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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Noooooo no no. This book had moments of good prose and story telling but overall I did not like it. The author would switch time periods mid chapter and not clearly. The story fell flat all around. Don’t recommend.
A solid, rounded up 3.5, and the book I needed at this moment. It's not reinventing the wheel here, but it is exactly what you expect it to be: a well-rendered slice of life portrait of two particular people in a specific period of their lives and in the very specific fall of 2008 that I, for one, remember vividly. I was five years older than Evan and Julia in 2008 but I identified a lot with their lack of focus and fear at the start of the recession they can't see coming. Again, it's not exactly groundbreaking but there's good writing here and a familiar but not rote story.
2.5 stars.
I really tried to sympathize with the entitled, WASP-y Julia and Evan, the twenty-something couple of THE FUTURES, but found myself continuously frustrated by their actions and lack of foresight and thoughtfulness. Julia makes a series of mistakes when it comes to her relationships -- lying, cheating, and worst of all for the reader, attempting to rationalize every choice she makes in too many words and too little logic. Evan, conversely, makes very few choices about his relationships, instead leaving them to die slowly like fish gasping for water on an empty beach; he's not apathetic, but he's inert, both in his professional and personal life, and it drives me crazy. I don't mind reading about people who are generally unlikable (in fact, I often enjoy it), but the difference between this book and a book like GONE GIRL is the latter doesn't try to paint its selfish, highly flawed characters as well-meaning but screwed up people going through a "learning" process. They're presented just as they are: bad - but extremely interesting - people. Julia and Evan are neither good nor interesting; both seem to think bad things happen TO them rather than BECAUSE of them for the majority of the book (they claim to have "grown" in the tail end of the book, but I'm skeptical). I WILL say the book kept me reading. Even though I predicted essentially the entire plot, I cared enough to see everything play out, to watch Julia and Evan self-implode. I found the consequences -- particularly Evan's -- underwhelming, though perhaps that was Pitoniak's point? The writing was good and easy to read but occasionally clunky; another reviewer mentioned that the author learned to write through her job in publishing and combined everything that "worked" in other authors' books to create her style. I think it shows, and I mean that as both a compliment and criticism.
Despite what seems like a lot of complaints, I most likely would read another book by Pitoniak, though I'd be wary of it if the main characters sound anything like Julia and Evan. Their indecisiveness and anxiety concerning their post-college lives is relatable, but just about everything else about them left me either confused or annoyed.
I really tried to sympathize with the entitled, WASP-y Julia and Evan, the twenty-something couple of THE FUTURES, but found myself continuously frustrated by their actions and lack of foresight and thoughtfulness. Julia makes a series of mistakes when it comes to her relationships -- lying, cheating, and worst of all for the reader, attempting to rationalize every choice she makes in too many words and too little logic. Evan, conversely, makes very few choices about his relationships, instead leaving them to die slowly like fish gasping for water on an empty beach; he's not apathetic, but he's inert, both in his professional and personal life, and it drives me crazy. I don't mind reading about people who are generally unlikable (in fact, I often enjoy it), but the difference between this book and a book like GONE GIRL is the latter doesn't try to paint its selfish, highly flawed characters as well-meaning but screwed up people going through a "learning" process. They're presented just as they are: bad - but extremely interesting - people. Julia and Evan are neither good nor interesting; both seem to think bad things happen TO them rather than BECAUSE of them for the majority of the book (they claim to have "grown" in the tail end of the book, but I'm skeptical). I WILL say the book kept me reading. Even though I predicted essentially the entire plot, I cared enough to see everything play out, to watch Julia and Evan self-implode. I found the consequences -- particularly Evan's -- underwhelming, though perhaps that was Pitoniak's point? The writing was good and easy to read but occasionally clunky; another reviewer mentioned that the author learned to write through her job in publishing and combined everything that "worked" in other authors' books to create her style. I think it shows, and I mean that as both a compliment and criticism.
Despite what seems like a lot of complaints, I most likely would read another book by Pitoniak, though I'd be wary of it if the main characters sound anything like Julia and Evan. Their indecisiveness and anxiety concerning their post-college lives is relatable, but just about everything else about them left me either confused or annoyed.
The Futures by Anna Pitoniak is the story of Evan and Julia as they tackle “real” life in New York after graduating from Yale University. Set in the 2008 meltdown of the stock market, this book has its highs and lows. I am somewhat torn how I feel. Enough compels me to keep reading to see where this “coming of age” story goes and to say that this is a promising debut novel.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/01/the-futures.html
Reviewed for NetGalley
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/01/the-futures.html
Reviewed for NetGalley
I thought that I was going to hate this book because I'm sick of books/TV shows/movies that portray Millennials as people who can't figure shit out and people who are financially dependent on their parents after college graduation. But I actually really enjoyed the author's style of writing and the story itself. As much as Julia frustrated me, Evan made up for it in the beginning. Later, I did gain some sympathy for Julia.
Overall, I certainly remember feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed after graduation, feeling like everyone else "figured it out" and I had not. I graduated only a couple of years after Julia and Evan, so I was also affected by the poor economy. This book captures that well.
Overall, I certainly remember feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed after graduation, feeling like everyone else "figured it out" and I had not. I graduated only a couple of years after Julia and Evan, so I was also affected by the poor economy. This book captures that well.
I really and truly did not care about either of these two unlikable people, I guess it is a raw and honest story but I was..bored.
Sometimes you read the right book at the right time and the futures was that for me. I really resonated with the characters in this one!
I love post-graduation New York books. You know, when the character graduates college and moves to New York and flails around for awhile because they have no idea what to do with their lives except move to this metropolis that they think will change them. I love those. And I found this on a list of post-grad New York books (I swear it's a whole genre). But this wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It was the story of a couple who probably aren't going to make it. A long breakup that spans pretty much the whole book. At first I kind of groaned and wasn't sure I wanted to continue because it was pretty bleak at times, and also I couldn't find a hard copy and had to Kindle this (bleh). But in the end I really sort of loved this. It was very well done and probably one of the most accurate growing up tales I've ever read. Mistakes are made, relationships tested, family leaned on, but ultimately there is the hope that, even if the journey is painful, it will take us to where we need to be.