User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
A word of warning:
This review will be conducted from a soapbox¹ (which, if you think about it, is a completely baffling expression).
¹ As one would expect from a young feminist gynecologist, of course.
Let's cut to the chase: This book is about a realistically intense relationship between Kath and Michael, two teenagers in the 1970s. They meet, fall in love with a speed only teens are capable of, he wants to sleep with her, she is reluctant, eventually they do it, they are both into it, she (responsibly) gets birth control.
And nothing tragic happens to them even though they have sex. And they are not 'destined for each other' or 'soulmates' or any of those crap excuses that books present now every time teens decide to have sex. And even more, their relationship does not survive a brief separation. And it's treated as something perfectly normal. And this is why I love it.
But let's have the author, Judy Blume of
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret fame speak for herself:
"This book was first published in 1975. My daughter Randy asked for a story about two nice kids who have sex without either of them having to die. She had read several novels about teenagers in love. If they had sex the girl was always punished—an unplanned pregnancy, a hasty trip to a relative in another state, a grisly abortion (illegal in the U.S. until the 1970's), sometimes even death. Lies. Secrets. At least one life ruined. Girls in these books had no sexual feelings and boys had no feelings other than sexual. Neither took responsibility for their actions. I wanted to present another kind of story—one in which two seniors in high school fall in love, decide together to have sex, and act responsibly."
And guess what -
there are many conversations about sex with the blissful conviction of that time that sexual repression and double standards and the battles over birth control and abortion are finally over and common sense prevails. Now fast-forward to the 21st century to see what unnecessary and charged emotions are still flung about when these simple things are concerned - it's like we took quite a few gigantic steps backwards, and that makes me really sad. Because it's not the world I'd like to leave behind for my future hypothetical daughter.
"It's up to you to decide what's right and what's wrong ... I'm not going to tell you to go ahead but I'm not going to forbid it either. It's too late for any of that. I expect you to handle it with a sense of responsibility though ... either way."
The parents and grandparents discuss sex with the teens and make it clear that they'd rather have them do it under their roof than somewhere else in the unsafe fashion. Parents advise kids about sex but do not cross the boundaries in explicitly forbidding anything. Birth control is accessible and is viewed as a resposible choice, and Planned Parenthood helps Katherine make that choice
(you know, the same clinics that cause politicians' rage-fueled speeches about them 'killin' babies' - and yet, from what I have seen in real world, supplying endless women with excellent prenatal care, helping bring healthy happy babies into this word. How 'bout that?).
A teenage girl decides to give birth not because abortion is viewed as a horrible thing to do but because that is her
choice (yes, the real pro-choice stand, unlike what the conservative media paint it these days, trying to equate choice and murder in the eyes of the public).
And no one is ashamed of having sex (which would undoubtedly lead to the dreaded slut-shaming) because sex is viewed as part of a normal life, like I firmly believe it should be."Just be careful ... that's my only advice."
"Of what?"
"Pregnancy."
"Grandma!"
"And venereal disease."
"Really ... "
"Does it embarrass you to talk about it?"
"No, but ... "
"It shouldn't."
We as a society keep putting sex on an unnecessary pedestal. We keep shaming girls for having sex. We have political leaders who are outraged at having society cover the cost of birth control as to them it means condoning women having sex and - God forbid! - enjoying it. There are so many people warring against birth control and abortion because there should be 'consequences' to daring to have sex! And, of course, in literature aimed at young people sex is only permitted if it's true love, nothing less.
Well, guess what?
I happen to believe that sex needs to be two things: (1) consensual, and (2) enjoyable for everyone involved. As long as these criteria are fulfilled, I don't have a problem with it, and I hope society would eventually come to peace with not only it but the ability and the right of people involved to make informed and responsible choices about it. And that someday the materials that are deemed unacceptable to young people would be the one with graphic violence and not the ones with peaceful sex. And that teenage experimenting, if done responsibly, is okay - because why wouldn't it be?
"That's not a bad word ... hate and war are bad words but fuck isn't."
And that it's perfectly okay to not find your soulmate and the 'perfect one' in the 'Twilight'-like fashion, and it's nothing to frown upon.
And it's okay to have sex when you are in love, and it's okay to not have that love last forever. And therefore I gladly give this Judy Blume book 4 stars.
