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The Futures

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3.7  ·  Rating Details ·  171 Ratings  ·  46 Reviews
In this dazzling debut novel about love and betrayal and redemption, a young couple moves to New York City to prove their mettle and to find success—only to learn that such success may come with dangerous strings attached.

Julia and Evan falls in love as undergraduates at Yale. For Evan, a scholarship student from a Canadian logging town, Yale is a whole new world, and Juli
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Hardcover, 320 pages
Published January 17th 2017 by Little Brown and Company
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Emily May
Jan 27, 2017 Emily May rated it it was ok
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.

2 1/2 stars. I can't decide if I'm being harsh or generous by giving The Futures 2 1/2 stars. It's probably best not to put too much weight on the rating. For some time, I really liked what it was doing. Pitoniak perfectly captures that feeling of helplessness and uncertainty t
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Lola  Reviewer
The message that THE FUTURES tries to convey? Life is messy, and you can’t always clean it up; some stains remain, but don’t you worry, nothing is final. You can always buy a new shirt, renovate your kitchen or find a new place to make a mess off.

In less metaphorical terms, life is unpredictable. You may think you have it good, but the next day you unexpectedly find yourself unemployed. You may believe things are never going to turn out alright, that you’re doomed, that you’ll never going to tur
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Larry Hoffer
Dec 17, 2016 Larry Hoffer rated it liked it
Shelves: netgalley
I'd rate this 3.5 stars.

I don't think of myself as particularly old, but there are times when I hear people talk about situations or see them behave in a certain way, and I think to myself, "Was I ever that young?" But then, when I reflect on their particular situation, the memories come flooding back, and I realize that at some point I really was that young. Egads.

Reading Anna Pitoniak's debut novel The Futures , I felt nostalgic. It's not so much that I necessarily want to go back to the time
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Laura
Oct 18, 2016 Laura rated it liked it
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
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Timothy Lane
May 23, 2016 Timothy Lane rated it it was amazing
THE FUTURES rings with truth. This aching novel of finding your identity and place in an increasingly upside down world has a wise, beating heart. I expect I might run into Julia and Evan at the corner bodega. But this novel moves too. Not content to be a longing look at a relationship in peril, it nimbly slips through time and circumstance, brining us from the low-fi banality of domesticity in peril, to the high pressure boiler room of global finance behaving badly during the 2008 financial cri ...more
Chihoe Ho
Oct 04, 2016 Chihoe Ho rated it really liked it
"The Futures" is a solid debut on how a young relationship grows and crumbles through college and adulthood. Because we all know adulting is hard, more so if it's in a highly-charged setting like New York City where the American Dream can build you up as quickly as it wears you down.

There is something about this novel that leaves you in an Empire State of Mind, and places you in a safe atmospheric bubble until it pops and all goes to hell. It mirrors the experiences of our two characters, Julia
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Kate
Jan 11, 2017 Kate rated it it was ok
The Futures by Anna Pitoniak starts as a campus novel and then moves to New York. It had my name written all over it…

Julia’s dating guy #1. She cheats on him with guy #2. Meanwhile, she meets guy #3, and they start a relationship. Julia and #3 move to New York, where #3 starts working long hours and becomes involved in some dubious hedge fund deals. Julia, annoyed, hooks up with #2 again (but doesn’t break it off with #3). Julia heads home for Thanksgiving, disgruntled with both #2 and #3. Guess
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Debbie Krenzer
Jan 09, 2017 Debbie Krenzer rated it it was amazing
Not only do Julia and Evan have the usual after college experiences, frustrations and challenges that most people have, they also have their social rankings to deal with. And then it is also 2008. And, Evan decides to become a hedge fund trader. On the cusp of the evil empire, Enron, having cooked all their books. Now, we find out that the banking industry is fixing to tank. And Evan's boss, not learning enough from the evil empire, has decided to do a little cooking of his own and include Evan. ...more
Gigi
Jan 14, 2017 Gigi rated it liked it
I feel like I've read dozens of novels like this and nothing was particularly special to set it apart. I liked the alternating narrators but they were often so retrospective and in their own heads, it was annoying. Still, entertaining with relatable themes.
Elissa
Jan 18, 2017 Elissa rated it it was amazing
I read this book in one sitting! It's a lovely novel that captures that time in your twenties when you feel yourself changing but desperately cling to the person you once were and the people you once loved. It is a book about New York City, growing up, growing apart and realizing what you really want.
Roman Clodia
Jul 30, 2016 Roman Clodia rated it really liked it
'He wasn't innocent. He'd done this, too. He let himself become blinded to it. We're going to make billions. Spire is going to crush the rest of Wall Street. But when the truth finally became too uncomfortable, he wanted out.'

