But in the end, I decided that skipping such an important book would be a tragedy. So with that, I give you my review of The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen.
THE PLOT-Y BIT
Jason has gone off to Brian Camp for the summer. For most people, his absence is of little consequence; but Macy Queen is not most people. Her perfect boyfriend has been her anchor, her distraction and salvation from the grief of her father's passing two years prior. Without him, the months ahead seem endless, with little to occupy her time except her dull library job, and her worries over her mother's stress levels.
Soon, though, her thoughts and time are occupied by other things--namely, her new job at Wish Catering, where everything goes wrong and, somehow, all makes sense in the end. And her older sister's spontaneous new project of renovating the beach house, which puts pressure on their mother that she may not be willing to handle. With the help of her new friends, their truths and their insights on forever, Macy begins to move on. She starts to pick through the pieces of her life, and restart her grief where she paused it two years ago.
But change, it seems isn't always easy...or even welcome. So how can she convince her mother that it's for the best?
But change, it seems isn't always easy...or even welcome. So how can she convince her mother that it's for the best?
THE REVIEW-Y BIT
Like I mentioned earlier, this was my fourteenth--FOURTEENTH--time reading this book. This review isn't coming from the point of view of an outsider--I know this book backwards, forewards, inside out and diagonally. So let me start out by saying this: this story, at its core, is extremely relateable to myself as a human being from at least three very different points of my life. I'm no Macy Queen, but I feel for her and have felt for her on levels that I have yet to reach with any other characters. After eight years, I know Macy very very well.
The characters have always been one of my favourite aspects of this book. Sarah Dessen has a thing for making her side cast very diverse [need a new FUkKING WORD] and quirky and fun, and this story is home to my favourites--namely Kristy and Bert. Kristy's mature and idealistic outlook on life is refreshing, and Bert is just...well, he's Bert. He's unique, to say the least, and it's imposisble not to love him and all of his quirks.
The only problem with her lovable minor characters is that, sometimes, the main character doesn't shine as well in comparison. In this case, especially, I always felt like Macy kind of faded to the background around her new Wish friends--but then again, who wouldn't, when faced with such a rambunctious crowd?
Sarah Dessen is my favourite author, and has been for a long time. But what really made me love this book, in particular, so much more than her others are the themes. The first one, the main one, is one that has been done probably a million times before. Kristy's whole speech that night of the party, about how your forever can end tomorrow or a million years from now, is basically a revamped version of "seize the day" or "you only live once". But even still, I just loved the way it was said. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you'd want to have spent it?"
That, paired with the themes of second chances and grief and moving on are tied together so eloquently and, more importantly, effortlessly. Dessen has so many plots going on, all at once, but they all wrap together and move the story along so nicely. So much is happening in Macy's life all at once, but it still doesn't seem overwhelming.
Macy's actions--or lack thereof--throughout the book have me...well, torn. Her decisions take a bit of a two-steps-forward-one-step-back approach, which gets extremely frustrating after a certain point. When she's at odds with her mother towards the end of the book and just doesn't have the courage to sya something, it gets me both steaming mad and incredibly heartbroken. But at the same time, I can't help but admit that it's actually quite realistic. Nobody changes all at once--we change slowly over time, bit by bit, until we become the person we want to be. Sometimes we fall back into old habits, because that's what they are--habits. I'm guilty of it, myself. In this way, it's almost reassuring to see a fictional character behave in a fashion similar to myself. It might be the very reason I find the story so relateable.
And fnially: the climax. That scene where Macy takes off after Wes, running for the first time in years...it makes me smile. It makes me smile so much, even after reading it fourteen times. Their entire relationship as a whole, actually, is one of my personal favourites to read about. They bond over grief and chaos, over the truths that come out in a game stretched on for the majority of the book. Their interactions have always been a pleasure for me to read, no matter how much time passes.
The characters have always been one of my favourite aspects of this book. Sarah Dessen has a thing for making her side cast very diverse [need a new FUkKING WORD] and quirky and fun, and this story is home to my favourites--namely Kristy and Bert. Kristy's mature and idealistic outlook on life is refreshing, and Bert is just...well, he's Bert. He's unique, to say the least, and it's imposisble not to love him and all of his quirks.
The only problem with her lovable minor characters is that, sometimes, the main character doesn't shine as well in comparison. In this case, especially, I always felt like Macy kind of faded to the background around her new Wish friends--but then again, who wouldn't, when faced with such a rambunctious crowd?
Sarah Dessen is my favourite author, and has been for a long time. But what really made me love this book, in particular, so much more than her others are the themes. The first one, the main one, is one that has been done probably a million times before. Kristy's whole speech that night of the party, about how your forever can end tomorrow or a million years from now, is basically a revamped version of "seize the day" or "you only live once". But even still, I just loved the way it was said. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you'd want to have spent it?"
That, paired with the themes of second chances and grief and moving on are tied together so eloquently and, more importantly, effortlessly. Dessen has so many plots going on, all at once, but they all wrap together and move the story along so nicely. So much is happening in Macy's life all at once, but it still doesn't seem overwhelming.
Macy's actions--or lack thereof--throughout the book have me...well, torn. Her decisions take a bit of a two-steps-forward-one-step-back approach, which gets extremely frustrating after a certain point. When she's at odds with her mother towards the end of the book and just doesn't have the courage to sya something, it gets me both steaming mad and incredibly heartbroken. But at the same time, I can't help but admit that it's actually quite realistic. Nobody changes all at once--we change slowly over time, bit by bit, until we become the person we want to be. Sometimes we fall back into old habits, because that's what they are--habits. I'm guilty of it, myself. In this way, it's almost reassuring to see a fictional character behave in a fashion similar to myself. It might be the very reason I find the story so relateable.
And fnially: the climax. That scene where Macy takes off after Wes, running for the first time in years...it makes me smile. It makes me smile so much, even after reading it fourteen times. Their entire relationship as a whole, actually, is one of my personal favourites to read about. They bond over grief and chaos, over the truths that come out in a game stretched on for the majority of the book. Their interactions have always been a pleasure for me to read, no matter how much time passes.
THE RATING-Y BIT
Do I even have to say?
Until later,
- Justyne
Until later,
- Justyne
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