Summer Reading #24

Forever by Judy Blume

I received my first Judy Blume book when I was nine years old, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I was going into fourth grade, so my parents thought it would be cool for me to read about a kid my age. I fell in love with the characters, so Superfudge,  and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great were naturally on my reading repertoire. I was grown with two kids when I read Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret because I'd never gotten to it as a teen. Needless to say, I am a fan. So, when I saw this on the shelf at the bookstore the other day, I knew I would be buying it.

Written in 1975, this was ahead of its time, as far as young adult lit is concerned. Now, in 2015, the things Blume writes about in Forever are fairly commonplace. Somehow, though, this book and its content, are timeless.

Katherine is a senior in high school. She meets Michael at a New Year's party, and although they don't hit it off in the first hours of their acquaintance, it doesn't take long (less than a day) for Kath to be swept up in all things Michael. Kath has dated before, but the way she feels about Michael is far more than she has felt for any other boy, and she thinks it's love. She's a virgin, and Michael is always pressuring her to have sex, which seems pretty typical.

They do finally have sex, and Kath, responsible girl that she is, gets herself on birth control. She is convinced she'll be with Michael forever, hence the title. The summer after senior year, they both get jobs that will keep them apart. This is not necessarily a choice on Kath's part, as her parents force her to get a job at a summer camp. They write letters, but, gasp, Kath meets a man that she develops feelings for. She is confused about her feelings because she still loves Michael, but she likes this other guy too. Michael doesn't like this much, and breaks up with her.

What I got from this, as a grown, middle aged woman, is that we are stupid when it is first love. We are willing to give up everything just to spend time with this one person. We are more easily coerced when we think we're in love. First love makes us more naïve than we might normally be.