The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Title: The Truth About Forever
Author: Sarah Dessen
ISBN: 9780142406250
Publisher: Penguin Group
Copyright Date: 2004
Genre: Romance

About the Author:
Hi. I’m Sarah. Writing a bio is always a little weird, if only because it seems completely self-absorbed. I have a standard one that I send out, which lists where I got my degree, the names of my books, all the same boring basic facts. But for this website, I’m supposed to do something more, give a sense of who I really am. So here goes.
The books I read when I was teenager, the good ones anyway, have stuck more in my mind than anything since. I still love books, but while I couldn’t tell you complete plots of novels I read even six months ago, I do remember even the smallest descriptive details from Lois Lowry’s A Summer to Die or Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I think it was because back then books were still somewhat new to me, and when I found an author who seemed to say just what I was feeling, it really struck me and resonated. I hope that my books do that for the people who read them: I think it’s the best thing to which any writer can aspire. I’ve also been lucky enough to teach writing and see my students find their own voice. Teaching was great for me, because I got to show people how writing can really change the way you see not only yourself but the world. I’ve found in my own life that if my writing isn’t going well, not much else will. It is the one constant, the key to everything else.
Now that I’m writing full time, I have my good days and bad days. But I’d rather be doing this, even on the worst days, than anything else. As far as my other life, my non-writing life, I live in the country with my husband, my daughter, and two very spoiled dogs. I like to work in my garden—although I have not yet perfected the art of keeping everything alive—-and, in my weaker moments, shop. What else can I tell you? I love Starbucks mochas but they make me way hyper. I subscribe to too many magazines. I make a mean bean salad. I could go on, but the truth is, my books are much more exciting than I am, and that’s a good thing. It’s always more fun to make stuff up anyway.
Dessen, S. Bio. http://sarahdessen.com/bio/.

Curriculum Ties:

• Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
• Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Plot Summary:

When Macy’s boyfriend goes to a “brain camp” she emails him to tell him she loves him. He promptly responds that they should see other people. In a flashback, we learn that Macy started dating him after her father died, and is very emotionally attached to him and has become determined to order her life to perfection. Macy’s sister prompts Macy to move on, both from their father’s death and from her boyfriend, which prompts her to join a catering job and meets Kristy, Wess, Bert, and Monica. They encourage her to move out of her usual sphere, and learns to process the world without having to be perfect. Macy’s mother becomes concerned about these changes, and grounds Macy when she comes home late one night. At this time, Macy starts to fall for Wess, though she isn’t sure how their relationship will work. As Macy works to process her father’s death, she must come to grips with her new friends, her worldview, and her relationship with her mother.

Critical Evaluation:

Macy is originally portrayed as being a traumatized teenager, struggling to deal with her father’s death. To do this, she has decided to project an image of perfection, being a good student, and never addressing the loss. This begins to change as she works as a caterer, gaining a new and better worldview. Her new friends encourage her to speak her mind, and she learns that it is more important to care about people than follow the rules, like when helping with Delilah’s labor. This character development is the main impetus of the plot, showing that you can move on from difficult experiences and trauma if you don’t bottle it in yourself. This transitions to a theme of dealing with a chaotic world, and overcoming challenges as they come. The story even goes so far to say that the world isn’t perfect, which makes it beautiful, establishing that chaos is to be expected in life.

Readers Annotation:
As Macy struggles to deal with the death of her father, she begins to learn the complications of life. She then meets some new friends, which help her understand life, and meet a boy who might be exactly what she wants.

Book Talking Ideas:

• Talk about how Macy's father dies at the beginning of the book. Look for the ways that his death impacts her decisions throughout the book.
• Talk about Kristy and Wess, and look for the ways they teach Macy to change her worldview. 

Reading Level/Interest Age: 12-18

Challenge Issues:

• There is teenage drinking in the story.
• There are some mild sexual references.

Defense Collection:

• Gr. 9-12. Dessen returns to a familiar theme and recognizable characters: the  “perfect” girl at odds with a controlling mother and keeping boys at arm’s length because of father issues. Here the  girl is Macy Queen. Her father has died, her mother can’t grieve, and every time Macy tries to break out of the  automaton state in which she is trapped, Mrs. Queen reels her back. Macy gets a job with a catering company, whose employees mirror and mask similar emotions to her own--among them, a girl who is scarred on the  outside, but not on the  inside, and two motherless brothers, the  older of whom, Wes, helps Macy break through. As is often the  case with Dessen, the  novel is a mixed bag. Much of it is wonderful. At its purest, the  writing reaches directly into the  hearts of teenage girls: Macy’s games of “truth ” with Wes are unerringly conceived, sharply focused on both characters and issues. Yet a subplot about  Macy’s job at the  library features cardboard characters and unbelievable situations. This seesawing between spot-on observations and superfluous scenes slows the  pace and makes readers wait too long for the  book’s best moments. -- Ilene Cooper (BookList, 04-15-2004, p1437)
• Gr 7 Up –Macy, 16, witnessed her father's death, but has never figured out how to mourn. Instead, she stays in control–good grades, perfect boyfriend, always neat and tidy–and tries to fake her way to normal. Then she gets a job at Wish Catering. It is run by pregnant, forgetful Delia and staffed by her nephews, Bert and Wes, and her neighbors Kristy and Monica. "Wish" was named for Delia's late sister, the  boys' mother. Working and eventually hanging out with her new friends, Macy sees what it's like to live an unprescripted lifestyle, from dealing with kitchen fires to sneaking out at night, and slowly realizes it's not so bad to be human. Wes and Macy play an ongoing game of Truth  and share everything from gross-outs to what it feels like to watch someone you love die. They fall in love by talking, and the  author sculpts them to full dimension this way. All of Dessen's characters, from Macy, who narrates to the  bone, to Kristy, whose every word has life and attitude, to Monica, who says almost nothing but oozes nuance, are fully and beautifully drawn. Their dialogue is natural and believable, and their care for one another is palpable. The  prose is fueled with humor–the  descriptions of Macy's dad's home-shopping addiction are priceless, as is the  goofy bedlam of catering gigs gone bad–and as many good comedians do, Dessen uses it to throw light onto darker subjects. Grief, fear, and love set the  novel's pace, and Macy's crescendo from time-bomb perfection to fallible, emotional humanity is, for the  right readers, as gripping as any action adventure.–Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library --Johanna Lewis (Reviewed June 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 6, p138)
• Awards:
• Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award - Best Mainstream Fiction: 2004
• South Carolina Book Awards: Young Adult Books
• YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: What's cooking? (2011)
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Purpose in Collection:

Sarah Dessen is a popular award winning author, which makes her books good to add to any collection. In addition to this, the book itself focuses on dealing with trauma and stress in life, emphasizing the loss of a parent, which would be helpful to many teens.