The Truth About Forever

This was my first ever Sarah Dessen book, and nothing can be better than rereading it to refresh my memories of some of my very favorite characters! I read the eBook first when I was 18, and had heavily sympathized with the main character, Macy, with her characteristic way of handling grief. I reread it a few days ago, and I still believe that the main character and everyone else’s way of processing grief was so different and yet, so valid.

The book is about a young girl, Macy, in her summer break before the senior year and her ever-changing thinking about the way she viewed her father’s death a little over a year ago. The book navigates the relationship of Macy with her mother, who also changed into a workaholic; and her elder sister, who processed the grief in such a healthy way. When Macy meets the catering crew Wish in her house, being utterly chaotic and so… comfortable in their own skin, she realizes her need for chaos in her own life. Macy had a seemingly perfect life till then: a perfect boyfriend, Jason, with perfect grades, her job at the library with two uptight classmates who disdained her, and a life without any excitement that could derail her from her plans. So when she gets hurt at Jason's rejection of her declaration of love, she craves the chaos that only Wish could provide, and the members Delia, Bert, Kristy, Monica, and Wes are glad to have a helping hand on board.

The slow-burning romance between Wes and Macy had me aww-ing and "sawoooon"-ing when I read it. Apart from the obvious handsomeness and kind nature that Wes possessed, it was important for readers to know how patient he is with everyone. The way he has had his share of grief, has pledged to do good by his brother and people who have taken him in makes him human, and a good man. To see that Macy appreciates these characteristics in him, says a lot about her too because, in the long run, she was able to take a lot of first steps in mending her relationships.

“I’d long ago learned not to be picky in farewells. They weren’t guaranteed or promised.

You were lucky, more than blessed, if you got a good-bye at all.”

When Delia says this while reminiscing about her sister, it hit a chord through Macy, and of course, me. How often do we take our times with our loved ones for granted, and treat them callously, because we think that time with them is endless! As departures and deaths are sudden, we should cherish the time spent with them, in the case we never get a chance at a farewell for them at all.

“That was the hard thing about grief, and the grieving. They spoke another language, and the words we knew always fell short of what we wanted them to say.”

I have not many words to say because it hit too close to home. Sometimes we become too comfortable in our pity-bubble to articulate our condolences towards a fellow suffering person.

That my genuine “Sorry” can be perceived as less, when I know that it is not, the very thought is unsettling. The one sorry uttered has to work, because sometimes, it is the only way to sympathize.

“Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, to how it holds you to a place.”

“That was the thing. You never got used to it, the idea of someone being gone. Just when you think it’s reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you and it just hits you all over again, that shocking.”

How Dessen made this young adult and romance book into a deep and thoughtful piece about grief and its associated emotions is commendable. Everyone has their own ways of dealing with it, some can cope with it, and some others take it too hard. It’s mentioned throughout the book: how closed off Macy and her mother was regarding her father’s death, and how gradually due to external influences they gradually accepted and started moving on healthily.

“For any one of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. You can never know for sure, so you’d better make every second count.”

“That was the thing. You just never knew. Forever was so many different things. It was always changing, it was what everything was really all about.”

This book is a must-read if you want some light-heartedness, along with well-developed characters. You may not relate with all or any of them, but you’ll definitely feel that people like them are around us.