"I wanted to tell him that I will never be sorry for loving him. That in a way I still do--that maybe I always will. I'll never regret one single thing we did together because what we had was very special. Maybe if we were ten years older it would have worked out differently. Maybe. I think it's just that I'm not ready for forever."
————
Also posted on my blog.
Rating: really liked it
Edit on 12/11/2011: To anyone who's got a problem with this review:
1) Yes, I know that this book was a big deal when it was released. That doesn't mean that when I read it in this day and age that I'm going to judge it by it's historical significance--I definitely appreciate it but it doesn't change the fact that I read it when I did and didn't like it and I don't want to have to constantly justify myself for that. (Let's ignore the fact that that's precisely what I'm doing with this edit. Right.)
2) I know that this book's supposed to be an accurate portrayal of love at the age of seventeen and for that I should cut it some slack, but I just recently turned eighteen and I've got a good idea of what most teenagers think love to be, and what I think it's supposed to be, and with all that in mind I can't, for the life of me, abide the portrayal of love in this book. I did not enjoy reading it at all and it annoyed the bajeezus out of me, and nothing will change that.
3) Guys might go around naming their underparts but I'm always going to think that's disgusting.
4) I HATE ELLIPSES AND ANY BOOK THAT HAS FIFTEEN ELLIPSES PER PAGE WILL AUTOMATICALLY CARVE IT'S PLACE IN MY HATED-THIS-BOOK LIST.
*takes deep breath* Okay, yeah, that's it.Okay, yeah, so maybe I should explain the 1 star—if you’ve been following my reviews, you’ll know that I rarely give books a 1 star rating…I’m not that hard to please as a reader, and I hate giving one of Judy Blume’s books 1 star (I used to love her MG books as kid, from what I can recall anyway). But the thing is, I don’t think there was a SINGLE redeeming factor in this book for me. Let me list a brief list of the reasons:
1) THE WRITINGGG. It was so…bland and unimaginative, and it was really hard to picture the scenes sometimes. And the dialogue could be VERY corny at times. But maybe what bothered me most was the CONSTANT use of ellipses… I mean, you know…ellipses have this really annoying effect…they make the reader keep taking pauses…and in this book there was one in practically EVERY FRIGGIN’ SENTENCE OMG. Argggggg.
2) The characters. I didn’t give a shizz about a single one of them, NOT ONE. Kath was boooooooring and Michael was the horniest male love interest of all time. I mean, yeah, teens are all lusty and hormonal and blah blah blah (Hi! 17-year-old speaking here!), but this man takes it to a whole new level. Which brings me to…
3) I wasn’t particularly impressed with love’s portrayal in this book. I mean, to me, there was zilch chemistry between the characters and even so, it felt to me like Kath was more into screwing Michael because he wanted it so bad rather than her own desire to do it. The sex in this book is also REALLY explicit. I’m no prude, but come on, all that describing takes away all the romance in the scene. Oh and, Michael calls his you-know-what RALPH. Dude. Seriously!
I get why this book is important for the time it was written in—that didn’t stop me from blitzing through it to finally get over with it. Thankfully, it’s super short and I won it in a contest, so I’m not that miffed. I’m not saying no one should read this book cause it’s aaaaawfulll—a lot of people seem to really like it—but it just wasn’t for me.
Rating: really liked it
The thing about
Forever is that I didn’t read it. Boys didn’t read any of this, and do you know what happened next? What happened is we were
terrible at sex. My sex ed was, I would trace ladies from comic books and then I would draw nipples and bushes on them. I sold them to my classmates. Here’s the exact picture I used to trace:
This is the White Queen, a character who's been around for decades and never stopped dressing like this. Imagine someone drawing her, like, "Here's my new character!" and everyone at a whole-ass company is like yep, looks legit, ship it to ten-year-olds. No, I'm so sorry, I don't have any of my tracings to scan here. I sold them and spent the money on candy cigarettes.Judy Blume is the Prometheus of puberty. She’s all, “These poor mortals must have fire, though it cost me everything!" except instead of fire it’s handjobs and instead of an eagle ripping her guts out it’s some PTA asshole trying to kick her out of the library every day for the rest of her life. Did you know that’s still happening? She’s one of the most challenged authors of the 21st century. These
mothers and their
undying need to think their daughters aren’t fucking as much as they did.
they’re all fuckingAnd so here we are, we teenage boys alone under the covers with our comic books, you teenage girls alone with Judy Blume, who’s saying things like “Some of your boyfriends are gay!" Can you believe she was talking about that in 1975? My wife’s first, like, five boyfriends were gay. I had a theory that gay boyfriends are a win for everyone: you provide cover, they provide a nice guy who doesn’t push you sexually. My wife was like fuck your theory, I was
horny.
