The Truth about Forever

1. The Truth about Forever Written by: Sarah Dessen

2. Sarah Dessen

3. Characters • Macy Queen - Macy is the protagonist of this book. She is 16 years old. • Deborah Queen - Deborah is the mother of Macy and Caroline. Deborah is constantly working and strives to be perfect. She struggles with the death of her husband but doesn't show it. She disapproves of Macy's new friends. • Caroline Thurber - Macy's sister, who is the complete opposite of Macy. • Delia - Delia is the owner of Wish Catering and aunt of Wes and Bert. • Kristy Palmetto - Kristy is one of the servers for Wish Catering. When she was younger, she was in a car accident and has scars all over her face as a result. She usually dresses up in flamboyant outfits and has curly blonde hair. She lives in a trailer with her grandmother Stella • Monica (Monotone) Palmetto - Kristy‘s sisterswho is a server at Wish Catering. • Wesley "Wes" Baker - Delia's older nephew, who also works for Wish Catering and handles the bar. He went to a reform school after breaking into a house after his parents got divorced. Wes has a tattoo of a heart in a hand, which is a symbol his mother used to draw for him. • Bert Baker- Wes's younger brother. He is described as having a "home-cut hairstyle" and is a big fan in the end-of-the-world stuff. • Jason Talbot - Macy's ex-boyfriend. At the beginning of the book, he goes to a Brain Camp for the summer and works at the library.

4. Summary It is about a girl named Macy Queen. She was really close to her father. They shared many things in common, running being one of them. One morning, when her father insisted her to join him, she refused to tag along as she was way too tired, so he ended up going alone. Five minutes later, Macy decided to join her father and on her way to catch up with him, she found her father on the ground who just had a heart attack. After her father had passed away, it changed Macy’s family but most of all, herself. Three years later, she is still devastated and not capable of letting go of her father’s sudden death. Macy came up with this idea of being perfect so she would not ever have to experience pain. Also, she would bottle up all her emotions and never told anyone anything. She tried to make others happy before herself. We then meet Jason, Macy’s boyfriend, who is going off to Brain Camp all summer. To please her boyfriend, she takes over his job at the local library which we learn she despises due to two of her stuck up coworkers, Bethany and Amanda, and she eventually ends up quitting. After a day of work at the library, in search for reassurance and love, she emailed Jason. In return, Jason decided that they should take a break for the whole summer because he felt as if she was so clingy and it distracted him from his goals. Macy’s mother is a real estate agent who sells houses but also builds them. She is extremely occupied with the business her and her husband had started when he was still alive. Macy also has an older sister, Caroline, who was the complete opposite of her. She was outgoing and loved to take risks. One day, her mother throws a big party at their house which was catered by a company named WISH. This is where Macy meets Delia, the head of the catering business who later gives her a job in her company. While helping Delia during the party, she is frightened by a boy named Bert and then eventually an older boy Wes, who comes and apologizes on behalf of his brother. Later in the summer, as Macy accepts a job offer at the WISH catering , which Macy’s mother disapproves of, she meets many people. Aside from Delia, Wes, and Bert, she meets Kristy and Monica. They all become real close and go out to parties most nights after a catering job. Macy gets especially close with Wes with a game of Truth. They learn something new about each other which showed how similar they really are. Everyone was aware that there was something going on between Wes and Macy except for Macy. Later in the book, when Macy began to get more outgoing and liked to do things she normally never did, her mother had gotten upset. Macy’s mother disapproved of her new friends and that put a strain on Macy’s new found friends. Towards the end, Macy’s mother later learns to accept this change in her with the help of her older sister Caroline. In the end, when given the ultimatum to go back to her old perfect lifestyle with Jason or this new found life with Wes, and she eventually made up her mind and chose Wes.

5. Themes: Self-Identity • During the first part of the book, Macy was basically just doing whatever she could to please others and fit this image they wanted her to be. When she was with her boyfriend, Jason, she did whatever to fit his standard and be exactly like him. She wanted to be this “perfect” image for him because that’s what she thought of him. She never wanted to risk and try new things because it’s not what her boyfriend, Jason wanted. - Macy also never had the chance to find who she really was because of her mother. Her mother would always put restrictions on what she could do and what she could not do. By always trying to make her mother happy, she never really discovered who she really was. • Towards the end of the book, when she got to explore new things with no restrictions, she finally learned who she really was.

6. Themes: Perfection • In the novel, perfection was either what someone wanted or someone apparently already was. • Right in the beginning of the book when Macy’s boyfriend, Jason, was introduced, he was described to the reader as someone who was perfect. He basically never made any mistakes and he would always have everything planned ahead of time. • Since Macy wanted to make her boyfriend happy, she tried to become perfect as well. She believed to avoid disappointment and to make everyone including herself happy; she had to put up this certain image of perfection. • According to Macy, being perfect would help her avoid getting hurt again.

7. Character Development • The character with the most development in this novel was the main character, Macy. At first, she was into making others happy before herself. She tried to fit in to who her loved ones really were, instead of having her own image. She did not risk new things since the ones around her did not want to do them. She was way too afraid to do anything. She was afraid to be who she really was. • Later in the book, she realizes that no matter what, somehow and someway, pain will always come along. When Macy met Wes that is when everything began to change. Although she did not know him very much, she trusted him. For Macy, trusting someone was new to her. She was capable of telling him things she expected she would never tell anyone. She eventually learned to try new things even if sometimes it disappointed her loved ones. Towards in the book, the reader sees the difference in Macy. She took risks and did not care what others thought of her.

8. Narrative Technique The narrative techniques Sarah Dessen used throughout her novel was first-person narrative. The narrator, who was Macy, would speak out on what she felt about others and about herself. The reader was capable of reading a side to the narrator, Macy, which most characters in this book did not really know about. It is a very common narrative technique used in most books, and in my opinion, I believe it is a technique that is most efficient when writing a novel. The reader gets a deeper insight on how the narrator, who is usually the main character, feels and the reader, gets to view things in their point of view. It provides the reader with more information and an in depth feel of the narrative character.