The Hear and Now
Ann Brashares, 2014
Random House Children's
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385736800
Summary
An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world...if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.
Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.
This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.
Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.
But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.
From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 30, 1967
• Where—Alexandria, Virginia, USA
• Raised—Chevy Chase, Maryland
• Education—Barnard College
• Currently—lives in New York, New York
Ann Brashares is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.
She was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She attended elementary and high school at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. After studying philosophy at Barnard College, she worked as an editor for 17th Street Productions. 17th Street was acquired by Alloy Entertainment, and following the acquisition she worked briefly for Alloy.
After leaving Alloy she wrote The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which became an international best seller. It was followed with three more titles in the "Pants" series, the last of which, Forever in Blue, was released in January 2007. The first book in the series was made into a film in 2005, and a second film based on the other three titles in the series was released in August 2008.
Brashares' first adult novel, The Last Summer (of You and Me) was released in 2007. The first companion book to the Sisterhood series, 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows was published in 2009, and the second companion book, Sisterhood Everlasting was published in 2011.
A second novel for adults, My Name is Memory was published in 2010 and has been optioned for film. Her next book, a young-adult time-travel novel, The Here and Now, was published in 2014. She lives in New York with her artist husband, Jacob Collins. They have four children.
Although Brashares writes primarily fiction, she has contributed two 80-page biographies to the nonfiction book series Techies—Linus Torvalds, Software Rebel and Steve Jobs Thinks Different, both issued in 2001. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/27/2014.)
Book Reviews
Contemporary dystopian fiction often forsakes larger issues for an intense focus on individuals, and that's true here. The science behind climate change, sexually-transmitted microbes and environmental disaster is skimmed over, but the narrative's strength remains in the small, observed details of the everyday…While primarily an appealing romantic thriller, The Here and Now also serves as a potent reminder that we inherit the future we buy with our actions today.
Cassandra Clare- New York Times Book Review
From the author who brought us The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants come the gripping page-turner about a girl who’s willing to risk it all for love and the fate of the world.
Teen Vogue
[A] fast-paced, gripping, and romantic novel about a girl from a future that seems eerily possible.... Brashares focuses on Prenna and Ethan’s burgeoning romance, rather than the nitty-gritty details of her time-travel premise, and her fans will be happy to find that her prose is as resonant and realistic as ever (Ages 12–up).
Publishers Weekly
Prenna is smart, self-deprecating, and believably mesmerized by a first love characterized by mutual respect and intimacy. The less detailed female friendship subplot, though, is all the more disappointing.... In terms of sci-fi, Brashares crafts a plausible future and satisfyingly metes out time-travel plotting. Much of the science is foggy, though, and the exposition-heavy denouement feels rushed. —Nicole R. Steeves, Chicago P.L.
School Library Journal
Brashares...builds on her adroit adolescent characterization and ear for teen dialogue and transports them into an exciting time-travel adventure complete with murderers to thwart and mysteries to solve.
Booklist
[A] lightning-paced sci-fi time-travel romp.... Unfortunately, [Brashares] relies too much on dei ex machina.... Those willing to overlook such shortcuts will surely be swept into the whirlwind romance and breathlessly turn pages.... [This] quirky tale of love and time travel demands that readers totally suspend disbelief to enjoy some of the more contrived plot elements (Ages 13-16).
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)