Customer Reviews

Forever . . .

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read this book as a young teenager- I was probably about 14 years old. Since then I've reread it about 5 times and each time I love it a little more. At 14 I dreamed of a love like the story this book tells. At 16 I thought I had found the love that the book describes. But I truly understood at 18 after I have found true love and then lost it for the first time. This book is a beautiful, incredibly believable story of falling in and out of love for the first time. I think it's a must read for any teenager. Judy Blume is one of my favorite authors because of the way she makes her stories so realistic. Definitely a must read!!

I've never read a Judy Blume book until Forever. I was instructed to read this book for an adolescent literature class at UF. This book was written in the 70s but is still very relevent and realistic today. Blume paints a very believeable young romance and first sexual relationship. It may be slightly graphic at times but it doesn't sugar coat how unromantic losing your virginity really is. I believe the teenage girl, Katherine, can be considered a role model for young teens of today. She approaches sex responsibly and makes sure to protect herself. It is an easy read and could be a good book to introduce the discussion of sex to your teenaged daughter.

This book dates from the 1970s when it was pretty hard for teens to get any information whatsoever about sex and sexual relationships - no Internet then, and parents and school officials were even more reluctant to talk about it than they are now. As most people know by now, the book is about two nice, normal older teenagers who meet at a party, date, fall in love and eventually find themselves wanting to have a sexual relationship with each other. The sex scenes are described in detail but in an informational, not a dramatic, scary or otherwise "weird" way. At the time the teens are having sex, they truly think they will be together forever, but later events cast doubt on their promise.

A couple of things should be noted: First of all, these are older teens, on the verge of going off to college and generally becoming adults. Second, although they keep their relationship pretty private, they have families who are not too concerned about whether they're having sex with each other, i.e. they don't really have to sneak around or worry about whether Daddy will be mad or Mother will disapprove, if they find out. Third, the decision to have sex is presented as not having too many consequences. No one gets pregnant, gets an STD, gets ostracized at school, gets jealous, gets too obsessed with sex, or gets dumped immediately after having sex. One character does get a little too attached, but the way it's presented, that's fairly minor - that person just needs to move on with their life and likely that will happen.

On the one hand, I can understand why all these issues were left out. The focus of this book is on presenting a sexual relationship that wasn't accompanied by a horrible tragedy or "punishment" for the people involved, so that teens could just focus on what a "normal" relationship was like, sexually and a little bit emotionally. Many if not most or all of the books prior to this time that involved teen sex had something terrible happening to the teens as a result, such as an unwanted pregnancy, ostracism or even death. It was a relief when this book came out that someone was presenting a view of teen sex divorced from the "drama".

On the other hand, it's highly unlikely that everyone's first teen sexual relationship would go as smoothly as it's portrayed in the book. This book is sort of like "Barbie and Ken Have Sex". The teens in the book don't have any big problems or issues or insecurities in their lives; they don't have disapproving families and they really love each other so it's not a case of someone just being hot for someone else. I'm sure there are relationships like the one in "Forever" but I'm equally sure there are ones that are more like "The Story of a Girl" by Sara Zarr, or like the ill-fated teen couple who seek an abortion in "My Darling, My Hamburger, or like numerous other books where sex doesn't go along like peaches and pie. Furthermore, one character ends up being very upset by the relationship in "Forever" and the book just kind of pushes that aside as a personal-growth moment. I would have found this book more realistic if it had contained a few stories to contrast with the main characters, to show that not every sexual relationship goes along as smoothly as theirs generally does, and also if it dealt a little more realistically with the emotional impact that can happen when one person changes their mind about "forever".

It's still an OK book to read, but aside from the physical descriptions of what happens between the couple, I didn't find it particularly realistic when I first read it in the early 1980s, and I don't find it that realistic now. I did hear that the author has added a section to the book addressing AIDS (a disease which emerged some years after the book was published), and I think that's a good addition although I have not read it.

Judy Blume - you can never go wrong when its written by J. Blume.


Great book, especially for the angst filled teen years.

So before Forever, I wasn't an avid reader. I think it speaks volumes that someone who doesn't usually read novels was totally captivated by this one! I have gone on to read other good works (Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Bram Stoker's Dracula, the Dark Warrior series by Alexis Morgan) but none has had the effect on me that Blume's Forever has. Maybe a love story like this one which engages the reader to the point of living Katherine's life with Michael is simply relevant to everyone that's ever been in love. Still, there are no moments- once you pick this up- that you ever want to put it down.

This is the first coming of age story I read as a child. I was 12 in the 7th grade when I read it. I'm in my 30's now but, I still remember reading it and not being able to put it down.

I didn't know of this Judy Blume book until I was an adult. I love Judy Blume's books, so I ordered this one. "Forever" follows a female high school senior who falls in love and begins exploring her sexual side. But will their relationship survive after high school graduation?

This book shows how even when you think that life is perfect it can come crashing down... it shows that in life their is good and bad times, but make the most of the good. I loved this book from the start to the finish....

I remember having a slumber party for my birthday and all of us girls taking turns reading from this book. It was one of the best nights of my life. As we shared our experiences as pre-teens, we peered into what was to come in the safety of my home.

Judy Blume has accompanied me through the stages of life and I thank her for it. I recommend all of her books!