The Futures

Only then did I see it clearly: everyone was figuring it out. Everyone except me. I had no passion, no plan, nothing that made me stand out from the crowd. I had absolutely no idea what kind of job I was supposed to get.

— About the hopes, fears, and uncertainties in the transition to adulthood. It was an okay read, though a bit on the privileged side.

It's difficult to finish a book when you don't like any of the main characters, but I did, so it's probably some testament to the author's writing skills.

The book is told in alternating points of view of Evan and Julia who meet in college and fall in love and then decide to move in together after graduation. Evan joins a hedge fund in New York and Julia struggles to find her way in the real world. The reader is supposed to empathize with their struggles after college, when they are still unsure of what they want to do or where they want to be; but I wasn't able to do that. Evan falls deep into the muck that is hedge funds, unknowingly at first, but doesn't try to do the right thing later because he thinks he deserves the payoff; forgetting his girlfriend in the midst of his soaring ambition.

Julia comes from a privileged background and finds a job through her connections because she isn't actually interested in anything. She comes across as very entitled and selfish, trying to come up with pathetic justifications for her infidelity but what ultimately made me hate her is when she justifies not telling Evan about her affair with Adam because it's too hard to find a new place to live. I mean, come on !!!!!!! This is totally ridiculous. After this point, the only reason to read through was not to abandon the book midway. Ultimately, when bad things happens to Evan and Julia, it almost feels like they had it coming.

This book might work with readers who can relate more with issues about new college graduates dealing with the real world but this was not for me.