Customer Reviews

Forever

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3 star:		(1)
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Judy Bloom's "Forever" is a great tale about a young woman's journey into adulthood and independence by focusing on her relationship with a boy who becomes her first sexual partner. We follow the main character from the time she meets the boy until the end of the book. I first read this book as a horny 15 year old boy and read it again years later when I was in my 20's and it had a different meaning for me. When I have teenagers, especially if I have girls, I am going to recommend they read this book. It's that good!

FOREVER... is the most romantic teen love story ever written!

Katherine and Michael are normal teens who meet in a normal way - at a party! What they have together is so bonding it seems like it will last forever. It's also the most difficult kind of relationship, because they are truly in love.

After meeting and going out a few times, Katherine feels like she is in love. When she and Michael begin getting closer in a sexual way, they both feel as if this could be it.

If I say any more about the plot then I will give away the whole book!

Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down! It isn't often that you come across such an amazing love story because it is told as if Ms. Blume has really been in this intense of a relationship. FOREVER... is a must read for any older, mature teens due to sexual content.

Reviewed by: Taylor Rector

What can I say about this book... firstly, it is the best growing up book I have read, and secondly Judy Blume has captured the process of growing up extremely well.

Forever is about first love, first sex and first heartbreak, and I believe that Blume has portrayed this effectively by the way she has described what is involved in first love relationships. This book is aimed at teenage girls who will be going through the same steps of growing up, so Katherine, the main character, is leading the way and showing that everyone goes through the same thing. Blume has portrayed Katherine's worries and feeling about the subject of sex, which will help other girls to think about what they want for the future. Throughout the book we also read about other girls and their own experiences on sex which Blume will have added so that the reader learns of what happens when you take different steps of action through sex.

However to be honest, I did think that throughout the book it kept skipping parts, for example it was talking about one day, then the next sentence it was talking about a few days later. But this could be seen as effective because Blume wanted to get across the facts of relationships, so she may have felt that skipping parts and moving straight on to the relationship parts of the story would help people keep in their minds what the story is portraying.

When it was first published there was a debate about whether it was suitable for teenage girls, because of its sexual content. However, in my opinion this book is most definitely suitable because teenage girls need to learn of risks of sex (pregnancy, STIs), and this book includes all the steps to take for when you first start having sex. If you ask yourself a question, whom do girls go to for help and advice? The answer may very well be family or doctors/family planning clinic, but some girls don't have the confidence to speak about their worries. Therefore this book will give them all the information about sex, without having to speak out about it. It may well contain graphic scenes, but that's the whole part about growing up and learning.

Im 26. So just to put my review in perspective. But, I really thought this story was plot based. There was really no symbolism, no deeper meaning, nothing. A led to B which led to C which led to D. I thought the characters were really flat. There could have been so much more insight to a "first love" relationship than just "Hey! Should we do it yet? Or whole relationship is based on whether we do it or not." Which, yeah a lot of relationships are ... but there was no writing about the letdown of guards we all put up, or the awkward moments afterwards, etc. It was just "Let's do sex. It kinda hurt." - very plot oriented. Morality wise, this book "supports" premarital sex. Just thought I'd put that out there for women trying to buy this for their 17 year old daughters. Judy Blume has done better. Fast read, though.