The Future of Us (a book review)

Published July 5, 2011

**Many thanks to Jay & JoanMarie Asher for loaning me their one and only ARC of “The Future of Us.” I owe you both more caramel lattes.**

What happens when uber-authors Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler decide to co-write a project together? They come up with “The Future of Us,” a creative concept novel set way back in the year I turned nineteen….

It’s 1996, and things like pagers, Wayne’s World, and boy bands are still riding their trend while cell phones, computers, and DVDs are the enviable luxuries of the cool kids in high school. When Emma gets a computer from her long-distance dad, she and her best friend Josh excitedly dial up the internet (remember that awesome squealing/whirring sound it used to make?) and log on using an AOL CD-ROM. There, they stumble upon something called Facebook, which hasn’t even been invented yet. Better yet, they find themselves ON Facebook—or rather they find their someday-selves on Facebook, status updates and all—fifteen years in the future.

Based upon his future profile, Josh is thrilled to discover his someday-self is married to one of the hottest girls in school, just as Emma is as equally disappointed to find her future full of heartache and seemingly unfulfilled dreams. In an attempt to alter her disappointing life course, Emma begins to implement small changes, hoping to induce the butterfly effect. But in doing so, she sees her future self gain and loose children, cycle through relationships with men, and move from one location to another as each new change she implements in the present brings about a dramatic result in her future. As if the pressures of teen life aren’t enough, she now has her adult life to stress out about as well. And the more she worries about her future, the more obsessed she becomes with controlling it. Except the changes don’t just affect HER future—they influence Josh’s as well (and vice versa). Which makes things strenuous with Josh since he is already taking measures of his own to initiate his happily-ever-after future with Miss Hottie.

And it’s not just Emma and Josh’s futures. What about Emma’s discovery that her best girlfriend has a kid in the future and the time-frame tracks back to becoming pregnant in the very soon present? And how can Josh and Emma justify purposefully altering their own futures when the effects will encompass others as well? And what if their fixation on the future prevents them from recognizing what they have now? To paraphrase Jay Asher, “Everything truly does affect everything.”

What I liked:

(1) “The Future of Us” is written from two different perspectives with two distinct voices (Mackler as Emma, Asher as Josh), and they alternate back and forth by the chapter. Having two separate authors write the characters infuses each one with unique personality and style, making them believable and easy to follow. Well done.

(2) The Sun-In reference. Oh man, I soooo remember using that stuff!

(3) While not quite along the same lines as Asher and Mackler’s other books, “The Future of Us” still takes a look at issues all too familiar to teens no matter what the decade. The pressures of family and friend relationships, the pressure to “make out” and have sex (when and with whom), the pressure to fit in or rise above, the pressure to obtain the “good life,” and the pressures concerning what the future holds.

(4) The reminder to value your present situations and the people you share them with. Basically, the reminder to live in the NOW.

(5) The way the authors portrayed the parents—realistic, involved (in their own ways), and (I felt) honored.

(6) The ending. I liked the choices they made and the sense of reclaimed innocence. Sweet.

What I’d mention as a parent:

Something I know Jay and Carolyn are continually commended on is their accuracy and what I’d call “rawness” in writing from teenage perspectives. In “The Future of Us,” one of the ways this “rawness” comes out is in the teens’ language, actions, and thoughts about the topics of making out, body parts, and sex. In my opinion, a teen’s individual stage of development will determine at what age a parent might prefer them to read it. While my preteen might not be digging into the book for a few more years, when she does, it’ll make for some good conversation opportunities between us. ;o)

To learn more about Jay and Carolyn, check out their blogs at: Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler.

And don’t miss my upcoming interview with the two of them! It’s hilarious. In fact, you may want to wear a pair of Depends or something ‘cuz…well, yeah.

What’s the mood noise of the moment?  Dave Matthews:  Satellite

Tags: book review, books, Carolyn Mackler, Facebook, Jay Asher, the future of us