Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Review: The Future of Us

Publisher: Penguin Razorbill
Pages: 356
Received: Received from publisher

Release Date: November 21, 2011
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Goodreads 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.

My Review:

Being a kid that grew up in the 90's I can definitely relate to this book, knowing how it felt to get your first computer and learning about what the internet is (I love the mention of AOL and the voice always saying "Welcome" and "Goodbye"). This was definitely a nostalgic read! I loved the mention of discmans and the popular music and movies from that time, I actually went and listened to Green Day (old stuff) after reading this.

I always love the idea of books that are about the characters future. This book was kind of like The Butterfly Effect for a younger generation (and not so depressing). I enjoy how once Emma finds out about her future she tries different things to change her future, it's hard to know everything because she only gets little tidbits of her life. As I was reading, I found myself saying if I was in Emma's situation I would definitely be trying out some of these things, seeing what would happen.

I enjoyed that the book was told from both characters' points of view and that each of them had a different take on what to do with the information. I really enjoyed that you couldn't tell the book was written by two different authors, it wasn't obvious which author wrote which section.

The relationship between Emma and Josh is right on the mark with teenagers who are close friends. I really enjoyed reading how they got through all the complicated parts of their relationship. This story is definitely  good one for anyone that really make you as a reader think about how the choices you make now can affect your future and if you knew things would you do whatever possible to change it until you're happy?

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 comfy couches

Other books by the authors:




3 comments:

  1. "This book was kind of like The Butterfly Effect for a younger generation" OMG! Seriously?! Ok, I'm sold! :D Thank God I have a review copy from the fabulous Vimala sitting on my shelf :) can't wait to dive into it!

    Thanks for a brilliant review, snowflake! :)

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  2. This is definitely on my TBR. Also having grown up in the 90s (well, 80s/90s), I think it's such a cool concept. I can't imagine myself in 1996 seeing myself now. I certainly wouldn't have believed how commonplace the Internet will be in 2011!

    Thanks for the review!

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  3. The plot of this one didn't really appeal to me at first - but now that I'm reading your review I think it might be worth picking up simply for the nostalgic factor! I wanna read about computers first coming out and discmans etc...

    Although, it might make me feel a little old. ha!

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