Review: The Future Of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

     

The Future Of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
______________________________

Pages: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
Published: January, 2012
IBSN: 9780857076076

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.

Emma's dad's latest guilt gift is a new computer. When Josh comes over with an America Online CD-ROM, they log onto the internet for the first time and discover the Facebook profiles of their future selves.

I originally anticipating some issues suspending disbelief enough to enjoy The Future Of Us, but the characters reacted with natural and sympathetic confusion and paranoia. The confusion especially was founded, with these two kids from 1996 who have no idea how reliant we are on the internet seeing people's lives laid out bare. The Facebook element serves to make us reflect on our own dependence on the internet, and show us that the way to happiness a) is by focusing on the here and now, and b) is by focusing on forming real life connections, rather than ones form through Facebook chat and Twitter @s.

The speculative element is what you pick the story up for, the main hook, but you stay for the predominant contemporary story line of Josh and Emma trying to figure out what they want through trial and error. It's light and fun, at least when it isn't annoying. It follows the classic contemporary plot template of a burgeoning relationship, an obstacle, and a way around it. The ending is predictable, but the way there is mostly sweet and relatable.

I've read books by both Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler before (and am an fan of the latter but not so much the former), and so was familiar with their previous characters -- very normal, very relatable. Josh and Emma followed in the footsteps of their forecharacters in this respect, but took it that little bit farther and to achieve acute plainness. The plain voices reflected the simple prose, which was smooth, certainly, but by no means impressive.

Though what was notable about the characters was perhaps their poor memory or short attention spans. Subplots would arise in the form of worries -- worries that plagued them a great deal -- about their friends' futures, but often drop out unresolved without even entering the characters' thoughts again.

Overall, though, The Future Of Us was an entertaining and surprising novel about social networking and to a greater extent, regular networking. Though with inconsequential subplots and characters occasionally acting irritatingly, there's a sweet message and a sweeter friendship at its heart.

Waiting On Wednesday (33)

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, in which we highlight an upcoming book release we're eagerly awaiting.

This week I'm waiting on The Future Of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler. It's got an epic author duo and an intriguing premise, but there are some mixed reviews for it out there, so I'll probably read it with tempered expectations.

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.

[Synopsis by Goodreads]

The Future Of Us is due for release on the 21st of November.

Feel free to leave a link to your own Waiting On Wednesday post in the comments, and I'll be sure to have a look.

Review of Tangled by Carolyn Mackler

I borrowed Tangled from my local library (after requesting they stock it) a month or so ago, and then promptly put it on my to-review list. One of the reasons I read Tangled was because it was featured on www.yareads.com a few months ago, and they're one of my favorite review sites. The other reason I read Tangled is because it featured a 'heartbreakingly beautiful' actress with my name, and it really should be criminal to put down a book that features your namesake with a description like that.

So Tangled is from the first person perspective from five teenagers united by their mutual holiday in Paradise (the Caribbean resort). The book is split into four parts over four months, one for each character. Tangled is ultimately about how the lives of four people with the thinnest of connections can intertwine and how seemingly inconsequential interactions can affect the lives of those around you.

The book opens from the perspective of Jenna, who goes to Paradise with her mother's friend's family. She's an avid collector of quotes, and reads about lives much cooler than her own. In Paradise, she tries to live the exciting life she only finds in her books. There, instead, she has her first brush with romance, and consequently, her first brush with heartbreak.

The next section is from Dakota's perspective, who came to Paradise with his family. His on-and-off girlfriend recently died in a car crash with the boy she was seeing on the side. He hoped to forget his past in Paradise, but instead it led him to the conclusion that despite the past that haunts him, he doesn't have to be the same Dakota from that past.

Skye comes to Paradise on holiday with her mother (Jenna's mother's friend). She's an out-of-work teenage actress with an inexplicably depressive demeanor. In Paradise she finds out the truth about her father, who, contrary to what her mother told her, killed himself due to his bipolar disorder. Skye, now with comprehension of where her suicidal thoughts come from, seeks help.

The final installment of the book comes from the perspective of Owen, Dakota's younger brother. Owen's a computer-obsessed, anti-social, and generally anxious teen. His mother sends him to a program for fellow computer-obsessors. Prior to this 'camp' of sorts, he picks up contact with Jenna, who saw him blogging in Paradise.

The ending of Tangled really sums up the moral of the book: how lives intertwine and tangle as a result of forgranted actions. Owen breaks out of the camp (with the reformed, nicer Dakota's help) and his comfort zone to meet Jenna in person, in the apartment that Skye gave Jenna access to as a thank you for urging her into help.

After reading Tangled, a Prinz honor book (I said in an early review how much I love Prinz award-winning novels), I'm interested in reading Carolyn Mackler's other novels, which I hear great things about. I give Tangled a 5 out of 5.