It's the late nineties. Green Day and Dave Matthews are big on the pop charts. The Internet is just starting to become "a thing," and for most people, that comes by way of America Online. But when high school student Emma sets up her computer for the first time, her AOL takes her to a new webpage she's never heard of: something called Facebook. And it seems to be showing her posts made by herself...fifteen years down the road. That's the hook for The Future of Us, a solid YA romance story that uses its hook as a way of exploring what its like to be at an age where your future can be shaped at any time, but you have no way of knowing what shaping is going to be for the best. Co-authors Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler do a fine job creating the dueling narrators that frame the novel (each chapter alternates perspective between Emma and her friend/would-be boyfriend Josh), but more than that, The Future of Us works because it takes its premise and uses it fantastically well, watching as Josh and Emma grapple with how knowing their own future might not be the blessing it seems. Would knowing that you're going to date someone change how you feel about them? Can you judge your future life from your Facebook posts? And what happens if you don't like your future that much? Moreover, one of the things The Future of Us does well is allow its characters to be shallow and flawed, and in an age where too often characters are idealized, this is a nice breath of fresh air. Yes, Emma is a bit shallow and manipulative; yes, Josh is a bit of a lapdog with no self-confidence. But in many ways, that's part of the point of the novel, as the characters are forced to face up to their own culpability in the shaping of their lives. If you looked past the gimmick, you could argue that The Future of Us is little more than a teen romance novel, but that gimmick is so rich and compelling - and it's used so well and to such impact throughout the novel - that ignoring it would be ignoring much of what makes the novel so compelling and intriguing.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