Not all the boyfriends are gay and Katherine is going to have sex in this book. She’s going to fuck Michael and his penis, whose name is literally Ralph, and they’re all going to be
very serious. But will it be….
Forever? My wife’s sixth boyfriend was me, so who knows?
Percentage of women who:- Made a playlist for their first times: 9% and this is the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard, I hope it was all just Closer by NIN
- Remember the exact date: 50% I call bullshit on this, I don't even remember the year
- Wish they’d waited longer: 22% &
- Used a condom: 76% (ha, look at the math on these two stats)
- Said it hurt: 51%
- Were in love with their partner: 49%
- Were not really in love with their partner but insisted that they were to a stranger giving a survey: 47%
Source
Amanda Palmer has this song called Judy Blume that’s so good, holy shit - thank you forever, El and Alicia, for cluing me in to this. Palmer goes,
You told me things that nobody around me would tell
That was the summer that everyone touched me at once
One day they ignored me, the next, they were all down my pants
But you were in bed with me, safe, before anyone else
You opened beside me and held me when I needed help
You and me lying together at night, my hero
You've been inside me forever, Judy BlumePalmer’s my age now and she’s still having this private conversation with Judy Blume, the Prometheus of puberty, and what a gift that is. What an extraordinarily important thing Blume’s done. I personally am not still in conversation with the White Queen up there. That wasn’t a lifelong relationship. I’m still just muddling around alone here, trying to be less terrible at sex.
Percentage of dudes who:- Name their dicks: 73%
- Made an absolute bollocks of their first time either by cumming before they even get near their partner (that happens in this book) or by not getting it up (also happens) or by not using protection and knocking her up and now she has to give the kid up for adoption (also happens, but not before some fat shaming that I could have done without): 1%, it was just me, all the other guys were awesome at sex right out the gate. It was all the comic book lady tracing that ruined me. If only I’d been doing normal, healthy teenager stuff, like...naming my penis? Do dudes actually do that? Now I’ve finally read this book, but I feel like it’s too late for names. Did your first boyfriend name his dick? Michael names his "Ralph." That’s not even a good name for a person. What the fuck, Michael.
Rating: really liked it
they have sex. it does not last forever. at the end, she is a bitch.
come to my blog!
Rating: really liked it
What do you do when the "love of your life"....isn't? Forever answers that question with a simple and unflinching response; you move on.
Kath and Michael meet at a party and quickly fall into a very physical romance. After roughly a few months, Kath finally gets up the courage to have sex with Michael, believing she is in love and that she and Michael will last forever. Michael too feels he and Kath are meant to be, so they flounder along in their romance, discovering each others' bodies and holding onto their assertions that they will prove everyone wrong and stand the test of time. I've seen a lot of reviewers complain about many things in this book, with most of those complaints revolving around the behavior of Kath and Michael. I'm going to address the ones I find most amusing, in no particular order.
1. "They talk about how in love they are, but they don't even know each other very well!"
Is this not how the majority of teens think and behave? How many times have you heard a teenage girl utter words of total devotion regarding a boy she's never even spoken to? A teenager is essentially a child trapped in an almost-adult body. Their brains haven't caught up with their bodies, and their bodies are essentially out-of-control. The fact that these two haven't known each other very long and barely know each other at all (even though they think they do) was
purposeful. Blume was trying to get across the very simple fact that young love isn't often very deep. In fact, I find it rather silly when I read about a girl who is 16 or 17 and in the midst of some great love affair for the ages. It's silly.
2. "Michael is such a horndog and pressures Kath into having sex."
And? I really don't understand this complaint about the book since Michael is a
17-year-old boy! It's called reality, ladies. Grown men are horndogs. 17-year-old boys, however, are more like hornmonsters. Seriously, fill a bag up with nothing but hormones, give it teeth, douse it in gasoline and set it on fire.
