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Tuesday 2 September 2014

The Future for Curious People by Gregory Sherl

review by Maryom

Imagine that when you embarked on a relationship, you could see its future course....  No more trying to build a future with an unsuitable partner. No more committing of time and emotion, just for everything to fizzle away.  This is what 'envisioning' offers - a scientific way to check out the long-term viability of a relationship.
For some there's a vision of beautiful grandchildren, tennis whites and yachting, but not for all.
Evelyn decides that the glimpse she's given of her and boyfriend Adrian singing Happy Birthday to their dog and arguing over cheese isn't good enough - so she dumps him!
Godfrey, meanwhile, has proposed to Madge and is prepared to take the leap into an unknown future in the old-fashioned way but Madge insists they check it out first....

The Future For Curious People is a story of people searching for that most elusive of things, true love; helped, or hindered, in their search by a pseudo-scientific procedure that gives tiny glimpses into the future. Is such a small sample enough to base a life on, or reject a lover out of hand? It's certainly enough to sow the seeds of doubt in Evelyn's mind and leave her searching desperately among her past boyfriends for someone who could offer a more interesting future.
It's fun and quirky, and rather reminiscent of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The characters are slightly odd-ball but engaging and I found I wanted events to turn out happily for everyone. I loved it and I'm now pressing it on to my teen as I'm sure she'll enjoy it too.

All of this may sound a little far fetched but shortly after I'd read The Future for Curious Peoples I accidentally came across an article saying you can apparently get your dna checked to see if you're compatible - relationship dna test It's not such a great step from that to 'envisioning' the future!

Maryom's Review - 5 stars
Publisher - Pan Books
Genre - YA/adult fiction, 

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