Publisher: Speak Books
Copyright: 2008
Macy's summer is based on a boring library job and studying for the SAT's. For the past year and a half, Macy's family has been grieving the loss of their father and husband, who passed away right before Macy's eyes.
Running was Macy's passion. Every Saturday morning, Macy and her father would go for a run, and that's where it all ended. Macy's father collapsed from a heart attack right in front of her.
Now Macy, her sister Caroline, and her mother Deborah, continue to grieve. Deborah and Macy's lives are organized and quiet. Caroline is the only one able to resume her life and help her family do so, too.
But when Macy accepts a job offer at Wish Catering, along with her job at the info desk, she makes five new friends: Delia, Kristy, Bert, Monica and Wes, and her life begins to return to what it was.
Macy's mother is scared of a real life without her husband, hides behind her work, and prevents Macy from having one, too, by later banning her from her catering job and seeing her friends. Together, Macy and her sister must support their mother in fixing up the old beach house, letting Macy move on, and finally grieving.
Will Macy's forever be returning to her old, boring boyfriend and mother; her calm, quiet life, or be a regular life with friends and jobs and fun? Has Macy changed for the better, or worse?
Getting into the first few chapters of The Truth About Forever, I expected that I'd enjoy the novel as much as any other of my favorite books. Sarah Dessen creates such vivid characters that if anybody told me this was a true story, I could have easily believed it. Sarah Dessen narrates her story from Macy's point of view in such a way that the reader will become the character, experiencing the same emotions and thoughts as Macy herself.
Due to the reality in the plot, the deepness in the story, and the vividity of the characters and their opinions and how they tie in to what the character is experiencing in the story, the novel proves the amount of thought and work Dessen put in to her sixth novel.
Delia, the owner of Wish Catering where Macy works, always does her jobs in a disorganized fashion, so that the reader believes her to be a very disordered person. But Delia herself justifies her unmethodical way in the dialogue of the book, by explaining to Macy: "If everything was always smooth and perfect, you'd get too used to that, you know? You have a little bit of disorganization now and then. Otherwise you'll never really enjoy it when things go right." (94)
And Macy keeps working at her library job, with the other two girls who hate her, Bethany and Amanda. The reader wonders again when or if the heroine will quit her job, despite how much Jason, her boyfriend wants her to do well in it for him, and how much her mother believes she should complete the summer job for her resume. But as Macy is changed by her new friends at Wish, the job is no longer the least bit good enough for her.
"In so many ways, I was realizing the info desk was a lot like my life had been before Wish and Kristy and Wes. Something to be endured, never enjoyed" (198)
Aside from the characters, Dessen puts out a very real and possible story. The grounding, boring summer job, breaking up with Jason, and meeting Wes, are all things that would happen to the average teenage girl, "smushed", into one summer, all happening to one person. The Truth About Forever presents several situations where the reader will debate over which character has the right opinion, or who in the book is most agreeable with. The Truth About Forever is truly an amazing and remarkable novel.
But when Macy accepts a job offer at Wish Catering, along with her job at the info desk, she makes five new friends: Delia, Kristy, Bert, Monica and Wes, and her life begins to return to what it was.
Macy's mother is scared of a real life without her husband, hides behind her work, and prevents Macy from having one, too, by later banning her from her catering job and seeing her friends. Together, Macy and her sister must support their mother in fixing up the old beach house, letting Macy move on, and finally grieving.
Will Macy's forever be returning to her old, boring boyfriend and mother; her calm, quiet life, or be a regular life with friends and jobs and fun? Has Macy changed for the better, or worse?
Getting into the first few chapters of The Truth About Forever, I expected that I'd enjoy the novel as much as any other of my favorite books. Sarah Dessen creates such vivid characters that if anybody told me this was a true story, I could have easily believed it. Sarah Dessen narrates her story from Macy's point of view in such a way that the reader will become the character, experiencing the same emotions and thoughts as Macy herself.
Due to the reality in the plot, the deepness in the story, and the vividity of the characters and their opinions and how they tie in to what the character is experiencing in the story, the novel proves the amount of thought and work Dessen put in to her sixth novel.
Delia, the owner of Wish Catering where Macy works, always does her jobs in a disorganized fashion, so that the reader believes her to be a very disordered person. But Delia herself justifies her unmethodical way in the dialogue of the book, by explaining to Macy: "If everything was always smooth and perfect, you'd get too used to that, you know? You have a little bit of disorganization now and then. Otherwise you'll never really enjoy it when things go right." (94)
And Macy keeps working at her library job, with the other two girls who hate her, Bethany and Amanda. The reader wonders again when or if the heroine will quit her job, despite how much Jason, her boyfriend wants her to do well in it for him, and how much her mother believes she should complete the summer job for her resume. But as Macy is changed by her new friends at Wish, the job is no longer the least bit good enough for her.
"In so many ways, I was realizing the info desk was a lot like my life had been before Wish and Kristy and Wes. Something to be endured, never enjoyed" (198)
Aside from the characters, Dessen puts out a very real and possible story. The grounding, boring summer job, breaking up with Jason, and meeting Wes, are all things that would happen to the average teenage girl, "smushed", into one summer, all happening to one person. The Truth About Forever presents several situations where the reader will debate over which character has the right opinion, or who in the book is most agreeable with. The Truth About Forever is truly an amazing and remarkable novel.
To Read Not to Read
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