There's more than a touch of The Beautiful and Damned in this sharp unravelling of the new American Dream, but this time round the protagonists are young New Yorkers just graduated from Yale working in a charitable foundation and a Wall Street hedge fund in 2008, the year L
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Sarah
Sep 13, 2016 Sarah rated it it was amazing
The premise itself is simple, but the execution of The Futures is brilliant.
Liz
Nov 12, 2016 Liz rated it really liked it
Shelves: netgalley
Anna Pitoniak has captured that unique period of time called 'coming of age' between college and adulthood. The Futures is about Evan and Julia, graduates of Yale, privileged and yet not really spoiled as we might think by their ivy league status. Evan is a hockey player from Canada and Julia is graduate of Andover and the daughter of upper class Bostonian parents. Evan and Jules meet as soon as they land at their dorm freshman year. The couple start out as friends, move to a good friendship, an ...more
Karen Germain
Jan 17, 2017 Karen Germain rated it liked it
Thank You to Little Brown and Company for providing me with an advanced copy of Anna Pitoniak's novel, The Futures, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Set during the financial crash of 2008, Anna Pitoniak's novel, The Futures, follows the lives of recent Yale graduates, Julia and Evan, as they move to New York City, and begin their careers. Evan is a sweet and honest man from a small town in Canada. After attending Yale University on a ice hockey scholarship, he is aggressively pursued, and
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Lolly K Dandeneau
Nov 13, 2016 Lolly K Dandeneau rated it liked it
“Fantasy is the only escape valve- what’s all the pain worth without it? But not for me. I’d screw my eyes shut and try to imagine it, what the future would look like, what alchemy might transform our current situation. But nothing came. There was no thread of hope.”

Life eats you up, how can we expect love to survive- young and fresh, asking to be destroyed? Evan has made a success of himself, an Ivy League undergraduate, just like his girlfriend, he is on the verge of greatness working with a h
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Liz
Dec 09, 2016 Liz rated it really liked it

Told in alternating viewpoints, this novel follows Julia and Evan as they navigate early adulthood after graduating from Yale. Evan has taken a job at a hedge fund,while Julia flounders, trying to decide who she wants to be. “I think everyone was wondering, through the haze of weed and beer pong and tequila shots, whether this - right here, right now - was in fact what they were supposed to be doing”. She ends up as an assistant at a foundation, a job she gets through her family connections.

The
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Nikki Oden
Jan 26, 2017 Nikki Oden rated it liked it
3.5 stars

The Futures by Anna Pitoniak is a beautifully written book. The writing flows effortlessly and the emotion feels real throughout. Pitoniak has given us a story many post-grads will be able to relate to, a story of a young couple that moves to New York City immediately after college graduation. She perfectly captures the fear and unknowing of entering the real world and finally becoming “an adult.” One of the things that struck most true with me is that feeling of not fitting in anywher
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Jen Kirsch
Jan 23, 2017 Jen Kirsch rated it it was amazing
I absolutely adored this gem of a novel. It's about Evan and Julia, a couple in their early twenties who - after graduating Yale - decide to move to NYC together and start an 'adult' life in the big apple. Through chapters switching back and forth from Julia's perspective, and Evans, we see how the couple grows apart as Evan is swept up by his work, and Julia is looking for distraction, attention and to feel alive.

We get insight into how they met, when their relationship changed and how they fe
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Patty
Jan 12, 2017 Patty rated it it was amazing
The Futures
By
Anna Pitoniak



What it's all about...

This book is about Evan and Julia...how they met, their relationship in college,
their problems, their working lives in NYC, and what happens to each of them once they decide to live together.

Why I wanted to read it...

