What is forever by judy blume about

Meanwhile, Erica hopes that Artie will kiss her. Later, Michael tells Katherine that Artie is depressed and hates school. They urge Katherine to make smart decisions about sex and encourage her to date other people. Then Katherine lunches with her grandparents, who live in the city, and later goes to Planned Parenthood to get birth control pills.

Katherine and her friends find out about college acceptances and learn that Sybil is pregnant and will give the baby up for adoption after the birth. Artie locks himself in the bathroom and threatens to kill himself. This one is written by teens, for teens. Kids are always asking, How old do I have to be before I can read this book? An impossible question to answer. Some kids are ready at twelve, some not until later. They usually know themselves.

If it makes them feel uncomfortable, they can put the book down. Only human beings could take something as wonderful and necessary as sexual intercourse and turn it into something shameful and filthy. This is not a fantasy. There aren't any sparkly metrosexual vampires guarding the heroine's virtue while simultaneously watching her sleep.

This is a book about two year-olds who meet, like each other, hook up, fall prey to their misguided, immature conceptions of what love is, then have to deal with what their relationship is once faced with reality.

It's shallow, yes, because teens are usually pretty shallow. It's sexual, again, because teens are pretty sexual. It's also over rather quickly View all 5 comments. It's a very short, dry story of these two teens exploring sex, and it reads more like a zeitgeist piece than an evergreen how-to guide.

I was mainly interested in how teenagers talked to their partners and the social environment of sex around that time, and evaluating how different the world is today compared to this book was interesting.

I don't regret reading this book, 2. I don't regret reading this book, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it because although it was a fascinating look back on teens a few decades ago, it was also full of stereotypes and distasteful dialogue and fatphobia and the male love interest pressuring the main character to do more. View 2 comments. Judy Blume has always excelled at writing about issues that are relevant to teens.

Her plainspoken characters dealing with everyday contemporary topics offer relatable reads that get right to the heart of the matter. Here she takes the reader into that first real relationship, that first love, and that first sexual experience. There is no story to follow because there is no substance in the relationship.

Michael and Katherine epitomize teenage lust in all senses —physical, psychological, and emotional. I enjoyed re-reading this classic from my teen years. I suspect I am rating this higher than my younger self might have because I can see and appreciate the lessons Blume is trying to impart.

I do remember enjoying it as a teen, although most likely for more immature reasons! Does it stand the test of time? Yes, I think so. There are a few dated references, but I think teens especially females would enjoy reading this tale of first love.

View all 12 comments. How have I not read this sooner? I am almost 40 and only finished this today! Better late than never. I consider this book to be an education, therefore the first thing I was impressed with, with my edition being from , was the author's entry at the beginning covering the absolutely essential updated requirements for safe and healthy sexual responsibility.

This was an easy read, a nice coming of age story, set in the mid seventies. Our protagonist, Katherine was a very sensible 17 year old, How have I not read this sooner? Our protagonist, Katherine was a very sensible 17 year old, whom I think had it quite easy as she did not fall too hard!

Or perhaps my memories were a tad different?! I really liked one of her observations where she was commenting on the healthy relationships of her parents and grandparents, knowing she was privy to a good foundation in having a good example to follow with her own relationships. I adored the character of Artie. I have never read a Judy Blume novel - I know, something went wrong with that - but will absolutely read more. Perhaps this one is not quite for my 12 and 13 year old daughters just yet, I'll pass it on in another couple of years!

I took this off their shelf for a change of reading material, and it was an excellent book. View all 20 comments. How depressing. Keeping in mind this book was published in the mids, it's still incredibly relevant to today's society. In fact, apart from the absence of conspicuous technology like cell phones, this could have taken place in the s. It's a timeless story, and the reason it's getting such a low rating from me is purely personal: Michael reminded me of the ex boyfriend who broke my heart and whom I still have nightmares about years later.

A pushy sex-obsessed hormonal teenage boy who pressur How depressing. A pushy sex-obsessed hormonal teenage boy who pressures Kath into giving up her virginity under the guise of 'forever'. She clearly didn't want to sleep with him even though she was into him and he just kept pushing and pushing until she gave in.

And look, I'm among the first to be critical of teenage forever love. I was burned there as well. I don't necessarily want to read a book that reminds me of the more painful emotional times in my life. I don't necessarily want to read a book that waits until marriage for the sexual relationship to begin. But I was very uncomfortable reading this when the focus was on sexual love and not the intimate emotional connection. And even when you think they're getting emotionally intimate,Kath changes her mind purely because she meets another guy while she's away at summer camp.

