Paperback: 317 pages
Publisher: Pan Books
Publication date: 02 Sept 2014
ISBN: 978-1444770360
What if you could know
your romantic future? What if an envisionist could enter the name of
your prospective mate into a computer that would show you a film of your
future life together?In The Future for Curious People, a young
librarian named Evelyn becomes obsessed with this new technology: she
can’t stop visiting Dr. Chin’s office because she needs to know that
she’ll meet someone and be happy one day. Godfrey, another client, ends
up at the envisionist’s office only because his fiancée insisted they
know their fate before taking the plunge. But when Godfrey meets Evelyn
in the waiting room, true love may be right in front of them, but they
are too preoccupied—and too burdened by their pasts—to recognize it.
I just lapped this story up! I could barely put it down and read it
cover to cover in almost one sitting. It’s just so good and exactly the
sort of thing I love. I was just sucked in from page one.
It’s a romance but with a bit of a twist – For anyone who wants to
see their romantic future with a potential partner there is a service
available called ‘envisioning’. With the help of Dr Chin and his coin
operated envisioning machine, Godfrey Burkes initially sets out to see
his future with his potential fiance but a chance meeting with a woman
in the waiting room leads him to question his future with the woman he
had hoped to marry. His other half is also visiting another
envisionist’s office hoping for some guidance in her romantic future as
she has questions she’d like answered before she says ‘Yes’.
Told in alternating point of view between Godfrey and Evelyn it’s
very entertaining and such a joy to see it all come together as the
story plays out. All the characters were really fleshed out and the
dialogue between them all is hilarious. I loved the main characters,
Godfrey and Evelyn, but the secondary characters were every bit as
wonderful. I just loved them all. They’re quirky and likeable so much
fun to read about.
This would make a fantastic rom-com movie. The characters and
dialogue are just begging to be put on the screen and I’ll keep my
fingers crossed that someone sees the potential for that because I’d
love to see it.
From start to almost finish I had this pegged as a five star read but
I was a bit disappointed by the ending. Everything else was given
proper page-time to play out and was so well constructed but the ending
felt a bit rushed. It wasn’t a satisfying conclusion given how wonderful
the rest of the story was.
I think this is the first romance I’ve ever read which was written by
a male author but hopefully it wont’ be the last. This author can
definitely write.