Naomi Alderman: The Future

Hi everyone

I just finished my first Naomi Alderman book; The Future and I read this on my e-reader. 

"The Future—as the richest people on the planet have discovered—is where the money is.
The Future is a few billionaires leading the world to destruction while safeguarding their own survival with secret lavish bunkers.
The Future is private weather, technological prophecy and highly deniable weapons.
The Future is a handful of friends—the daughter of a cult leader, a non-binary hacker, an ousted Silicon Valley visionary, the concerned wife of a dangerous CEO, and an internet-famous survivalist—hatching a daring plan. It could be the greatest heist ever. Or the cataclysmic end of civilization.
The Future is what you see if you don’t look behind you.
The Future is the only reason to do anything, the only object of desire.
The Future is here." 

This book was very different from what I expected based on the blurb, but definitely not in a bad way, because I really enjoyed the story.

The book started out slow. There are quite a few (rather similar) characters to keep track of, and at the same time you’re trying to understand this world; how it’s different and yet eerily similar to our own. But once you get past the initial setup/work, you’ll have a hard time putting it down. It’s fast-paced, suspenseful, and full of twists that keep you hooked.
The book is set a few decades in the future, and it imagines a world where climate change, income disparity, and the power of a few billionaires have only gotten worse. It’s a chilling but thought-provoking vision of where we might be headed. The idea of these billionaires having secret bunkers (safe from the chaos they helped create) is terrifyingly plausible. It’s the kind of premise that makes you pause and think, "Wait, could this actually happen?"
I liked the perspective on AI and how it’s woven into the story, especially with how omnipresent it is now.

My only gripe is that I didn’t really care for the characters. They felt too shallow or one-dimensional to read like real people. I wanted more depth, more nuance to them; something to make me connect with them emotionally. But even with that, the ideas and themes carried the story for me.

There are so many great ideas in this book. Alderman is clearly a brilliant thinker, and The Future will make you think about things you’ve never considered before. That’s definitely what I loved most about it.

 Have you read The Future? What did you think? Did it make you see the book differently, or did you find it as thought-provoking and suspenseful as I did? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading!
Helena