Sure, she seems a lot like a typical teenager and I don't mean to insult my teenage friends but you guys are hardly 'typical' and I guess that's the whole point of the book.

This situation will have happened to a lot of young people and it will keep on happening to a lot of young people. And yeah, I totally hate Kath's parents. What right do they have to tell her what to do once she reaches eighteen?

They sabotage her relationship and for no reason other than it's her first. They weren't even dating for that long. There was nothing about Michael they didn't like except that maybe he and Kath were sexually active. Breaking up your child's relationship just because they're sexually active isn't going to return your little girl to the untouched virgin she was.

She'll just find another guy. Oh and look - Kath does. Maybe it just wasn't for me because I'm in my mid-twenties, but by my judgement I think it'd be a wonderful novel for a young teenager beginning to explore relationships and sexuality.

Judy Blume certainly never shied away from the important issues and if it weren't for these uber realistic young adult novels coming out in the 70s, I don't know where we'd be now. View all 8 comments. Oct 25, Erin rated it did not like it Recommends it for: Ralph-lovers. Shelves: reading-challenge , big-romance , love-geometry. I'm sure this book was very important in its time and was the means by which many girls learned about sex.

Unfortunately for Forever , I am not interested in PSA books; I prefer multidimensional characters, a plot, and emotions. Weird, huh? The lack of the aforementioned qualities is what really drove this book into 1 star territory for me, but there were a few Ellipses There were so many ellipses It was called Forever Try reading that for hundreds of pages and see if you like it. Ralph Michael, the boyfriend of the story, is considerate enough to name his penis Ralph, thus ensuring that the girl whoops, forgot her name already; this is what happens when characters lack personality won't be frightened by it.

And that I would ralph in my mouth a little bit. The worst part was when they were doing the whole long-distance thing, and Michael wrote her a letter and was all: I love you and miss you. Forever, Michael P. Ralph misses you too. Farewell, I'm going to run away and try to forget this book now. Nov 28, Tanya Wadley rated it did not like it Shelves: fiction. I hardly want to admit I read this book I think I actually made it about half way through the book and just didn't feel like it was something I should be reading having a strong religious background encouraging waiting until marriage to enjoy sex.

It's funny to think back on what I do I hardly want to admit I read this book It's funny to think back on what I do remember about the book, and to realize that I didn't even "get" some of what was going on.

I would personally not want my children to read this book, and hope they wouldn't want to read it. If my daughter was older and wanted to read it, I would explain to her that I don't think it's a book that would help her make the difficult choice to save herself for that one special person in her future who would hopefully also be saving sexual intimacy for her only.

My rating is heavily influenced by my religious beliefs as a Christian, and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think Judy Blume is generally a talented author who really relates with youth. View all 10 comments. Sep 28, Kelly and the Book Boar rated it did not like it Shelves: hot-mess-express , teenie-bopper-books , liburrrrrry-book , i-read-banned-books , read-in Released in , Forever … topped the Banned Books charts due to its direct approach to teenagers having sexual relationships.

Sadly it did not weather well. Shelby and I cracked ourselves up last night talking about how these were verboten. Back in the day Young Kelly might have found this super smexy. Even though I failed at Forever … , this remains my favorite reading week of the entire year. View all 17 comments.

It was outdated, but Judy Blume is a great storyteller. I can't really blame her too much for writing a book 30 years ago and it not feeling up to date now.

I loved that the teen boy could not make it more than a few seconds without finishing. I was nodding when the girl was disappointed with her first time. These are real things 2 stars for my own personal enjoyment of the story. These are real things that happen. Not every experience is hearts and flowers, and the realism in this book was spot on.

I would recommend this book to any young girl who really wants to know what might happen their first time. So many books are a fun fantasy, which are fine for an escape, but this one is closer to the truth - at least for the first time. It has ever since my first read at around age fourteen or so been a novel to appreciate and read over and over again, especially since it is still considered so controversial that an unfortunately high number of ranting parental ignoramuses often the puritanical religiously fanatic types continue to desire the book to be universally banned, namely that they want not simply their own children, their own teenagers to NOT be allowed to read Forever , but that they basically strive to undemocratically and dictatorially deny like a bunch of Nazis or Stalinists ALL children, ALL young adults across the board, the basic right of freedom of choice, the freedom to read.

