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 Goodreads
I am totally going to use this review as an excuse to tell you my deepest darkest secret: that I actually cried a little when I read the first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book. I was younger, and more foolish, and did not even realize that one kid was dying (I'm also really bad at figuring out the culprit in Agatha Christie mysteries. But I enjoy the reveal!). But then I read the second Pants book and was like, "Meh" because my cold cold heart is two sizes too small. And didn't even attempt any of the others. So I kinda noticed that Here and Now was by the same author, but in no way should you be put off by that. Brashares knows what she's doing.
So this is a pretty thin book both literally and figuratively. For a time-travel book, it's relatively straightforward. However, sometimes that's a bad thing, like, say, in time-travel. It's such a common trope, and there's so many different variations out there, that being straightforward means that people are going to catch some of those holes you didn't sew up. For example, in this book, it's never exactly explained [SPOILERS!!!!!!!] why
OH, sidebar! I had to return Here and Now to the library this weekend, so I no longer have the book. And I don't really remember anyone's names, so from now on, we will be addressing the characters as: Prenna, Ethan, Prenna's mom, Prenna's dad, the elders, the scientist lady, and that one guy who goes around giving people plague VD and kicking off the terrible future will be referred to as "Andrew". That might even be his name in the book.
Andrew kills Prenna's dad. Whyyyyy? I know Prenna's dad was researching him, but did Andrew find out about it? Was Prenna's dad just really bad at realizing the person he had been following was now following him? And why at that (suspiciously convient, plot-wise) particular moment did he strike? I may have been reading too quickly, but I really feel like that could have been better explained.
And also, I love that both Prenna's dad and Prenna and Ethan's reaction to the news that this murder would set off a chain of events which would destroy the environment, kill 75% of the population, and force everyone to wear used clothes was, "Guess we just wait till May 17th and see what happens!" How is that a plan? Prenna's dad knew who was responsible for the murder. He also knew who this guy was shacking up with. Like, how hard would it have been to go track the murderer down and like, pay some guys to decapitate him? Well, okay, maybe not that, but somehow permanently disable him. Instead he's like, I'll just kick around for a few years, sleeping on street corners and spying on my wife and kid, while being really suspicious and dropping mysterious information to my daughter's friend.
And this is not really relevant, but I was disappointed when Prenna was all, "Ethan was the important one, not that lady scientist." Why can't lady scientists get any love around here? And it was never explained to my satisfaction why Ethan would have been with the lady scientist before the time shift: okay, Ethan is there, and then Andrew shoots him because he has daddy issues, and then the future is shitty and Prenna's group comes back in time, and then Ethan sees her come through the time warp and gets interested in, like, wormholes. So if Prenna's pop-in is the basis for his interest (which it seems like they're saying it is) then why was he hanging with the lady scientist before everything got set in motion? It just seems unnecessary to say that the impact of Prenna and his first meeting is what got him into it, particularly when it screws up the internal logic of the book.
Despite all the flaws, I have to admit that I still enjoyed it. I
think mostly because I kept expecting it to be all teen-romance-y,
since, like, the entire first half totally foreshadowed it, but in the
end, they were like, "Well, I might give you the equivalent of smallpox
blankets and wipe out human existence as we know it, so.... no." Which
was a mature and responsible (albeit unexpected) decision. So in the
end, I think we learned a valuable lesson, that maybe it's not always a
bad thing to kill some kid by drowning and then claim it was an accident
because he snuggled up to some outsider. I mean, the jacket blurb and the book act like the ban on intimacy with outsiders is just crazy elders getting their despotism on, when in point of fact, intimacy is totally the cause of the plague. I like that. I would have been all frustrated if the book ended up being, "A bunch of older, experienced people made up these crazy laws, but the power of teen love conquered all!"
Although, let's be real, is Brashares saying the end
of human life on earth was the result of an STD? Or, well, something that is transmitted only when people live together? That seems...
unlikely. I think if Brashares really wanted to scare teen into not
having sex, she should have given everyone Ebola. Now there's a
terrifying virus. AND HAVE YOU SEEN THAT IT'S COMING FOR US? Bless the
doctors and nurses and other medical and emergency personnel who are
working to help those infected, because (as you may know) the idea of
being infected with Ebola makes all reasonable people want to curl up
into a ball on the floor and just start sobbing. In fact, the highly
likely possibility that Ebola will continue to outbreak and spread
across the world in my lifetime makes me want to curl up in a ball and
start sobbing. Goodbye friends and family, goodbye cruel world. I mean,
they're saying that this is the worst outbreak in seven years.
Seven years?! That's it?! Some people haven't even learned how to
read by age 7! You still don't know how to tie your shoes properly! Seven years.
That's not any time at all! And this is just the worst outbreak in
seven years, that doesn't mean Ebola hasn't just been gently marinating
and killing people off in the meantime. Maybe when we've gotten to ten
years virus-free I'll stop worrying about dying in a soup of my own
brains.
Despite some problems, I actually didn't mind Here and Now (I see that some goodreads reviewers disagree, bless them. That one review by Khanh, destroyer of dreams is epic) but if this type of story is what you're interested in, read Rebecca Stead's vastly superior When You Reach Me instead. Even though it's about (and aimed at) younger readers, it's smarter, tighter, and much more moving than Here and Now.
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