The Truth About Forever

Book Reflection

The Truth About Forever

By: Sarah Dessen

            The minute I found out Sarah Dessen had written more than one book, I wanted to read them all. So many people suggested The Truth About Forever and now, I will suggest it to many other girls.

            This book, like all of the books Sarah Dessen writes is about love. About girls that confront personal issues and along the way, find true love. Not the perfect guy, not the jock, not the rock star but the guy that completes you. The guy that makes you smile. Your true love.

            The protagonists that Sarah Dessen writes about are extremely similar. Remy, (This Lullaby) and Macy (The Truth About Forever) have tons of things in common. Attitudes that along the way make them sisters. Girls that share so many issues and so many responsibilities, so many choices to make.

            Macy is a teenage girl that has already delt with so many obstacles, obstacles like her father’s death. She has a sister, Caroline the “rebel”. Caroline is the girl that sneaks out, the million boyfriend-girl, the lets-talk-now kind of girl. Yet she has grown up to be a successful business woman, with a house, and a husband of her own. A life. When Macy’s father died, all Macy wanted to do was cry her eyes out like Caroline. She wanted to bury her head in her mother’s arms and cry. But all she got was silence. Grief that was bottle up by her mom. No crying. No remembering.

            Without Caroline’s craziness around, Macy is left with her mother. a woman that stopped laughing out loud when her husband’s heart stopped beating. She hides her very emotion and now depends on her job. She uses all the work to cover up the deep wounds that get worse every time she stays quiet. Macy’s life is surrounded by flawless people. Her so-called boyfriend Jason is equivalent to = total perfection. Perfection that Macy strives to have. Perfection that she has to live without when Wish Catering comes in the way.

            When Macy’s relationship goes from “restricted” to “on-hold” she feels devastated. The pieces on her perfect life are falling, and when there seems to be no more hope, Wish Catering falls from the sky. This catering service that her mom hires turns out to be the right place for Macy. And for some strange reason, Macy starts working with them.

            She meets the wish crew, people that unlike her, love the messy, spontaneous side of life. They all think outside the box. But most importantly, she meets Wes.

            Even though Macy keeps pushing the risks and the “dangerous changes” away, she learns that sometimes, working around the wrong, messy and risky things is better. Her life has been surrounded by neat –freaks, perfect people (mom and Jason). So now that she meets the crazy improvising-lovers side of life, she starts to change.

            Wes, unlike Jason IS the perfect guy. He lets Macy be who she wants to be, he takes every step without thinking about what-ifs. He doesn’t care if Macy is not perfect, he likes her for what she says, what she loves, who she is. And there’s something about him that makes Macy’s world spin every time she sees him. She completely opens up and tells Wes things and feelings she’s been avoiding for years.

            However, I think Delia really taught Macy the meaning of life. Not only is she the head of Wish Catering but she teaches Macy many life lessons. She explains how a boring-perfect and smooth life is nice, but can later become too normal, boring. There has to be holes, obstacles and to make it fun, we walk around them. Macy and her mom try to fill the “gaps” with school, work and perfection. Macy runs away from the hole her father left and seems to trip over it too often.

            Macy slowly realizes how “perfect” and risk-free she used to be. She realizes how sometimes, it’s better to be sorry than safe and not the other way around. Forever was never tomorrow, it was now. It was a joke, a smile, a moment, a kiss (370).

“Okay” he [Wes] said.

He took a breath.

“What would you do if you could do anything?”

 I took a step toward him, closing the space between us.

“This” I said.

 And then,

I kissed him”.

            This was not only my favorite part but the turning point. The point where Macy starts to see all of her mistakes and what she could do to solve them.

            I learned so many life lessons after reading this book. Forever is not yesterday, its not tomorrow. It’s any moment actually. A moment that I wish could go on and on. A hug maybe. Or even a smile. But a moment that you never let go, a person you never forget. Or a book you will always remember.