Title: The Truth About Forever
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Puffin
Published Date: May 2004
Source: Library
Why You Want to Read This:
- You like cute stories
- You're a fan of Sarah Dessen or YA books in general
What's the Story?:
Sixteen-year-old Macy Queen is looking forward to a long, boring summer. Her boyfriend is going away. She's stuck with a dull-as-dishwater job at the library. And she'll spend all of her free time studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father's recent unexpected death. But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother's open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy joins the Wish team. She loves everything about the work and the people. But the best thing about Wish is Wes—artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes—who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way, and really start living it.
My Two Cents:
This book is a pretty quick read. Macy is having trouble with figuring out the appropriate way to grieve for her father. She feels that if she shows too much feeling that her mom will break down so Macy hides herself in studying and trying to be perfect for her mother. Perfect doesn't solve anything.
I really felt for Macy. It's hard to know what the "right" way to grieve is when you lose a loved one. Each person has their own "right" way and it always seems to take awhile to figure out the way that works best for you.
I loved Macy's job with the catering company. The catering company is anything but perfect. They're a group of rag-tag people that always seem to court disaster with whatever job they take on. They're hilarious and they teach Macy that it's okay not to be perfect all the time.
What I didn't like was Macy's boyfriend, Jason. He seemed incredibly stiff and not really like much of the teenagers that I know or knew. Wes, on the other hand, was well-written.
Bottom line: This is a great book for anyone who wants a light read with some good lessons.
My Two Cents:
4 out of 5 stars
This is one of my favorite Dessen novels -- I definitely related to Macy and felt emotionally invested in the story. In fact, I kept my copy from years ago -- and I usually pass my books on immediately! I'll have to re-read it sometime.
ReplyDeleteI like the "Why you want to read this" part of your review -- unique and it makes it easy to see if this book is for me! Sarah Dessen's such an awesome author. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteHappy reading,
Mary @ Book Swarm