The Truth about Forever

by Sarah Dessen

Hardcover, 2004

Status

Available

Call number

F Des

Call number

F Des

Barcode

6208

Publication

Viking Books for Young Readers (2004), Edition: First Edition, 384 pages

Description

The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.

Original publication date

2004

User reviews

LibraryThing member shootingstarr7
I LOVED this book. Loved it, loved it, loved it. So much so that in the week since I read it, I've purchased it. One of the things I've noticed about young adult literature is that the characters aren't always real. So many of the books being published for this market are about spoiled rich kids
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(The A-List, Gossip Girl, The IT Girl and The Clique series all seem to focus on these horrible, spoiled children, and it makes me sad that these books are what teens are reading. Though Macy and her mother are well-off, Macy is a real character with real issues and insecurities. Nor is Macy the alienated "I have no friends and I'm so misunderstood" type. She's one of the most real young adult characters I've read in a long time. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good young adult literature.
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LibraryThing member lfalkenberg
The truth about forever is an intriguing story that describes the importance of being happy with yourself and your life. Dessen does this by creating a character who doesn’t deal with the death of her father well. While the surface of this character looks happy and well, on the inside she cannot
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face the difficulty she’s been having with the death. As a result, she strives to be perfect on the outside while on the inside she’s a disaster. Throughout the book she realizes perfection isn’t happiness and exposing her true feelings on her dad’s death and everything she’s kept a secret isn’t a bad thing. The character begins to drive away from her safe life she’s chosen for herself since her dad passed away and takes a risk, following her heart.
I really enjoyed this book because I was truly interested in what was occurring. Dessens’ descriptions of each situation made me feel the emotions that were being portrayed. Not only that, but I would also catch myself really feeling excited, sad, or upset (etc) while reading. While I have read other books that I have liked before, I enjoyed this one far more than any other. I believe this is because it’s about real situations; it’s about life and things that actually happen and can be related to. I have never felt so in touch and excited about a story before reading this. I feel that this is because I can take out of the story and use it in my own life. For example, this next quote made me stop reading for a moment and think, which is one reason why I enjoyed the book so much. “You have to have a little bit of disorganization now and then. Otherwise, you’ll never really enjoy it when things go right.” (94). However, there are many more aspects that I liked about the book than just the descriptions and emotional portion.
I liked every single character in this book. I really enjoyed how some of them were the “perfect” ones- living the “perfect” life- and others were the “real” ones. It was a nice balance between two different worlds and it really showed me the pros and cons of each as well as how different they are from each other. However, I was often frustrated with many of the characters because of the choices they were making. Although, this did not take away from my liking of the characters, it only made me more interested in the story. I also enjoyed the setting of the book; I felt it was perfect for the story line. I really think Dessen did a great job from the story line to the characters to the setting to the meaning. However, there was one thing in particular I thought Dessen did wonderfully with; the point of view.
If the truth about forever was written from any other person I would not have enjoyed it as much as I did. I liked that the story was told by Macy- the character I described earlier dealing with the death of her father while struggling internally- because she was around my age, so it was easier to relate and understand what she was saying. However, I also feel as though she, out of all the characters, was the one who would have been able to tell the story the best. It was Macy’s point of view that made the story so great.
There was nothing I disliked about this book. Without a doubt, this is my favorite book of all times. Reading this book made me feel emotions I never thought I could feel from just reading a book. The truth about forever was truly an amazing book and I would recommend it to any girl on this earth. I never knew it was possible for me to like a book this much, but that just goes to show I have a lot more books to read. But this particular book will always be one of my all time favorites.
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LibraryThing member yourotherleft
Macy Queen is fine. Just fine. She's been fine ever since her dad died the day after Christmas as she looked on. Ever since she and her mom ordered and organized grief out of their lives in favor of silent and predictable days, she has been fine. Ever since Macy started dating Jason, a brainiac who
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seems to know all the answers but is a little lacking in the love department, she has been fine.

As she sinks into another long summer at home, taking over Jason's job at the library info desk while he heads off to "Brain Camp," Macy is determined to be fine even though her co-workers treat her as something less than human, her mother has entirely lost herself in a townhouse project at work, and her dead father's obsession with infomercial inventions continues to haunt her. Alas, when she makes the mistake of professing her love to Jason via e-mail and not taking her library job seriously enough, Jason declares a break for their relationship. That's when Macy takes up with the chaotic but full of heart Wish catering crew and everything starts to change, most of all Macy herself. As the summer wears on, her friends from Wish teach Macy how to start living life again, and handsome, artistic Wes who seems to understand her in ways she could never have imagined has a lot to teach her about love.