That is a teenage boy.
As far as him "pressuring" Kath into having sex, that is also fairly realistic. If I started making out with a guy, let him up my shirt and down my pants, even going so far as to play with "Ralph" (we'll get to that in a moment), then pulled away (not for the first time) to utter (again) how I wasn't ready....I would not only expect some whining, I'd expect a guy to be a little angry. I'm not saying this is acceptable behavior, and if you asked most guys they'd tell you that they're more than willing to wait as long as they have to. This does not, however, mean they won't whine when they get so close only to be rebuffed. By the time they've gotten down a girl's pants, they're so revved up that they can only see one thing. Imagine you're in the desert and you're parched, thisclose to dying of thirst. You see an oasis ahead of you! Your prayers have been answered! You run, stumble, crawl to that cold, life-giving fluid as quickly as you can only for someone to yank it away and say, "Nope, sorry, not ready yet." For guys, this is pretty close to the equivalent.
Especially teen guys. I'm not trying to unfairly pigeonhole anyone here, and I know there's more to teen guys than just sex. I'm merely saying it's usually a very large part of their everyday thoughts. Michael didn't force Kath to have sex with him, she did "relent", but she had wanted to relent since the beginning. When they finally had sex, it was merely because Kath didn't chicken out again.
3. "Kath made her whole life about Michael! It was stupid!"
Yes, it
was stupid. And again, it was purposeful. I made my entire life about a boy when I was a teenager. I'm willing to bet you did, as well. If you didn't, you're the exception, not the norm. For girls in particular, sex often fosters a fake sentiment, attaching us to our "first" like he's some sort of Greek god on whom our very existence depends. I actually witnessed this in Kath. She was enamored with Michael before they had sex, but afterwards she was almost psychotically obsessed with him.
4. "Kath said she loved Michael, but after a few weeks away from him, she just willingly gave him up."
Again, you're missing a very important point.
The point. That, at 17, you may not be ready for "forever". That what a teenage girl might think is an everlasting love might look different once a few other factors come into play. In the beginning, Kath and Michael were insulated from the outside world. They hadn't had to go out into it yet. When Kath did, she met someone else and realized that Michael wasn't the only person in the world she could have a relationship with. Once that sunk in, she started to wonder if she really did love him at all. Then she started to think that maybe, just maybe, it was OK to have someone for a little while, then move on with your life. This is a lesson most teenagers do eventually learn. It's not easy, but it's often necessary.
5. "Michael named his penis 'Ralph'. That is so disgusting!"
Double standard much? I've seen women give their breasts and/or vaginas names and that's perfectly OK, but a guy giving his penis a name is somehow disgusting? OK, so let's say you think girls who name their body parts are disgusting, as well. To you I say ---- lighten up. Life is too short to find fault with something so completely innocuous. So he named his penis, what guy hasn't, at least jokingly, called his penis by a name? Sometimes a
girlfriend names it! *Gasp*
Seriously, people, if this is one of the reasons you dislike this book, I will gladly hand you two quarters; one so you can go buy yourself a clue and the other so you can hire someone to pull that rod out of your ass. Phallus naming is not new, it's not rare, and it can oftentimes be hilarious.
But the thing I
really don't understand is how this part of the book has come to be used as proof of how bad the book is. It's
realistic. I guess if you're not a huge fan of reality, however, it could be a bit problematic. Just try and forgive Ms. Blume's audacity.
6. "The sex scenes were too descriptive, I don't want my daughters reading this trash."
This is a pretty common sentiment, unfortunately. I say it's unfortunate because I believe young girls should be as informed as possible regarding sex long before they begin to seriously consider participating in it. This book is not pornographic, it's descriptive. It doesn't glorify the act of sex, it presents it in a rather realistic light. Almost painfully realistic at times. Kath expresses disappointment about her first time. She had been expecting it to be perfect. No one's first time is ever perfect. Anyone who tells you their first time was perfect is probably lying to you. It's awkward, embarrassing, and uncomfortable. Furthermore, women who refer to sex scenes as "trash" (or any other common noun expressing distaste) are usually uncomfortable with the topic in general, not just as it relates to teenagers. As a society, we've spent far too many years ashamed of our bodies and terrified of sex. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the act itself, it's merely been demonized and perverted beyond the point of recognition by insecure people. So if you don't want your children reading something like this, that's fine. Just remember how ashamed you felt the first time you ever touched a penis (or yourself) and ask yourself if those feelings of shame were at all right or justified. Why should anyone feel ashamed of sex? Only human beings could take something as wonderful and
necessary as sexual intercourse and turn it into something shameful and filthy.
