A Google user
Sarah Dessen
Macy Queen lost her father the day after Christmas years ago, when she was supposed to go for their daily run and slept late. Her family all copes in their own ways.
“But under it all, or grief remained. Sometimes, she took more of it, sometimes I did. But always, it was there.”(Pg. 21) Her older sister got married. Her mother threw herself into her work at their family business of home building. And, Macy, well, she’s just lost in the middle.
I loved Macy, just being honest. “I wasn’t anybody. And I liked it. It was selfish but true.”(Pg. 97) She was strong (though she didn’t think so), beautiful, stubborn, and driven. She didn’t take crap—technically she did half the book, but that’s because she’s afraid of failing her mom’s expectations. At the beginning of the book, you learn about her father’s death and her family’s problems and how her father loved those infomercial things, how he bought tons of them just for fun. You also learn that Macy has been trying hard to be the “perfect daughter”. Her sister had been a wild child that had calmed in marriage. She does everything for her mom—including being that bathroom director-person at all of her mom’s business parties.
But, when Macy happens to run into a catering crew at one of her mom’s parties, whom are prone to disaster, everything starts to change. She starts working with them in the kitchen and is later offered a job. She turns it down though, seeing that she has already taken over her boyfriend’s (Jason) job at the library info desk. Now here’s who I hated from the beginning: Jason and his snobby fans. “Look. We both know life is too short, Macy. Too short to waste a single second with anyone who doesn’t appreciate and value you.” (Pg. 135) They all acted like Macy was dumb, useless, and plain stupid. One night though, when she’s just beginning the process of realizing who she really is—which happens throughout the whole book—she finds the catering van and walks right up to them. There, she meets almost all the important characters. Personally, I loved all the characters. Except for Jason. Which was why I fell so hard for Wes—just like Macy.
Wes was absolutely my favorite character. He was witty, quiet, smart, and creative. And not to mention gorgeous. Macy and Wes begin this game called “Truth” where they each have to answer the other’s question, and whoever doesn’t answer the other wins. I loved their games of Truth. They all had funny parts, gross parts, and then, there’s the deep, saddening parts. Another thing I fell in love with about Wes was that he was an artist. I thought all of the parts about his angel sculptures were lovely. I like that they both had someone they were holding onto, but slowly letting them slip away while they were falling for each other.
This book was wonderful. I wish I hadn’t read it so I could read it again and again. It kept me rapt from page one to the ending. I didn’t feel like there were any parts that were bland or overdramatic. Macy had her ups and downs, all at times you wouldn’t think things were getting better or worse. The start was great, the middle was glorious, the ending was perfect. I love Sarah Dessen’s writing. I will definitely be reading much more of her work.
One amazing quote: “It’s all in the view, Macy. That’s what I mean about forever, too. For any one of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. You can never know for sure, so you’d better make every second count.” (Pg. 136)
Tabitha Tomala
After the death of her father, Macy retreated into studies and work, building a shell to hide behind to deal with his death. Similarly, her mother began to pick up more projects and refused to talk about what happened the day he died. But things are about to change this Summer. Macy makes the last-minute decision to work for the catering company Wish. Instead of meticulous schedules and predictable outcomes, working for Wish is chaotic and a bit...fun. Meeting new friends and breaking free of the shell she built for herself, Macy is going to realize that it is ok to let go and just be herself. The Truth About Forever has a slow start. Sarah Dessen focused on building up Macy’s relationship with her father to establish an emotional impact on his death, but this could have been done in fewer words. It took too long to reach the main storyline. Macy has enough lingering guilt and flashbacks of her father’s death to make the reader understand her perspective without the extra at the beginning of the story. Macy is not a strong female lead. She has a lot of development to accomplish in this novel, and it is a struggle the entire way for her to grow. There were quite a few moments where she let people walk over her and this didn’t sit well with me. However, I do understand that this was the character and the emotions I felt over her choices were most likely the ones Sarah Dessen was aiming for. The story was pretty linear, nothing that was too unpredictable. I thought the characters were believable and the situations they were in realistic, but the ending left too much out in the open. I didn’t feel like it came full circle and there was no sense of closure. Not a book I would read again.
Steph
Maybe it is because I am not a 14 year old girl (23)- but frigg this book. Macy's (the frustrating&clueless narrator) summer romance with Wes was boring. No spark from the beginning with a drawn out sentimental back story that gets forced on to you. Predictably relate-or hate it. A short list of cute dialogue-- but never satisfied. The friendships were fun at times, but it all dragged terribly in a "make it stop" type of way. After 370 pages or so you get a first kiss and an abrupt ending. Don't do it.
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