Take a photo of a barcode or cover
phwoarker 's review for:
The Futures
by Anna Pitoniak
I’m sure this book will resonate with lots of people - it’s an accurate exploration of that weird liminal period between leaving university and actually becoming a functioning adult. The characters are complex, if not particularly sympathetic, and there are some insightful moments. Unfortunately though, I struggled a bit with the constant flashbacks and chronological tomfoolery.
The story follows young couple Julia and Evan in the year after they leave Yale and move into an apartment together on the Upper East Side of New York. Evan gets a disgustingly well paid job at a hedge fund and Julia gets a job at a charity through her family’s wealthy connections (see what I mean about them not being sympathetic?). While they think they have it all planned out, both soon realise that their dream life - and their relationship - isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and things begin to unravel.
For me, this would have been much more compelling if the author had stuck to just one timeline. The chapters alternate between Evan’s and Julia’s POV so there’s already a bit of jumping around, but the narrative also moves forward and backward in time from paragraph to paragraph and sometimes I found this genuinely confusing. I like books with flashbacks and timey-wimey bits as much as the next woman, but here it was just badly done.
Also, it’s set in 2008 around the time of the economic crisis and yet it might as well not be. The characters are so privileged that the downturn barely affects them, and any observations about the crisis felt shallow and cursory. As someone who graduated during the depth of that recession (in 2009), and felt the brunt of it, I was looking forward to more analysis of how it affected people. I was disappointed.
In all, this was a compelling read and very assured for a debut novel.
(With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review)
The story follows young couple Julia and Evan in the year after they leave Yale and move into an apartment together on the Upper East Side of New York. Evan gets a disgustingly well paid job at a hedge fund and Julia gets a job at a charity through her family’s wealthy connections (see what I mean about them not being sympathetic?). While they think they have it all planned out, both soon realise that their dream life - and their relationship - isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and things begin to unravel.
For me, this would have been much more compelling if the author had stuck to just one timeline. The chapters alternate between Evan’s and Julia’s POV so there’s already a bit of jumping around, but the narrative also moves forward and backward in time from paragraph to paragraph and sometimes I found this genuinely confusing. I like books with flashbacks and timey-wimey bits as much as the next woman, but here it was just badly done.
Also, it’s set in 2008 around the time of the economic crisis and yet it might as well not be. The characters are so privileged that the downturn barely affects them, and any observations about the crisis felt shallow and cursory. As someone who graduated during the depth of that recession (in 2009), and felt the brunt of it, I was looking forward to more analysis of how it affected people. I was disappointed.
In all, this was a compelling read and very assured for a debut novel.
(With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review)