This is not a fantasy. There aren't any sparkly metrosexual vampires guarding the heroine's virtue while simultaneously watching her sleep. This is a book about two 17-year-olds who meet, like each other, hook up, fall prey to their misguided, immature conceptions of what love is, then have to deal with what their relationship is once faced with reality. It's shallow, yes, because teens are usually pretty shallow. It's sexual, again, because teens are pretty sexual. It's also over rather quickly...like the majority of teenage relationships.
Rating: really liked it
I read this book because I'm attempting to read (or reread) some classic YA books. Now, I'm a so-so fan of Judy Blume, I know she has a lot of die-hards out there. I recently read
Everything I Need to Know About Being a Girl I learned from Judy Blume but I guess I was more of a Beverly Cleary kid.
This book is about first loves and first sexual experiences. The story itself was good, but I think Judy Blume left out a lot of details. The boyfriend, Michael, is basically a horn dog who would do anything to try and talk Kath into putting out. Kath is a girl who seems to devote her life to her boyfriend and put him above everything else. Both qualities I really don't like in real people, let alone fictional characters. All in all, I just think the story seemed rushed. There needed to be longer scenes and more details. Take for instance Sybil, the "fat" friend who got pregnant. Now, that's an interesting story in itself, and could have been a longer subplot. But I think poor Sybil only got mentioned in a few paragraphs.
The lesson for any young girl here: If you date a guy who calls his manhood Ralph, run in the opposite direction. ::shudders::
Rating: really liked it
Wow, this “retro re-read” project I've taken on with my sister-in-snark, Vanessa, has become borderline INSUFFERABLE.
We had so much enthusiasm, Vanessa and I, as we compiled an informal list of our most decadent, dirty reads, the ones we hid back in the day from the probing eyes of teachers and had covers that were worn from so many adolescent girls' hands.
Once, our inexperienced selves considered these books
titilating; as experienced adults I have more likely considered. . . how did this nonsense ever get published?
Our last two,
Flowers in the Attic and
Fear of Flying were so over-the-top awful, you could only assume that a publishing house was pushing the envelope, hoping the sex would sell (it did, in both cases), but this one,
Forever, provokes the most head-scratching confusion of the bunch.
I know, from much personal experience, that Judy Blume knows how to write, knows how to develop characters, and knows how to write dialogue.
So what happened here? Yes, there are sex scenes and sexual information in this story that appeared in the dark ages of 1975 that caused many a teen girl to reach out her hand in quiet desperation, and there's a bit of an
education to be gained here for the average adolescent.
But, good God, this was boring. Bor-ing. And, the book's not only boring; it contained zero character development, zero plot points of interest and dialogue that sounded like it was being read by the characters from a teleprompter.
This entire book reads like a pamphlet from Parent Parenthood rather than a story.
Three stars for teaching young women about the importance of birth control.
Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars
This book is to the girls of the 70s what American Girl's "The Keeping and Caring of You" is to girls from the 90s. It's a very short, dry story of these two teens exploring sex, and it reads more like a zeitgeist piece than an evergreen how-to guide. I was mainly interested in how teenagers talked to their partners and the social environment of sex around that time, and evaluating how different the world is today compared to this book was interesting. I don't regret reading this book, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it because although it was a fascinating look back on teens a few decades ago, it was also full of stereotypes and distasteful dialogue and fatphobia and the male love interest pressuring the main character to do more.
(AND THE ELLIPSES!!! WHY . . . DID EVERY OTHER SENTENCE . . . HAVE ELLIPSES . . . ? INCLUDING THE TITLE . . . ?)
Rating: really liked it
If anyone is looking for guidebook on sex, I recommend this. And seriously a penis named Ralph? I think birthday candle is better than that!
