Future Perfect

Future Perfect by Jen Larsen is and emotional story that touches your heart.

Every year on her birthday, Ashley gets the same thing from her grandmother. That is, a card that has an exchange written out.: “Lose x pounds to get a gift”. Every year, Ashley is an emotional wreck when this comes up, but she never expected her Grandma to take it quite so far. “Weight loss surgery in exchange for a full trip to Harvard,” the card says this senior year. Ashley has never been so torn between a gift and losing all that weight. Will Ashley stay true to herself, and find another way to get to Harvard, or give in to the power her Grandmother holds?

This book addressed topics our society doesn’t like to talk about. We hide the fact that we have such a negative connotation about weight. Future Perfect tells us gracefully that these ideas are wrong. Jen Larsen takes a delicate topic and handles it with care. I enjoyed the way the book touched the subject, and didn’t follow the generic pattern of insecurity by peers, then a prince charming showing her inner beauty. We see the side of our society that shames fatness so much that family members will hurt each other so much. My main problem with this book was that it did have a generic romance. Ashley could have found herself without a guy having to help her. (girls can solve problems). Maybe she could have even used her friendships more than she did. Jen did a good job overall with the story.

Pick up Future Perfect by Jen Larsen, and see how you can learn to love yourself.