The Truth About Forever is an excellent book which is targeted at a young adult audience but can be appreciated by anyone looking for a great story populated with entirely lovable, believable characters. Macy is an incredibly realistic teen narrator, someone who, while not a social outcast, is struggling with many problems and laboring under the weight of the facade she relies on to get through the day. It's impossible not to root for her, wishing that she'd dump her terrible library job not to mention Jason whose loveless cerebral approach to their relationship and total lack of emotional warmth make readers loath him as much Macy loves him. Each of the members of the Wish crew is a fully fleshed out character and each has a part to play in Macy's story.

What's best about this book, though, is Dessen's grasp on Macy's many conflicting emotions and her brilliant ability to pace events just right, so that we can really feel the emotional punch her story is packing. If you're anything like me, this is not a book that you'll want to read too much of in public. I found myself crying repeatedly as Macy finally finds the understanding she's been looking for, works through the grief she had bottled inside, and learns that real friends don't want an act, they want her.
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LibraryThing member katrinasoper
I'm not a huge sarah dessen girl but i read them once in a while because they have cute characters with deeper, important meanings. This one is by far my most favorite dessen book. How Macy developes as a character throughout the book was well done and i felt that even though i wasn't like the
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characters, i could still relate to them. And plus... the book had a VERY nice guy in it. Kind of like a book crush for me, a bit. But i liked how the book just didn't focus on that, but on Macy dealing with her dad's death, her unesasy realtionship with her mom and realizing that sometimes you just need to live. I loved the minor charcters, all of Wish catering's staff. Over all, a good realistic fiction dessen book.
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LibraryThing member larson23
The Truth About Forever is an amazing book. I could really relate to this book. Macy is the main character and she is the "perfect" girl, yet dealing with the death of her father. Good grades, good boyfriend, perfect life, until she meets the employees of Wish Catering. Macy is offered a job with
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Wish Catering and takes it up, after her boyfriend tells her that he wants a break from their relationship. Macy is having the time of her life with her new found friends; she starts to change into herself. Wes, a guy that works for Wish Catering, starts talking to Macy and they start again of their own. Towards the end of the summer, though, Macy's mother doesn't approve of the way Macy has been starting to act and most importantly, her new friends. Macy is forced back into her "perfect" life.

This book is about finding happiness in your life, having adventure and surprises. Life is boring without adventure, so live in the moments that you wish would last forever.
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LibraryThing member LostintheCrowd789
Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors. I love the way she takes characters from some of her books and puts them int others. Like in Just Listen she has Macy and Wes from the Truth About Forever, and Remy and the band from This Lullaby.
I love The Truth About forever because Dessen makes it seem
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like that characters are real, like one day you'll look out your window and see Macy and Wes running by.
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LibraryThing member curlyq9689
The Truth About Forever follows the life of Macy- a perfect girl. Macy watched her father die and after that she gave up a lot of things in order to be "perfect". Macy wanted to be perfect and throughout this novel she struggles to find herself again and learns that life isn't about being perfect
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but it is a series of beginnings and endings. The Truth About Forever is a novel that has a lot of different elements going on it. This novel would be good for building character maps and an event list. The students can see how even though you may struggle to be perfect, it isn't what everyone wants. This novel talks about grieving, friendship, SATs, and even love. All of these elements are things that most of the students will have experienced, making it easily relateable to them. The Truth About Forever is a novel that can make one laugh and cry and realize that life is better when it isn't perfect.
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LibraryThing member library_girl27
This is my favorite Sarah Dessen book. Macy is trying to deal with the death of her father when her boyfriend decides it's time for them to take a break for the summer. Macy begins to work for a catering company and while there meets friends that help her discover who she and who she wants to be.
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Be warned -- there is loads of swearing.
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LibraryThing member elocin910
This was a fantastic book. It was great how the main character, Macy, came back and fixed everything in the end. In front of Jason, too!!! I can't wait to read Just Listen by Sarah Dessen; I've heard it's a good one too. :)
LibraryThing member karriethelibrarian
This book has everything going for it. It's a terrific story about a young woman going through a difficult time in her life after her father dies before her eyes. She manages to deal with her grief over her dad and a break up with her boyfriend by getting a job with a quirky caterer. She grows up
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and deals with real life problems in very practical ways.

