This was certainly an interesting concept, and written by two authors whose previous work I've enjoyed. It took me a little while to get into this though. When Emma first gets on Facebook, and she and Josh are looking at themselves in the future, I was wondering where it was going to go. "OK, so they can see what they're doing in the future. So what? Are they going to try to contact themselves or something? Make a time machine?" As Emma became determine to change things, it got a lot more interesting.
So Josh and Emma use to be best friends but then Josh tried to kiss Emma and she didn't want to so everything's been awkward for six months. Initially, when Emma got on to Facebook, I thought it was going to show that the two of them were married. They were both married to other people though, and Josh was married to a gorgeous girl from school that he's never talked to, and he's got beautiful children. Josh feels pretty good about his future, but Emma thinks she isn't happy. Her future self keeps making comments on Facebook about trouble between her and her husband. Emma makes a conscious decision not to marry the person she's going to marry, and it changes everything. She keeps doing this again and again, and when she changes things it doesn't just change her future, but Josh's and others.
Man, I sure hope no one ever invents a time machine. Messing with the future freaks me out. Like, Josh had three kids originally, and then Emma changed something and then he had different kids. It was just weird to think about. Yeah, I'm probably thinking about it too hard. *Shudder.* I don't think I'd ever want to know the future. If it were bad, it would just make you paranoid, and if it were good then why not just wait for it. Of course, if I were going to get hit by a bus tomorrow, I wouldn't mind a heads up to not step off the street just then. But then if I was supposed to get hit by a bus and the bust didn't hit me, then everything after that wouldn't be how it was suppose to be....
Anyway. So there were lots of little pop culture nods. I had to keep reminding myself that I am not the target audience. Emma and Josh are suppose to be in 1996, and there are various 90s references that to me were over explained and really heavy-handed for but for teens now would be needed. And Emma and Josh were constantly confused as to why people would want to post such personal stuff about themselves online. Oh we were so innocent in 1996.
The Future of Us comes out November 21.
We actually read this novel in my YA lit class (I'd read it before I took the class) and I thought everyone was going to love it. There was actually a split down the middle. Some loved it, some hated it. Those that disliked it said that they felt it blamed Clay and the others for not trying to help Hannah more and might cause survivors of suicide victims to feel unnecessary guilt over something they can't change.
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