I wanted to read this book because Evan and Julia were such unique and interesting characters. I really can't tell you much more. This book has a way of pulling the reader in and leading the reader through all of Evan and Julia's issu
...more
Sarah at Sarah's Book Shelves
[2.5 stars]

Thanks to Netgalley and Lee Boudreaux Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book.

I quite honestly don’t have a lot to say about The Futures. It’s the story of a quarter life crisis…something I certainly went through and could identify with. The “coming of age in your twenties in the big city” storyline always seems to suck me in, yet has proved disappointing the past few rounds (also Why We Came to the City).

Julia and Evan’s college and immediate post-college experience
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Debbie Germosen
Jan 23, 2017 Debbie Germosen rated it liked it
This review is also posted on my book blog: http://debbiesbooknook.com/book-revie...

Anna Pitoniak’s debut novel, The Futures is about two recent college grads trying to find success and their way in the real world. It’s 2008 and the beginning of financial instability for this country. Julia and Evan have been dating for a couple of years are college sweethearts and are deeply in love. They both just graduated from Yale and are excited to be moving in together in New York City. Julia is unsure of
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Dan Radovich
Dec 15, 2016 Dan Radovich rated it really liked it
Good boy from small town meets well-to-do girl while attending a fantastic college. They fall in love, marry and move to New York City where he begins working for a hedge fund. BUT, it is 2008 and the Crash happens. Julia and Evan's lives are told with clear and true prose in Pitoniak's strong debut. The basic premise does sound familiar, but everything she puts into her story rings so true. The dialogue, actions and reactions of all characters is believable; even as you sit back wanting to shak ...more
Tammy
The Futures tells the story of Julia and Evan meeting and falling for each other while attending Yale and their future together after graduation when real world stress collides with their relationship. This was more of a Julia story than an Evan and because the story is told out of sequence you don't understand the full impact of Julia's decisions until later. She's not the most likable character. I felt most of the story she was living her life through others instead of making personal choices ...more
Zoe
Jan 11, 2017 Zoe rated it really liked it
Compelling, insightful and satisfying!

This a coming-of-age story set in New York City during the financial crisis of 2008 and follows the lives of two Yale graduates who come from completely different backgrounds as they struggle to maintain their relationship and successfully achieve all their hopes, dreams and career goals.

For me what was clear throughout the novel was the ideology that life is not predictable; it always throws you a few curve balls.

The writing is well done. The characters are
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Nada
Jan 25, 2017 Nada rated it liked it
Shelves: r-ng
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...

Reviewed for NetGalley
Tracy
Nov 08, 2016 Tracy rated it liked it
Shelves: netgalley, 2016
I liked this one. It was a small story, set in New York. Sometimes books set in New York are unbearably smug in their New York-ness (see Sweetbitter for an example of that genre), but this book was not that. It was told from alternating perspectives from this couple, both of whom made mistakes but were still likable. I prefer characters to be likable. The major plot-point was visible from miles away, and the ending was a touch unbelievable, but overall it was a good read.
Maxwell03
Jan 23, 2017 Maxwell03 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Anna Pitoniak perfectly captures the insecurity and uncertainty of new grads suddenly free from the predictability and structure of college and adjusting to the "real world". The back and forth between past and present in each chapter added to the intrigue and kept me turning the pages past my bedtime!
Charlotte
Jan 22, 2017 Charlotte rated it really liked it
http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

I think the events of the 2008 financial crisis are still a little "fresh" for me, but I really liked The Futures. I enjoyed following Julia and Evan as they tried to navigate adulthood during one of the most difficult financial eras of our time.
Sharon May
Jan 14, 2017 Sharon May rated it really liked it
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I really enjoyed this debut novel set in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. Told in alternating voices and timelines, this book will take you back to the time where your place in life felt scary and your choices and actions reflect that.

Julia and Evan are a young couple, college sweethearts, who move to NYC for the start of their grown-up life. Evan has a job with a hedge fund and Julia flound
...more
Ashley Bergman Carlin
I swallowed this book up in a few days and spent Sunday morning in bed determined to finish it before I began my day. Towards the end I started to skim because I was so curious to see what would happen. This is a terrible habit of mine but also maybe speaks to the type of book this is and the type of book I'm drawn to-- ultimately so many stories follow the same set of rules and this is one of them. I'm not opposed to this-- I enjoy reading them-- but I guess my point is this isn't something tha ...more
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