Book Review - Forever

Forever
Author: Judy Blume
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 1st May 2011
Publishers: MacMillan
No. Pages: 208
Source: Gifted
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

Katherine and Michael meet at a New Year's Eve party. They're attracted to each other, they grow to love each other. And once they've decided their love is forever, they make love.

It's the beginning of an intense and exclusive relationship, with a future all planned. Until Katherine's parents insist that she and Michael put their love to the test with a summer apart...

A true story highlighting the naive expectations of love, sex and faithfulness as a young adult.

The only reason this book didn't get the full job from me was the length. As it was such a short book, I expected there to be quite a quick pace to it, and I had high expectations after reading that Judy Blume was refereed to as 'Queen of Teen'. But sadly, this didn't quite cut the mustard for me. For me, the size of the book let it down. I felt that the character building was brilliant, especially when it came down to the progression of a relationship from honeymoon stage to physical, but I felt like, the characters were too immature for their age. I for one personally have never dated a guy who proceeded to name his genitals, nor have I ever thought of having a baby for the reason of providing me with an experience I 'have to try'. For me, these actions were too, childlike.

Other than that, I completely fell in love with what the story captured, and I became much more aware of the public image surrounding sex and teens at the time Judy Blume wrote this. As seen today, many adults assume teens are just sleeping around with anyone, or are hiding a million secrets from them, when in fact, a lot of the teen population, are a lot more sensible than one would assume. I was impressed by how simple the sex scenes were written, and although part of me understood that this book was probably aimed at a younger audience, not 18 year olds with experience, I was glad she'd kept it light and humorous.

Throughout reading this book, I felt like I could really connect to my younger childhood, and could appreciate how the characters felt, and the complicated feelings they went through. I was a little disappointed that one the main aspects covered in the synopsis was only highlighted within the last third of the book, and how quickly the book ended, feeling almost abrupt. A part of me felt that this book could have been a small series of 2 or 3 books, following our main character further, as I felt there was more room to develop her character, and so that we as readers could learn with her.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone between the ages of 15-18, but I wouldn't to much older than that. It's a beautifully written books, with just the right amount of humour, lightness and advice.