Forever Changes [Hardcover]

Brendan Halpin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2008

5:30 a.m., Brianna Pelletier gets ready for her daily pounding. As she lies on the couch, her dad beats her chest, then her back, coaxing the mucus out of her lungs. The pounding doesn’t take care of everything. Brianna’s held out for a long time, but a body with cystic fibrosis doesn’t last forever. It doesn’t matter that Brianna has a brilliant mathematical mind or that she’s a shoo-in for MIT. Or even that her two best friends are beautiful, popular, and loyal. In the grand scheme of things, none of that stuff matters at all. The standard life, lasting maybe seventy-five years, is no more than a speck in the sum total of the universe. At eighteen, and doubting she’ll make nineteen, Brianna is practically a nonentity. Of course she’s done the math. But in her senior year of high school, Brianna learns of another kind of math, in which an infinitely small, near-zero quantity can have profound effects on an entire system. If these tiny quantities didn’t exist, things wouldn’t make the same sense.


Funny, tear-jerking, and memorable, the author’s second novel for teens introduces readers to an extraordinary girl who learns that the meaning of forever can change, and that life – and death – is filled with infinite possibilities.

 

Forever Changes is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—Brianna, a high school senior, lives with her devoted motorcycle-fixing dad and has two popular best friends. A verifiable math wizard, she is sure to be accepted at MIT. Unfortunately, she also has cystic fibrosis and begins each morning with a chest-pounding, courtesy of her father, to loosen the mucus coating her lungs. The death of Molly, a friend who also had CF, haunts Brianna and she fears that she will be next. With her body slowly failing her, she sometimes doesn't see the point of applying to college or thinking about her future. Comfort comes from two unlikely sources. Adam, a dorky new friend from math class introduces her to Love, a 1960s band whose lyrics speak to her. Mr. Eccles, her calculus teacher, also facing his own mortality, teaches her about infinitesimals. These quantities are important in calculus: "Something which seems to be nearly nothing turns out to be crucial to everything." Brianna finds strength in this idea when confronting her own mortality and the value of her life. Although the end wraps up too quickly and offers little hope for people with CF, this is a heartbreaking story of courage, friendship, and acceptance, with some great math concepts to boot.—Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn, NY
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From Booklist

Eighteen-year-old Brianna Pelletier’s dad is hassling her about her MIT application—a perfectly normal situation except that Brianna has cystic fibrosis. A gifted mathematician, Brianna knows the grim statistics on her life expectancy and wonders why she should plan for a future she probably won’t have. In an interesting departure, Halpin spends little time on the disease itself, smoothly inserting only necessary information into the narrative and focusing instead on an introspective portrait of a young girl struggling to come to terms with her mortality. Intriguing conversations with her calculus teacher, also battling serious health issues, give Brianna a new way of thinking about her life as an “important infinitesimal.” A welcome touch of humor is provided in scenes with supportive friends and a geeky classmate who blossoms with Brianna’s encouragement. The plot and pacing falter midway, and many of the secondary characters are one-dimensional, but Halpin’s gift with dialogue and Brianna’s strong voice propel this memorable inner journey to its moving, if inevitable, conclusion. Grades 8-11. --Lynn Rutan

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374324360
• ISBN-13: 978-0374324360
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,607,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a writer and a teacher. I've written memoirs, novels for adults, and novels for young adults. I don't know if my interest in and talent at writing YA comes from my experience as a high school teacher or my immaturity. Either way, it's good.

I live in Boston with my wife Suzanne and our three children and our dog, Cooper.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, October 30, 2008

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forever Changes (Hardcover)

Brianna Pelletier was born with a death sentence. Her DNA gave her Cystic Fibrosis. The only unknown for Brianna is how long she will have.

It's Brianna's senior year and while her friends are planning for college, Brianna's plans are far simpler: live to see graduation. She never intended to go to college. She never believed she'd survive this long. But things are going pretty good. She's managed to avoid any serious infections and remain out of the hospital. She fears that if she needs to return to the hospital, she'll never leave. Well, she'd never leave alive.

So as senior year progress, she gains insight into what it means to really live, by an unlikely source - her ailing math teacher. Her alphabetically placed study buddy, Adam, hears a rumor that Mr. Eccles was in a band, Love, in the past. Downloading the music, Adam shares the bizarre album, Forever Changes, with Brianna. The music reaches a part of her that she could never put into words. After hearing the music, and then encountering Mr. Eccles one evening on a deserted beach, the two form an understanding with each other.

Through Brianna's dad's gentle love, the nerdy pressure from Adam, and the desire to live courtesy of Mr. Eccles, Brianna takes living to the next step - she attends an information session at MIT and takes the scariest step of her life, sending in her application. This action could bring hope or despair. On one level, she fears that by sending it in, she is hexing herself that she will never live to see her admission to MIT. But on another level, she doesn't want to die and wants some ray of hope, something to live for.

In Brianna, Mr. Halpin shares with readers both a wish to live and a desire to not die, which really are not one and the same. Brianna does her best with the hand she's been dealt. More than anything, she dreams of being like everyone else without a care in the world, but she has greater obstacles to overcome. She does so bravely and without blame. She's an inspiring character to curl up and share a few hours with.

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

5.0 out of 5 stars An Original and Touching Read!, February 8, 2010

By 

The Book Pixie (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Forever Changes (Hardcover)

The best word I can find to describe Forever Changes is bittersweet. It was both sad and funny and was also very thought-provoking, making me put things in perspective. Which, might I add, is something I've really been needing to do lately.

One thing I loved about Forever Changes was how all the characters seemed to play equally important roles in Brianna's life, from her friends to her dad to her math teacher. It was almost like there were no minor characters and I really liked this about the book. The relationship between Brianna and her math teacher Mr. Eccles was an original and interesting aspect as well. Brianna's friends all carried their own unique and funny personalities, especially Adam, whom I loved. Someone who really stood out to me though was Brianna's dad who, despite his tough guy exterior, was a real sweetie who loved his daughter more than anything. And of course, I really liked Brianna's character. She was so smart and likable, plus her love of math made her really stand out against other YA characters.

It took me a little bit to get into this book but once I did, I really enjoyed it. There are plenty of books out there about teens suffering from illnesses like cancer, so it was refreshing to read about a girl with Cystic Fibrosis. Mom and I know a woman who has CF, she is one of the lucky and rare cases as she is in her fifties now. Also, the mathematical aspect to this story, though math is not my favorite subject, was intriguing and really made this story unique. I only wish Forever Changes could have been longer.

The writing was really good and I can say Forever Changes is one of those few books where I'm actually GLAD it was written in third person. To say why would spoil the book a bit which is also why I'm not going to tell you why I liked the ending, which I did.

So I confess, what really drew me to this book was the fact that the MC and I have the same name. How shameful, right? Yeah I know. Well anyway, though I figured I'd at least like this book, I didn't really have any major expectations for it. In the end, I really liked it as it was not only original but also a great combination of engaging, funny, serious, thoughtful, and sad. Since the main character, Brianna, is 18-19yrs old in this book, I can easily see both teens and adults enjoying this lovely, touching novel. I'll definitely be re-reading it and I highly recommend it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible!, September 13, 2009

By 

Sasha Riviera - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forever Changes (Hardcover)

Like Brianna, I live with Cystic Fibrosis. Fortunately, I have a lesser case than her and am as healthy as any kid my age. I was able to relate to her thinking and I was happy that somebody finally wrote a story about a brave girl with CF. This book touched my heart and I would reccomend it to anyone.