Rating: really liked it
Judy Blume has always excelled at writing about issues that are relevant to teens. Her plainspoken characters dealing with everyday contemporary topics offer relatable reads that get right to the heart of the matter. Here she takes the reader into that first real relationship, that first love, and that first sexual experience.
While some say there is no plot or character development in this novel, I find that to be Blume’s point; she perfectly illustrates the shallowness of most teen relationships. There is no story to follow because there is no substance in the relationship. Although the carefree lovers would disagree, there isn’t depth or breadth to the relationship; you can’t get to know a person when you only explore your mutual physical interest in each other. Michael and Katherine epitomize teenage lust in all senses –physical, psychological, and emotional.
I enjoyed re-reading this classic from my teen years. I suspect I am rating this higher than my younger self might have because I can see and appreciate the lessons Blume is trying to impart. I do remember enjoying it as a teen, although most likely for more immature reasons!
Does it stand the test of time? Would today’s teens find relevance in the story? Yes, I think so. There are a few dated references, but I think teens (especially females) would enjoy reading this tale of first love. Hopefully they’re savvy enough to pick up Blume’s inferred lessons.
Rating: really liked it
How have I not read this sooner? I am almost 40 and only finished this today! Better late than never. I consider this book to be an education, therefore the first thing I was impressed with, with my edition being from 2005, was the author's entry at the beginning covering the absolutely essential updated requirements for safe and healthy sexual responsibility.
This was an easy read, a nice coming of age story, set in the mid seventies. Our protagonist, Katherine was a very sensible 17 year old, whom I think had it quite easy as she did not fall too hard! Or perhaps my memories were a tad different?! I really liked one of her observations where she was commenting on the healthy relationships of her parents and grandparents, knowing she was privy to a good foundation in having a good example to follow with her own relationships. I adored the character of Artie.
I have never read a Judy Blume novel - I know, something went wrong with that - but will absolutely read more. Perhaps this one is not quite for my 12 and 13 year old daughters just yet, I'll pass it on in another couple of years! I took this off their shelf for a change of reading material, and it was an excellent book.
Rating: really liked it
How depressing.
Keeping in mind this book was published in the mid-70s, it's still incredibly relevant to today's society. In fact, apart from the absence of conspicuous technology like cell phones, this could have taken place in the 2000s. It's a timeless story, and the reason it's getting such a low rating from me is purely personal:
Michael reminded me of the ex boyfriend who broke my heart and whom I still have nightmares about years later. A pushy sex-obsessed hormonal teenage boy who pressures Kath into giving up her virginity under the guise of 'forever'. She clearly didn't want to sleep with him even though she was into him and he just kept pushing and pushing until she gave in.
And look, I'm among the first to be critical of teenage forever love. I was burned there as well. I don't necessarily want to read a book that reminds me of the more painful emotional times in my life. I don't necessarily want to read a book that waits until marriage for the sexual relationship to begin. But I was very uncomfortable reading this when the focus was on sexual love and not the intimate emotional connection. And even when you think they're getting emotionally intimate,Kath changes her mind purely because she meets another guy while she's away at summer camp. Sure, she seems a lot like a typical teenager (and I don't mean to insult my teenage friends but you guys are hardly 'typical') and I guess that's the whole point of the book. This situation will have happened to a lot of young people and it will keep on happening to a lot of young people.
And yeah, I totally hate Kath's parents. What right do they have to tell her what to do once she reaches eighteen? They sabotage her relationship and for no reason other than it's her first. They weren't even dating for that long. There was nothing about Michael they didn't like except that maybe he and Kath were sexually active. Breaking up your child's relationship just because they're sexually active isn't going to return your little girl to the untouched virgin she was. She'll just find another guy.
Oh and look - Kath does.
Maybe it just wasn't for me because I'm in my mid-twenties, but by my judgement I think it'd be a wonderful novel for a young teenager beginning to explore relationships and sexuality. Judy Blume certainly never shied away from the important issues and if it weren't for these uber realistic young adult novels coming out in the 70s, I don't know where we'd be now.
Rating: really liked it
I'm sure this book was very important in its time and was the means by which many girls learned about sex. Unfortunately for
Forever, I am not interested in PSA books; I prefer multidimensional characters, a plot, and emotions. Weird, huh?
The lack of the aforementioned qualities is what really drove this book into 1 star territory for me, but there were a few... special qualities that dug its grave even deeper.
