity to interpret their lives through status updates. Obviously, they’re dumbfounded by this and have no clue as to what it all means. The books gets interesting as they both try to decipher their updates and react to what they read. What is also interesting is how those updates affect them in the present. For Emma, it gives her the motivation to do something about her current relationship with her boyfriend. For quiet, laid-back Josh, it gives him some peace of mind that he’s headed in a positive direction even if he doesn’t appear to have any direction at the moment.

Let’s start with what I liked. I enjoyed the many references to technology as it was back then. Nowadays where even a 6 year-old has a cell phone (for lord knows what), it was fun to be reminded that cell phones back then were not cheap and not so common and pagers were all the rage. Then there’s one scene where Emma goes to the library to find a California phone book to track someone down. Life pre-Google sucked!  And the references to music and cassette tapes had me giggling.

What held me back from truly loving this book was Emma. I just didn’t take to her.  She’s self-centered and oblivious to how her actions affect Josh. All she cares about is making sure her status updates mention how happy she is with whatever guy she is with at that future time, manipulating events before they happen. It’s rather obnoxious. But I suppose my own perspectives and hindsight color my opinion about her. Josh on the other hand, I found more interesting. He’s trying to understand how his future comes to be. While it gives him a certain boost to his confidence, he’s still uneasy with knowing too much and intentionally affecting things. His character provides a counter-balance to Emma’s haphazard regard for their futures.

The Future Of Us is a sweet story and in the end, despite my dislike of Emma, she did win me over somewhat with a small act of kindness when she shoved aside her own needs to provide some comfort to a family member. In the brief few days they had access to Facebook, both Emma and Josh mature considerably and finally come to focus on what’s more important – their friendship in the present. 

~ Bel

A Peek in the Biblio-Bin - #10

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It is a way for bloggers to share what books they have won, received for review, bought from the bookstore, borrowed from the library or friend, etc.

This week Bel shares her finds.

It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future.

Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love

It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day Danny died.

Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. In a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, Wren decides that what she wants—what she must do—is to bring Danny back.

But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy Wren fell in love with. His touch is icy; his skin, smooth and stiff as marble; his chest, cruelly silent when Wren rests her head against it.

Wren must keep Danny a secret, hiding him away, visiting him at night, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school, and Wren realizes that somehow, inexplicably, he can sense the powers that lie within her—and that he knows what she has done. And now Gabriel wants to help make things right.

But Wren alone has to undo what she has wrought—even if it means breaking her heart all over again

NEWSOUL

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life

Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”—known to everyone as the Glitterati—without them suspecting a thing is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her: evening the social playing field between the haves and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.

But when the cops start investigating the string of thefts at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could Aidan wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?
 
 
 
What books are in your "bin" this week?