The Future of Us
Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler; Razorbill; 356 pages.
First things first, this is a sweet book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I picked it up at the suggestion of a friend and read it during one of my overnight shifts. I hadn't read anything by Mackler before but I did read Thirteen Reasons Why by Asher and absolutely loved it so I decided to give this a try. I'm glad I did.
This is story of two friends who discover Facebook, ten years before it is created. The two attempt to harness the power of Facebook but find that it creates more rifts than it heals. They are juniors in high school and very aware of their future and how they don't quite have everything together. They are hoping Facebook can fix that.
My favorite aspect of this book is the love story. The two authors do a great job of setting it up, and teasing it through the whole novel but waiting to deliver until the very end. You won't be surprised by the ending but you will certainly be relieved. The romance is really what takes center stage in this novel; the technology really just serves as a catalyst, a sort of framing device. I also loved the voices of the two protagonists. The authors did a great job of capturing what it means to be a teenager, worried about the future and trying to figure out where you want to go. They do this by keeping us in first person and allowing the reader into the thoughts of these characters, while still letting the reader on to more than Emma or Josh know, or, rather, refuse to acknowledge.
I mentioned earlier that the technology served mostly only to push the story along, which is fine, except it really did feel like an after-thought. It did it's job; it opened up the possibility of the future and served to prove how our decisions now affect our future. Maybe it's because I thought it would be more of a technology centered piece, but it fell short of its potential.
Some of my favorites parts of the book where the references to quintessential 90's issues. I loved all the throwbacks! The novel takes place in 1996, so the authors had plenty of material to work with. They mention Dave Matthews Band, Wayne's World, and many more. They clearly did their research. It was fun to read about all the old-school stuff, even though I was only three '96 but, hey, I'm still a 90's girl!
After reading the book and thinking about it some more, I realized that the title doesn't speak to the technology, or Facebook, but more to the individual characters. It's not the future of us as a society, but the future of individuals who make the best decisions in the moment, and, while aware of the future, are not afraid of it. It's a beautiful lesson that will speak to members of all age groups. I highly recommended this novel.
I give The Future of Us 4 out of 5 cupcakes!