1. Ellipses
There were so many ellipses... at the end of basically every sentence spoken in dialogue... probably around ten times in a row, like that's a good idea... my copy even had ellipses on the cover... It was called
Forever..., not
Forever.
Try reading that for hundreds of pages and see if you like it.
2. Ralph
Michael, the boyfriend of the story, is considerate enough to name his penis Ralph, thus ensuring that the girl (whoops, forgot her name already; this is what happens when characters lack personality) won't be frightened by it. And that I would ralph in my mouth a little bit. The worst part was when they were doing the whole long-distance thing, and Michael wrote her a letter and was all:
I love you and miss you.
Forever,
Michael
P.S. Ralph misses you too.
Farewell, I'm going to run away and try to forget this book now.
Rating: really liked it
I hardly want to admit I read this book... kind of funny that a "censored" book like this managed to make it pretty far around my 5th or 6th grade in Utah (it seems all my friends at the time had read it, were reading it, or were planning to read it). I think I actually made it about half way through the book and just didn't feel like it was something I should be reading (having a strong religious background encouraging waiting until marriage to enjoy sex). It's funny to think back on what I do remember about the book, and to realize that I didn't even "get" some of what was going on.
I would personally not want my children to read this book, and hope they wouldn't want to read it. If my daughter was older and wanted to read it, I would explain to her that I don't think it's a book that would help her make the difficult choice to save herself for that one special person in her future who would hopefully also be saving sexual intimacy for her only.
My rating is heavily influenced by my religious beliefs as a Christian, and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think Judy Blume is generally a talented author who really relates with youth.
Rating: really liked it
4 stars to Judy Blume for her fantastic portrayal of teen sexuality and relationships!
It's a bit dated, yes - very 70s - but I actually loved the nostalgic vibe. It reminded me a lot of
The Perks of Being a Wallflower. And to be honest, the characters in this book are the most realistic teens I've read about in YA fiction in a long time. I would have
loved to get my hands on this book when I was younger. Alas, I didn't know it existed.
In
Forever... soon-to-be highschool graduates Katherine and Michael meet and fall in intense, ooey-gooey, and sometimes incredibly awkward teenage love. This is one of the only times I've read a book where the insta-love was believable. I felt this stuff when I was in highschool. It's easy for teens to become obsessive and dependant on a romantic relationship when they haven't really experienced it before and therefore don't have anything to compare it with.
I thought this book was really sex positive!
It talks about birth control, condoms, STIs, and the importance of being able to say no. Many have said they were upset by Michael's behaviour but I think it was important to portray him in this light - teenage boys can be really pushy when it comes to sex. I certainly experienced it, and Katherine is very aware of it. I think the reader was supposed to feel uncomfortable, maybe in the hopes that they would be rooting for Katherine to stand her ground, which she does, and when she finally does have sex, she's happy with her decision.
Something else a lot of people have pointed out is that
the sex is gross. But, hello! They're eighteen and they're having sex for the first time - it's
supposed to be gross;
your first time is not a fairy-tale. I had friends who were completely gutted because their first time wasn't what they expected it to be. It's important that we teach young people that first times (and second and third times) are awkward and there shouldn't be pressure for it to be "perfect." If you ask me, a lot of this pressure comes from the idea that you're supposed to be in love with someone. To each their own, but I'm a firm believer that the time is right when you feel ready, regardless of who it's with.
I really liked Katherine's parents as well. They weren't overprotective and they listened to what she had to say. They made their views known but they were incredibly patient and supportive. In the end they
did make a decision for her which might have seemed unfair, but when your kid is ready to throw their future away over their highschool sweetheart, it's time to step it.
What I think I loved most about this book is that
nobody was slut-shamed and nobody was ridiculed for being a virgin either. Sex is such an incredibly
normal part of life. As an adult in a committed relationship, I am constantly baffled by how
stressed out my friends and I used to be about sex. Who was having it, who wasn't having it, how many people you'd had it with... it can be such a blow to the self-esteem when you're younger and it shouldn't be that way.
Finally, the forever, of course, is not really forever. And that's okay! It's healthy and normal to have romantic relationships with different people. Overall this book is really quite sweet, and I'd be more than happy to have my future daughter read it.
