From the Bookshelf of CLCSC Pasadena Area Book Group…

The Future of Us

Jay Asher,

Carolyn Mackler

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May 30, 2012 Nick rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. For the first half of the book, I was planning to give this one three or four stars. Then, the flaws began to stack up, die, and smell bad. At that point, I dropped it down to two. The writing quality of Josh's character is the only thing which kept me from dropping it lower.
This book had one of the worst endings of all time. No, really, worse than the National Lampoon satirical article stating that any story could be ended with the words "...and they all got run over by a truck." It was that ba For the first half of the book, I was planning to give this one three or four stars. Then, the flaws began to stack up, die, and smell bad. At that point, I dropped it down to two. The writing quality of Josh's character is the only thing which kept me from dropping it lower.
This book had one of the worst endings of all time. No, really, worse than the National Lampoon satirical article stating that any story could be ended with the words "...and they all got run over by a truck." It was that bad.
Somehow, the authors thought that creating a temporary happy ending for one of the two main characters somehow made it a happy ending for both. No, it really didn't. In fact, there was no resolution to most of the plot threads, and key scenes happen off-stage.
Worse, the only "evidence" that it was a happy ending was that one character's future Facebook account disappeared. I could just as easily explain that by saying that Emma finally drove Josh crazy, and that he somehow went off to New England and ran over Mark Zuckerberg, preventing Facebook from ever happening.
Emma was terrible, shallow and remarkably annoying. At no point is she portrayed as a sympathetic character. She thinks that her best friend might be about to have sex and get pregnant, and what does she do? She steals a battered condom package out of another friend's wallet and plants it where her best friend might find it. Maybe it's me, but isn't it possible that the battered condom just might break, causing the pregnancy?
Also, envision a future in which Josh and Sydney actually fell in love. It's not hard; the authors left clues that Josh wanted a career that meshed with a company Sydney's father owns. They meet cute, but as adults, fall into a genuine love, marry and have kids. Or, Josh can end up with crazy, shallow Emma. Which one is the real happy ending?
Sydney is a kind, caring girl with both spirit and brains. She is also gorgeous and comes from a rich family, but do those two things somehow counteract her other traits? The writers treated her terribly in this story. ...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Jen rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, clcsc-pasadena-book-group, science-fiction

A fun, quick read, told in alternating voices. It's 1996 and Emma and Josh were neighbors who were best friends. Things have been a little shakey between them lately, but all that changes when Josh shows up at Emmas house with an introductory AOL CD-Rom. When Emma signs up a strange webpage pops up on her computer - Facebook. Now Emma and Josh can see thier futures 15 years from now, and have to determine if they are alright with what happens -- or if they want to take their futures in their own ...more

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May 27, 2012 Michele rated it it was amazing

The premise of this book was great for an adult who can identify with the 90's so well. Also, I really enjoyed the characters and how they were written. It was nice to see some good kids for a change. ...more

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Aug 28, 2011 A marked it as to-read

Jul 06, 2012 Marianne Wallace rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

May 19, 2012 Sigrid Bishop rated it really liked it

Jan 26, 2013 Kelli rated it really liked it

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