2015 TBR Challenge – THE FUTURE OF US Review

My second review for the Official 2015 TBR Pile Challenge is THE FUTURE OF US by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler.

The goal of this challenge is “to finally read 12 books from your ‘to be read’ pile within twelve months”. To qualify for the challenge, books must be read and reviewed before the year is over, and all selections must have publishing dates from the year 2013 or older. (Here are the books I’ll be reading this year.)

I picked this book up at an SCBWI LA conference a few years ago after I sat in on a breakout session with both authors. They spoke about the process of writing with a co-author and it was really great. I later got this book signed by both of them – they were so nice.

On with the review!

THE FUTURE OF US written by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

Published by: Razorbill -An imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Release Date: November 21, 2011

Genres: Young Adult Contemporary, Romance, Science Fiction

Plot Summary:

It’s 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They’ve been best friends almost as long—up until last November when everything changed. Things have been awkward ever since, but when Josh’s family gets an America Online CD-ROM in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they’re automatically logged onto Facebook…

But Facebook hasn’t been invented yet.

Josh and Emma are looking at their profiles fifteen years in the future. Their spouses, careers, homes, and status updates—it’s all there. But it’s not what they expected. And every time they refresh their pages, their futures change. As they grapple with the ups and downs of what their lives hold, they’re forced to confront what they’re doing right—and wrong—in the present. (Plot summary from author website.)

The voice was seamless. I couldn’t tell where one author began and another one ended. The authors talked about how they made that one of their goals when working together – they both wanted to be able to write from each character’s voice, even though Jay mostly wrote the male character chapters and Carolyn wrote most of the female character chapters. Sometimes they would switch when a scene fell into the strength area of the other writer. Such a fantastic idea and a wonderful way to collaborate.

The pacing and tension were great – I couldn’t stop reading it. I actually finished this book in just over a day. I will say the futuristic concept fell a little flat near the end as the authors seemed to just abandon it, which left me feeling somewhat disappointed. Overall, the emotional part of the story was very interesting and kept me reading. I’d love to read another collaboration between these two that dealt with a straight-forward story – no gimmicks, please. I must admit, it was fun to read about that era not-so-long ago when the internet was brand new and didn’t consume our lives. And dial up modems? Ugh! Weren’t those awful? Just thinking about that sound makes me cringe. How fast things have changed!

 

Learn more about Jay Asher here.

Learn more about Carolyn Mackler here.

Follow Jay on Twitter here.

Follow Carolyn on Twitter here.

 

I’ve already completed my TBR Challenge book for March, so stayed tuned to read all about it!

How are you doing with your reading challenges this year?