Forever

I finished reading Forever, by Judy Blume last night, and after reading it I was forced to down a glass of wine and watch a bit of Conan O'Brien before going to bed just so I could forget what I had just read. Dramatic? Maybe. Let me explain.

Forever is about an 18 year old girl, Kath, who is a high school senior involved in her first, dare I say meaningful, romantic relationship. The book explores Kath's decision to have sex with her boyfriend, Michael. Taught in the classroom, I think the book succeeds at opening the conversation about sex between adolescent girls. And this is where the problems begin.

First- the book opens conversation about sex for girls. What about the boys? I don't know how any male could possible make it through this book. What male wants to read about a teenage girls inner conflict about sex? Unless you're teaching at an all girls school, exclude this book. Not to mention that the questions the book raises about sex are questions that girls already discuss anyways- when to have it? Who to have it with? How do you NOT get pregnant? The big questions that require a level of maturity that only an adult can introduced are mentioned in the book when Kath's mother gives her the pamphlet with the four important questions about sex on it, but I feel that the rest of the book minimizes the importance of these questions. Only once, at the end when Kath has discovered that she has feeling for Theo, do we find these questions being explored again.

Also, alot of the language surrounding sex is outdated- VD? I definately laughed outloud when I read this, because when I was in high school we joked about VD since it was an outdated term then (late 90's if you're wondering).

Not to mention all of the other problems that I have with the characters in the novel. Kath is well off and so are her friends- a ski lodge in Vermont, Erica's beach house, how many students are wealthy enough that they can relate to this kind of lifestyle? Kath also mentions that she knows that people from happy homes with happily married parents are more likely to have happy marriages. WHAAAATTT?!?! What message is this sending to our students, many of whom come from broken homes? They are destined for a life of solitude or unhappiness? Also, Kath is so completely one dimensional. The whole book never really develops the relationship between her and Michael- most of their interactions include him trying to persuade her into having sex, her saying no, and then her finally giving in only to discover that she loves it. Yeah, that's a healthy message to send to teenage girls. Oh wait, did I mention Sybil, who has sex with lots of guys to give herself a sense of self-worth, gets pregnant, and after giving birth says she is still not giving up sex. Wow. Later on in the novel, Erica briefly mentionst that Sybil got more than she bargained for with the birth of her baby, but I still get the overall message that sex is so much fun that not even the unplanned pregnancy can stop it.

I think it's crucial to start a healthy, open conversation about sex with students, only because the conversation that should be taking place with the parents most likely isn't. However, Forever is outdated and sends all the wrong messages. The overall message of the book is that your first love won't last forever, so don't let them pin your wings down. I have to say it, I hate this book.