And please do bear with me if this review of Forever might not be as coherent and as "organised" as some of my other offerings as I often have issues posting about my personal favourites and with many of the latter, I actually am much happier and more comfortable presenting general musings and personal reactions.

Now I remember first reading Forever in the early 80s when I was in junior high school in Calgary, Alberta, to be exact. It was all the rage in my class and since many of our teachers and parents were categorically against us reading Forever at school or at all , it of course not only made Forever incredibly enticing, it also naturally made us clandestinely take copies of the novel to school, not only to read it on the sly so to speak, but of course also to allow those classmates who were not allowed to read Forever at home the chance to do so at school and I did get my first dose of respect from my erstwhile rather bullying classmates when they realised that I had actually managed to entice my mother to purchase a copy of Forever for me.

But well, my mother truly believed that Forever was simply a novel about first love and I definitely made sure not to mention in any way that Forever was considered quite massively controversial by many, including the majority of my teachers, because while my parents were generally not all that worried about my reading choices, as Germans of the immediate post WWII generation, they also at that time still had the unfortunate tendency to consider books deemed controversial by especially one's teachers, to be at best potentially problematic.

And yes, I do strongly and with a sense of annoyance that has indeed lasted for decades remember how everyone from my teachers to even many of my classmates were constantly talking and pontificating about all of the sexuality presented and featured by Judy Blume in Forever and especially the fact that Michael had named his phallus, almost as though the whole book, the whole novel was only, solely about sex, sex, and more sex.

But to be honest, when I finally did read Forever , I really did not understand and still do not quite understand what all of the fuss was about. For Forever is most definitely NOT primarily about sex, it is about two teenagers falling in love, engaging in their first heavy duty relationship, and while sex is an important part of that relationship, it is by no means the only theme presented in the novel.

In fact, I think the main points of consideration in Forever are the many interpersonal relationships, Katherine's relationship with Michael, her relationship with her friends and immediate family, and also importantly, the loving and sweetly nurturing, emotionally sustaining relationship Katherine has with her grandparents.

But personally, I for one more than realised after reading Forever the first time, that my teenaged self was not in any way ready or even willing to engage in that kind of emotional, heavy and problematic sexual relationship, or any intense interpersonal non platonic relationship for that matter and yes, even with those very few boys at school whom I actually found physically and emotionally attractive and interesting.

The candid way Judy Blume describes in Forever the ups and downs of Katherine and Michael's relationship, the massive responsibility required to prevent unwanted pregnancy condoms, but particularly how the use of birth control pills is really seen as the sole responsibility of the woman, of the girl , and in particular Erica's cousin Sybil an actual teenage pregnancy , this all made teenaged me totally realise that I absolutely wanted and needed to wait more than ANY sex education class, than ANY adult preaching abstinence, than ANY condemnation from conservative church groups could even remotely have achieved.

But yes, when I was recently rereading Forever for something like the tenth time or so, I immediately did notice that while I am still absolutely loving and engaging with Katherine as a character, I do tend to now find Michael and actually many if not even most of the presented teenaged male characters, including Michael's friend Artie more than a bit lacklustre, basically stock-like, stereotypical, rather flatly conceptualised, less nuanced and developed, and thus also much less interesting and intriguing than particularly Katherine and her best friend friend Erica and indeed, even Erica's cousin Sybil appears more fleshed out in Forever , and no pun is intended here.

And I am not sure if this is a relevant or even a correct and acceptable observation, but I have actually always had somewhat of a feeling that Judy Blume often seems to do a better job depicting, writing about female characters than male characters, that her literary girls such as Katherine, Margaret, Deenie, Rachel etc.

And even as much as I have always enjoyed reading about Peter Hatcher and his annoying little brother Fudge in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing , I actually do tend to now think that Peter's nemesis Sheila Tubman is a much more interesting, more nuanced, albeit I agree, also massively and painfully annoying and infuriating character. Therefore, in Forever , both Michael and by extension his often depressed and lonely friend Artie are not nearly as complex and interestingly depicted, presented as Katherine, Erica, and even Katherine's kid sister Jamie.

And then, when a basically flat and cardboard like character such as Artie is described as having tried to commit suicide, you do end up with a bit of a potential problem.

Now my original copy of Forver was a white paperback with a girl's picture encased in a simple locket as its front cover but unfortunately it fell apart due to multiple rereadings , and in the more recent, more current paperback version I have now and am reviewing one can see that the cover image has two sets of legs on a bed Katherine's and Michael's, I assume.