This is a wonderful book that will empower girls and give them an excellent example of having a good head on one's shoulders.
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LibraryThing member Lindsayg
This is my first book by Sarah Dessen, I didn't realize how popular she is until after I'd finished it and looked up some of the Amazon reviews. Usually when I look it up a book I've enjoyed on Amazon I'll find less than ten positive reviews, and maybe three negative reviews. This book has 116 five
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star reviews and 21 more four star reviews. Only 1 one star review. That's amazing to me. Are teens just more likely to get on there and write about the books they love? I agreed with them, I thought this was a terrific book. I couldn't put it down. The main character, Macy, has lost her Dad about a year before when the story begins. It becomes clear to the reader pretty early on and both she and her mother are stuck in a holding pattern of grief. Things just keep getting worse for Macy, her boyfriend leaves for the summer, her coworkers at her new job hate her, until she meets a new group of friends. It's wonderful to watch things start to change for Macy. It's one of those rare books where the plot is almost completely about the character development, not too many big events actually happen, and yet it's never boring. I love those books.
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LibraryThing member markfrye
Dessen's awesome, finding the story in the routine "tragedy" of universal experiences yet again, this one being repressed grieving and the lie of pursuing perfectionism in the lives of a daughter and her mom.
LibraryThing member afrank9
I actually really enjoyed this book. I tend to lean more towards fantasy novels in preference, but one of my best friends told me to read it and I'm so glad that I did. I really enjoyed going through that summer with Macy. I felt so bad for her and was truly worried about how the "Wes situation"
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would work out for a moment. Even though it was slightly obvious you still have to worry, right!? I have to say that the end of the book was my absolute favorite ending to any book about teen love that I have read so far and I put it down with a racing heart. It really cheers you up to read it. Love, love, loved it.
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LibraryThing member ThisYAlibrarian
Macy is perfect. Perfect Mother, perfect boyfriend, perfect prospects for the future, but this summer would change all that. Life is going at quick pace for Macy at the end of her junior year in High School. Her boyfriend is off to “Brain Camp” (for smart kids) and her Mother, a real estate
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developer, is managing the new townhouse phase for their neighborhood and Macy is to start working at the library information desk. Slowly though her life is starting to fray: the library job is horrible, her boyfriend wants to take a break, and she and her mother have yet to grieve the loss of her father. When Macy takes on a new job with a chaotic catering business, she learns what is really important in life and catches the eye of Wes, an “extraordinary” boy (in the words of her new friend Christy).
The Truth About Forever is a wonderful book for teens. Real characters and real emotions ooze from this incredible novel. Sarah Dessen is a great writer that captures the hardships and good times of teenage girl’s life.
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LibraryThing member Rickmaniac
good character development; I actually cared about the main character, and wanted to see her through her grief and troubled relationship with her mother, who was in great denial over her husband's death
LibraryThing member dreaa9
This novel is about a girl named Macy, who has a boyfriend and he is "perfect boyfriend" even though he wasn't to affectionate. The first time that she said i love you to him he broke up with her. Its summer time and all she does is study for the SAT's because her ex boyfriend was away at camp. She
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worked at the library and this was what she did for fun. One day her mom had a house party that had catering and she got a job with them. There she met a boy and they were just friends at first and every time they were with each other they played a game called truth, but her mom didn't like her new friends because she felt they were a bad influence on her. Her mother told her to stop hanging out with them for a while but soon went back to being friends and then they began to fall in love. After this her ex wants her back because he sees that she's changed but she didn't take him back and lived a happy life with the catering boyfriend.
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LibraryThing member Jazzie54
Awsome book, the writing was fantastic. normaly i don't like this genre of books, but it was not just a romance book. this book talked about some deep stuff.
LibraryThing member chicklitter
I've been looking at this book for a while now. For one thing, I love the cover. For another, the back cover blurb sounded interesting. However, I didn't pick it up until a few weeks ago.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this isn't a light, fluffy Y.A. romance. Rather, it's the story about a
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young woman who's trying to figure herself out and who's so used to telling everyone she's "fine" that she's begun to believe it, too. Macy isn't fine, though. Her father died at a young age of a heart attack a year and a half before, her relationship with her mother is strained at best and her boyfriend Jason is, well, he kind of reminds me of a robot in that he's so focused and has the answers and lists for everything and disregards sticky emotions.

Macy's beginning the summer taking over Jason's job at the library's front desk while he's away at Brain Camp. She's the outcast, unwanted there by the "perfect" girls who worked at the library long before she and Jason started dating. They make her life at the library a stilted, uncomfortable sort of hell. Her free time is spent studying for the SATs. When she emails Jason and tells him she misses him and that she loves him, he responds by saying he thinks they need a break and that he's afraid she isn't taking her job at the library's front desk seriously enough.

