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

The Future of Us
by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Time Travel, Young Adult

Publication: January 2012

Format: Paperback, 356 pages

Source: Own

Connect with Jay Asher: Website | Facebook | Goodreads
Connect with Carolyn Mackler: Website

It's 1996 and very few high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD. She and her best friend Josh power it up and log on - and discover themselves on Facebook in 2011. Everybody wonders what they'll be like fifteen years in the future. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

I was very excited to read The Future of Us after reading the summary. I was intrigued by the idea of finding about your future through the internet. 

Emma just got a computer. When she and her best friend, Josh, logged on into the computer, she found out about Facebook and their life in 2011. I think it is interesting to see how a small action that Emma and Josh took could alter their future. It was fun reading this book in both Emma and Josh’s POV. But mostly, I enjoyed reading it in Emma’s POV. She wasn’t a likeable character, but I thought she sounded more… human. It was interesting to see how she was going to change her fate when she assume that she wasn’t going to be happy with her future husband. Then, starting from that, she continued to try and changing her future to be better, to be perfect. But in the end, nothing can really satisfy her. 

The Future of Us is a fun, quick read that you can finish in one sitting. I think anyone who was a 90’s kid with a computer back then would find this one nostalgic.

Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult

Publication: First published October  2007

Format: Paperback, 288 pages

Author:  Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher, Facebook

You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret. . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.

Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes-- and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town. . .

. . .and what he discovers changes his life forever

I’m really glad that my instinct told me to pick up Thirteen Reasons Why during my last visit to the bookstore. It is an unbelievable read. 

Clay had a crush on Hannah, but never got the courage to tell her about it. And now he will never have his chance to tell her as Hannah committed suicide, leaving seven cassette tapes behind. In these tapes, Hannah revealed what caused her to commit suicide. Each person who received the tapes will have to pass it to the next person or someone will reveal the cassettes to the public.

I loved how the book was written. I think Jay Asher did a great job in writing both in Hannah’s and Clay’s voice.  Hannah sounded very real and Clay’s reaction I love how Clay wondered around the town as he heard Hannah’s reasons was very honest.  Clay cared about Hannah. But he wasn’t brave enough to talk to Hannah for her reputation with all the rumors surrounding her. 

“A lot of you cared, just not enough.” - Thirteen Reasons Why

I know how some would say that Hannah’s reasons for committing suicide are a bit shallow. But still, having no one to talk to and no one who believes in her about it could lead to depression and soon suicide. It’s the bits of small, mean things people did to her that lead her to suicide. 

“... And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything.” - Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why is a book I would definitely recommend people to read because it makes you think of the people around you and how you treat people.