Hello and welcome to the Future Perfect blog tour! Today, I have a really exciting body positivity book! I have been really enjoying these type of books lately so I hope you guys check it out if you have the time! But, in the meantime, enjoy my interview with the author of Future Perfect, Jen Larsen! I hope you enjoy and thank you Jen for being here today! This tour was hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club. Keep up with this tour here!
Future Perfect
Author: Jen LarsenPages: 320
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: October 6th 2015
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Every year on her birthday, Ashley Perkins gets a card from her grandmother—a card that always contains a promise: lose enough weight, and I will buy your happiness. Ashley doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with the way she looks, but no amount of arguing can persuade her grandmother that “fat” isn’t a dirty word—that Ashley is happy with her life, and her body, as it is. But Ashley wasn’t counting on having her dreams served up on a silver platter at her latest birthday party. She falters when Grandmother offers the one thing she’s always wanted: tuition to attend Harvard University—in exchange for undergoing weight loss surgery. As Ashley grapples with the choice that little white card has given her, she feels pressured by her friends, her family, even administrators at school. But what’s a girl to do when the reflection in her mirror seems to bother everyone but her? Through her indecisions and doubts, Ashley’s story is a liberating one—a tale of one girl, who knows that weight is just a number, and that no one is completely perfect.
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1. If you were in put in Ashley's position, would you get the surgery in order to attend your dream school?
When I was Ashley’s age, I would have in a heartbeat. I would have thought it was a great idea—a shortcut to a happily-ever-after, an easy way out in a world where it is easier to be thin than to be fat, and I wouldn’t have to fight so much any more for my right to be happy and chase my dreams and feel good about myself despite the fact that I was fat.
And that’s exactly why I wrote the book. I wrote the book for the teenaged me, and girls like me, who are trying to be strong and pushing back against people who say they can’t have what they want or be what they want unless they look a certain way. Who keep hearing that they’re not allowed to be happy unless they’re a certain size, or have a certain body type or look a certain way or act a certain way that other people find appropriate, whether or not it is what you want and who you are.
2. What message do you want readers to get from Future Perfect?
I think the biggest idea of the book is that there’s no such thing as future perfect and a happily ever after—you are perfect right here, right now, being yourself. And it’s incredibly hard and it hurts sometimes and it can be exhausting and demoralizing but it is so worth it and you are so worth it.
3. 3 words to describe your thoughts on Future Perfect's cover?
Beautiful + cleverly meaningful.
4. In what ways are you and your protagonist alike?
Ashley and I are both incredibly stubborn, get very irritated by what we perceive as injustice, and are fiercely loyal. Her inner voice, the tiny one I think we all grapple with from time to time no matter who we are, sometimes sounds a lot like my own when insecurity pops up. I think everyone’s sound’s remarkably the same, but we forget that we’re not alone in feeling that way, that other people understand and have empathy and would be happy to point out that actually, you are pretty awesome.
5. If you were to give advice to Ashley's friends and family on how to deal with her grandmother's offer, what would it be?
You know, if you’ve never dealt with looking or feeling differently than you’re told you should, you might think that this looks like a pretty sweet deal—do something that seems pretty easy, have all your dreams come true, and as a bonus, get skinny! Her grandmother is offering her this deal because she genuinely worries about Ashley, she truly believes she’s trying to secure her granddaughter’s future, she really thinks she’s being kind. But this is what can grind us down—giving in to what other people think is best for us, giving in to what other people expect from us even when we know it goes against who we are and how we feel. This is not a kind offer. This is not a sweet deal. And it is okay that Ashley is tempted by it, because the weight of expectation from people who love us can be very, very hard to shake. But do please encourage Ashley to tell grandmother to back off.
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Jen Larsen
Jen Larsen is the author of Future Perfect and Stranger Here: How Weight Loss Surgery Transformed My Body and Messed With My Head. She has an MFA in creative writing from the University of San Francisco and currently lives in Madison, WI. Find her at jenlarsen.net.
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