Monday, August 30, 2010

Week 34: Forever... - Judy Blume (224 pages)

This project has been quite a journey. I have discovered new authors, new genres, and new outlooks. But I have also revisited some books from my past - just to see how they hold up. Sometimes a book makes such an impact on you that you are afraid to go back and re-read it for fear that it may mean something entirely different, or worse - you realize that your young brain did not realize that it was just a poorly written book. So, after receiving a book recommendation from favorite author Judy Blume a few weeks back - I decided to go back to my youth and check out FOREVER...

This book, written in 1975 when I was a mere 4 years old, was a controversial one from the start. It is a frequent target of censors and it appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number eight! So to get your hands on this book as a teen or even a pre-teen was a coup. Alot of my friends had to sneak to read this one. I was lucky to grow up in a house where we were able to read pretty much what we wanted. I thank my parents for that gift and it is one that I am trying to pass to my daughter.

The story follows Michael and Katherine making sense of young love and their first sexual encounters. Katherine is adamant that she wants the act of losing her virginity to mean something - she doesn't want to lose it purely for the sake of physical satisfaction or for curiosity. The thing that drew my attention then and got my attention again as I read the book was how much Katherine and Michael discussed their decision. They talked to each other, they talked to friends, their friends talked to each other. There was so much communication. When the decision is finally made to go forward - Katherine quickly learns that her idea of "Forever" would quickly fade.

If you didn't read this one as teen, please take a few hours to get absorbed in this world. If you have a daughter over the age of 14 - suggest that they check it out as well. This is a book from my youth that definitely stood the test of time.

No comments:

Post a Comment