20 Books of Summer 2023: Forever by Judy Blume

Katherine is 17 years old and in love with Michael. 

Like most 17 year olds, she thinks she knows everything and is mildly annoyed when her parents gently suggest she should see other friends and not take Michael too seriously. As far as Katherine is concerned, Michael is the love of her life and they'll be together forever. 

Then - against her will - she has to take a job, found for her by father, at her younger sister's summer camp. And there she meets Theo, and starts to question everything she thought she knew. 

Forever was published in 1975 and was a forerunner in YA literature. I was a teenager at that time, and I so wish I had known about Judy Blume. Like Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret which I read last year, Forever deals with real issues, but it is neither preachy nor boring, because above all it is a fast-moving, interesting story about young love at a time of societal change.

Blume's characters are always well developed and nuanced, and the circumstances they find themselves in are real. Michael wants to sleep with Katherine; she's a virgin and she's not sure. Eventually they do have sex, but the first time is neither exciting nor enjoyable;

'Everybody says the first time is no good for a virgin. I'm not disappointed.' But I was. I'd wanted it to be perfect.....I'm no longer a virgin. I'll never have to go through that first-time business again and I'm glad...Still, I can't help feeling let down.

Katherine doesn't hate her parents, in fact she likes them a lot. They married young - her mother has her 40th birthday during the course of the book - and are easy-going and liberal. Nevertheless, Katherine rebuffs her mother's attempts to talk about Michael/sex, and her father almost loses his temper through his concern about his daughter taking risks or perhaps being hurt. Her mother also raises the issue of consent, one that is of course to the forefront now but about which I don't recall hearing a single thing  when I was 18;

My mother came into my room that night. 'I cut this article out of today's Times,' she said, handing it to me....the title was What about the right to say no?...It was written by the director of medical clinics at Yale.

Katherine also likes her sister Jamie, despite Jamie's numerous artistic accomplishments that often leave Katherine in the shade. They get on. It's a happy family, and one of the many ways in which Blume subverts our expectations. Although Katherine gets frustrated by her parents' 'intrusion', she does listen to what her mother says, and later in the story she remembers this and realises that not all of it was rubbish. She's also surprised to learn that her mother and father did 'go steady' with others before they met.

He and Mom started reminiscing about their college days. I didn't tell them that with Michael and me it's different. That it's not just some fifties' fad like going steady. That with us it is love - real, true, honest-to-goodness love.

Most of all, Katherine likes her grandparents, who are lawyers living in New York City. She's taken aback when her grandmother, who volunteers at Planned Parenthood, asks her if she's sleeping with Michael, and later send her leaflets about contraception. The relationship between the grandparents is beautifully drawn; Grandpa has had a stroke, Grandma once stood for Congress, is still working and living an active life. A small scene in a restaurant highlights their enduring love for one another. Blume can say so much in so few words; after Grandpa dies (and Blume is spot-on in showing us Katherine's confusion and grief);

I tried to remember all the good things - the way he'd toasted Grandma in the restaurant - To love, he'd said, raising his glass.

Minor characters like Katherine's friends Erica and Sibyl aren't just ciphers either. Again Blume avoids the clichés - Katherine is sleeping with Michael, but no, she doesn't get pregnant, it's her more promiscuous friend Sibyl who does. And no, the pregnancy doesn't ruin her life; the baby is given up for adoption and Sibyl goes off to one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. But;

She didn't want to talk about the baby. I think the whole experience was more than she bargained for.

Meanwhile Erica dates Michael's sensitive friend Artie, and wonders why he doesn't want to have sex with her. Artie is a complex character with many issues and his story is only touched on here, but still Blume handles it with sensitivity and in a realistic way. The other teenagers only have so much patience with him, and think he should just do what he wants (despite parental pressure making this impossible), but it's not as easy as that, and when things come to a near tragic head, all of them feel terrible. 

Similarly, we perhaps expect Michael (who's merrily taken a summer job in North Carolina without any of the worries that Kath has about being packed off to New Hampshire. He didn't even bother to tell her at first) to be the one to end the relationship. A 20 year old boy is a prime candidate for the 'not wanting to be tied down' club. But in the end it's Kath who realises her feelings have changed. 

Forever is a short - just 155 small pages in the Pan edition - but it covers so much ground, and in such a skilful way. Blume makes us feel for every single character in the book; no one is one-dimensional. Above all she respects young people.

Forever is a real tour de force, and I only wish that, like thousands of American girls, I had read it all those years ago. 

Forever by Judy Blume was first published in 1975 and is widely available online.

Judy Blume Forever, a documentary about the author, is currently available on Amazon Prime.

Judy Blume (image: Wikipedia)