And personally, I do tend to find said particular cover rather, no actually very much unfortunate and problematic, as it strengthens the presumption that the whole and entire plotline of Forever is about what goes on in the bedroom, that the novel is ONLY about sex, when it so clearly is not it is about Michael and Katherine falling in love, and later falling out of love, and sexuality is simply part of that equation.

And yes, with regard to the general themes and issues presented in Forever , I tend to actually think that Katherine and Michael for the most part have a much healthier relationship than what is depicted in many more recent YA novels, certainly a lot healthier and normal than many of the rather shallow romances featured in series like Sweet Valley High and especially and creepily Twilight.

They are perhaps a little too much into each other, but that is not abnormal and actually rather common in teenage romances. Neither Michael nor Katherine are and fortunately depicted as being either monsters of depravity or paragons of virtue; they are just a pretty standard teenage couple experiencing their first heavy duty relationship I think Michael is perhaps a bit more emotionally immature, as well as being a bit more sexually experienced than Katherine, but that is rather standard as well, unfortunately.

Katherine and Michael thus at least in my opinion certainly do not have an inherently unhealthy relationship in Forever ; they have a relatively standard and normal teenage romance type of relationship, a love that in the end proves not to be as long-lasting, as forever as both protagonists originally and fondly thought and hoped.

Furthermore, I am personally unfailingly glad that Judy Blume has written Forever realistically, that she has not attempted to make either Katherine or Michael into some kind of teenage role models. Sometimes you just want to and need to read a realistic story, an account that also does not shy away from showing the ups and downs, the problems and joys of being a teenager and experiencing love, lust and hormones. And this was indeed one of the main reasons I enjoyed Forever so much as a teenager it presented an interesting and engaging narrative, spoke realistically to me, and covered areas and issues about which I would have felt massively weird and uncomfortable approaching and asking my parents, areas and issues that my parents also likely would not have enjoyed discussing with me either.

Furthermore I would like to just again reiterate the following once more. While I personally very much consider Forever a wonderful and in many ways even an important novel, I do recognise the fact that it is controversial and that many actually despise Forever and consider it majorly anathema.

But while I can both understand and even albeit a bit grudgingly appreciate this, I can NOT and will NOT accept in any manner, in any way, those individuals, those so-called special interest groups who that have over the years challenged the novel and attempted to have it banned, have it removed from library shelves and so on and so on.

Everyone has different tastes, and everyone also has different levels of comfort, of what he or she can handle, can accept in a book and elsewhere. However, while a parent, while anyone might indeed have the right to monitor and even restrict his or her own child's reading choices, he or she does NOT or rather should NOT ever have the right or even the presented legal opportunity to impose this on others book censorship, book banning, these are simply and profoundly dictatorial, and those who attempt to get books banned and censored are basically and for all intents and purposes undemocratic bullies, Fascist, Stalinist, you name it.

Frankly, those who want to have Forever censored or banned are a collective and dangerously ignorant threat and they are basically profoundly and dangerously undemocratic in every way. And I will both gladly and with no shame or guilt whatsoever loudly call anyone in favour of censoring or wanting Forever universally banned or removed from schools and libraries are raging Nazi or Stalinist and right to their bigoted, ignorant faces and since I also am of the firm opinion and belief that once children reach their teenage years, parents really should no longer have all that much of a right to restrict reading choices anymore anyhow, I also totally do not feel at all guilty in any way about during high school letting friends whose parents were actively preventing them from reading Forever at home peruse my personal copy of Forever at school, yay for rebellion.

It's a bit dated, yes - very 70s - but I actually loved the nostalgic vibe. It reminded me a lot of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. And to be honest, the characters in this book are the most realistic teens I've read about in YA fiction in a long time.

I would have loved to get my hands on this book when I was younger. His depression escalates when he attempts to hang himself from his shower curtain rod but fails. However, separated for the summer by work that takes them to two different states, Katherine finds herself aware of the limitations of the relationship and is ultimately attracted to a tennis instructor, Theo, who is older and more experienced in life.

She takes responsibility for breaking the news to Michael when he comes on a surprise visit and almost catches her and Theo together. Blume is known for the eloquent yet somewhat brash style of writing where cocks and periods are talked about with flourish, dignity and honesty. Rather odd for a story about virginity right? Well, not really.