Not quite knowing what to do, Macy's driving around town and sees the Wish catering van up ahead. Delia and the Wish crew had previously catered an event at her mom's house, and Delia had told Macy that if Macy found herself wanting or needing a job with them she would be more than happy to hire her. So Macy follows the van, ends up at a party and is hired on the spot by Delia, who's very pregnant and in desperate need of help.

As the summer continues, Macy begins to realize that since her dad died she's kind of locked herself up emotionally. She doesn't allow herself to feel much, strives to be "perfect" because she thinks that's what everyone expects of her (which her mom does, really, to an extent), and has never allowed herself to grieve her dad's untimely death.

There's also Wes, though. Understanding, artistic, and hot Wes. Wes who looks at Macy and actually sees her, who likes her and her imperfections. Wes, who's recently lost his mom. Wes, who is also on a break.

Their friendship develops over the course of the summer, beginning really with a game called Truth (basically, you have to tell the truth and if you pass on a question and the other person answers your question you lose). Truth is something that's woven throughout the novel--Macy and Wes play it whenever they can, make new rules, discard old ones, etc. Everyone else thinks they're weird, but it's their way of getting to know one another and of sharing things about themselves. Neither of them asks easy questions, either.

Macy's mom sees the changes in her daughter, though, gets scared and tells Macy she has to quit her job with Wish and not see any of her friends from the catering crew again. Macy's of course devastated--she'd just started to come back to life! Of course things change, mainly due to a freak thunderstorm that screws up an outdoor gala her mom had been planning. The caterer quits. Her mom's at wits end and asks Macy to call Delia and see if Wish can cater the party. Of course, Wish does, even though Delia's recently had the baby and hasn't catered an event since. Jason shows back up, tells Macy he wants to get back together. Thanks to a gift from Wes, Macy realizes there's no way she can go back to being the person she was. So she runs after Wes (literally--and that's an important thing, y'all) and amends the rules to Truth.

This was such a touching book. I continue to be amazed by the fact that I can relate to YA heroines so well, but this one was another winner. Macy is so real, and so vulnerable. Wes is so amazing (imperfect, but amazing nonetheless). The secondary characters were all well-drawn and fully fleshed-out. It wasn't as fast a read as some of the other YA's I've read, but that's okay, nothing wrong with a somewhat slower read. Everything about this book just worked, and odds are I'll buy another novel by Dessen (actually, Just Listen looks pretty good).
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LibraryThing member jshea26
"The Truth About Forever" is an amazing love story. As all of Sarah Dessen books do, it instantly clicked with my life. The scary part is I played "truth" with a friend of mine a couple of days before reading it. I love her descriptions and how easily her words flow together. This book is my second
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favorite behind "Just Listen". I cry every time I read it.
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LibraryThing member jnogal
I enjoyed this book a lot, but I found it to be a bit too drawn out.
LibraryThing member simplykatie
it's apparently a good set of books lately. anyways, this book was classic dessen and even though i smelled the ending about one hundred pages in, i was still cheering for it.
LibraryThing member EliSparkie
Macy was forever changed after her father's death. Her perfect life is ruined when her dad dies because she stops doing what she loves and has lost every bit of life from herself. Everything from the no-running to her isolation from her family, she is like a robot. That, though, all starts changing
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when she starts working for Wish (a catering company) and making friend with Kristi (an outgoing scarred teen), Monica (the two-worded vocabulary sloth), and Wes (an artist). She becomes especially attached to Wes through a game of truth (in which they have to tell the absolute truth). In the end, she ends up not getting back with Brainy Jason, and stays with Wonderful Wes.
I absolutely enjoyed this read, and have read it several times now. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a simple light read.
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LibraryThing member roseq406
I really loved this book, I enjoyed the catering part and i think sarah dessen writes very powerful stories
LibraryThing member lupita0
This book so far is about Macy. Her very smart boyfriend goes to camp, leaving her with the his job at the library, which is very boring and she doesnt enjoy it. Later, he breaks up with her because she ended her email to him with "i love you". She then finds a new job, and new friends, and a new
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guy at a catering job, which she enjoys, and gets her mind off of her father's death.
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LibraryThing member DF6B_MadisonH
This was a slow book to read, just because I don't normally read books like this. Macy is discovering freedom from her boyfriend who basically is her life, Jason. When she gets into a new business along with working a job she promised Jason she'd do, she learns there's a lot more to life than just
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books and study.
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Rating

(1295 ratings; 4.2)

Pages

384
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