A word of warning: This review will be conducted from a soapbox¹ (which, if you think about it, is a completely baffling expression).

¹ As one would expect from a young feminist gynecologist, of course.

Let's cut to the chase: This book is about a realistically intense relationship between Kath and Michael, two teenagers in the 1970s. They meet, fall in love with a speed only teens are capable of, he wants to sleep with her, she is reluctant, eventually they do it, they are both into it, she (res More...

Edit on 12/11/2011: To anyone who's got a problem with this review:

1) Yes, I know that this book was a big deal when it was released. That doesn't mean that when I read it in this day and age that I'm going to judge it by it's historical significance--I definitely appreciate it but it doesn't change the fact that I read it when I did and didn't like it and I don't want to have to constantly justify myself for that. (Let's ignore the fact that that's precisely what I'm doing with this edit. Right More...

How depressing.

Keeping in mind this book was published in the mid-70s, it's still incredibly relevant to today's society. In fact, apart from the absence of conspicuous technology like cell phones, this could have taken place in the 2000s. It's a timeless story, and the reason it's getting such a low rating from me is purely personal:

Michael reminded me of the ex boyfriend who broke my heart and whom I still have nightmares about years later. A pushy sex-obsessed hormonal teenage boy who pressur More...

I read this book because I'm attempting to read (or reread) some classic YA books. Now, I'm a so-so fan of Judy Blume, I know she has a lot of die-hards out there. I recently read Everything I Need to Know About Being a Girl I learned from Judy Blume but I guess I was more of a Beverly Cleary kid.

This book is about first loves and first sexual experiences. The story itself was good, but I think Judy Blume left out a lot of details. The boyfriend, Michael, is basically a horn dog who would do any More...

You can read more reviews at my blog, The Armchair Librarian!

Don't be fooled by that Sarah Dessenesque cover, lovelies. There's no fluffy, innocent puppy love in this baby. Nope. This book is about

SEX. (Now that I have your attention...)

People get their panties in a twist over sex. Literally and figuratively. Ironically, the people whose panties are most twisted figuratively, probably aren't getting any of the literal variety. I know. Sad.

It's like adults think that some kind of sex fairy is goi More...

2 stars for my own personal enjoyment of the story. It was outdated, but Judy Blume is a great storyteller. I can't really blame her too much for writing a book 30 years ago and it not feeling up to date now.

5 stars for the author telling a realistic story about a girl's first time with both falling in love and having sex. I loved that the teen boy could not make it more than a few seconds without finishing. I was nodding when the girl was disappointed with her first time. These are real things More...

A rather lackluster narrative of a teen relationship, Forever is still noteworthy for a couple of reasons: 1. It's the first-written ya book I know of where the kids fall in love, make a responsible decision to have sex and neither is killed, maimed, impregnated or emotionally scarred for life. 2. Blume depicts two teens who fall in love with one another, have a fulfilling (if somewhat blah) relationship, and fall out of love. There's no patronizing insinuation that teens are too young to be in More...

Nope. Didn't like this one either. Another YA Lit book read for class. I guess I didn't like it for two main reasons. First, the boyfriend is a completely flat character; from what the author shows/tells you of him (which is pretty much nothing save a bit of whining) you really can't figure out what all the fuss is about. I felt more toward Theo in the ten or so pages devoted to him than I did for whats-his-name (I literally can't remember even though I read it yesterday, so I guess that helps p More...

I picked up this book because there was an article I read a few weeks ago about how it's still controversial--even banned in some places. I wondered how a teen book written in 1975 could still be considered "taboo" by today's standards. I was actually very surprised at how sexually explicit it was. Everything (and I do mean everything) is described in very graphic detail. Parts of the book seemed more like a "how to" manual, and other sections bordered on pornography. As with all realistic ficti More...

-from inside flap-

The bed is brass, covered with a patchwork quilt, and "nice and firm," Michael says, "in case you're interested." Katherine is interested.
From this night on their life is a love story. But Katherine is in love with love, and Michael is in love with Katherine.
Judy Blume has written a blithe and telling novel about young people in love-- not only Katherine and Michael, but their suburban friends.


As just for something to read, this book was okay. The characters were believable and More...

This book was recommended to me and therefore I was very surprised that it wasn't very good. I don't care about the explicit nature of it. In fact, sex scenes were the only ones that kept me remotely interested in the story. Book just wasn't written that well. Language was overly simplistic, there was no depth to the story. Even at 17 there is more to a teenager's emotions than: I like the guy, he is nice, I want to have sex with him, I love him, etc. Plus, the relationship described fell flat, More...

This book is great. It is intended for a more mature audience. Forever is about a girl named Katherine, that lives in a suburban area of New Jersey. She is 17 years old and a senior in highschool. On New Years Eve she goes to a party. There she meets a boy named Michael.

Ever since the party Michael and Kath have been seeing eachother.After 19 dates Kath discovers her pationate love for Michael. Their love grows so strong, they make love.

When I heard this book was out in ebook format, I just had to pick it up again to see how I’d feel about it now as an adult. When I first read this book, it was in the early 90s. I was about 11 years old and at that time, this book was all the talk among my friends. How else were we suppose to get real information about sex? There was no internet, youtube or easily accessible PPV at that time. I remember that I really enjoyed the story itself but felt sad about the ending.

I must say that this bo More...

I'm sure this book was very important in its time and was the means by which many girls learned about sex. Unfortunately for Forever, I am not interested in PSA books; I prefer multidimensional characters, a plot, and emotions. Weird, huh?

The lack of the aforementioned qualities is what really drove this book into 1 star territory for me, but there were a few... special qualities that dug its grave even deeper.

1. Ellipses

There were so many ellipses... at the end of basically every sentence spok More...

"No 'Forever' by Judy Blume!"

The county's mobile library came to my middle school and some kids were invited to choose books to supplement the stock at our own library. The English teacher, who had quite a froggy voice, stood at the door saying "No 'Forever' by Judy Blume!"

Looking back, why didn't she just find it for herself and hide it somewhere?

Gemma had her own copy and all the cool kids borrowed it. They said that it fell open at the sex scenes. I remember being told by one of the cool kids More...

I hardly want to admit I read this book... kind of funny that a "censored" book like this managed to make it pretty far around my 5th or 6th grade in Utah (it seems all my friends at the time had read it, were reading it, or were planning to read it). I think I actually made it about half way through the book and just didn't feel like it was something I should be reading (having a strong religious background encouraging waiting until marriage to enjoy sex). It's funny to think back on what I do More...

Forever was considered quite the shocker in it's day and I'd say it's still fairly graphic for a YA book, but teenagers sex lives aren't quite the taboo subject that it was once upon a time.
Kath meets Michael and feels an almost immediate connection with him, leading within several weeks to their first time together which is more that a bit of a disappointment for her. The descrptions of their fumbling attempts are very believable. The thing that makes this less stars than it otherwise would is More...

Forever is about that first love. It was eerily reminiscent of my first real relationship when I was 16. Though it was set in the late seventies I felt as if someone had recorded all the mistakes I made with my first "true love", changed the names and a few minor details and kicked out an incredibly relate able and enjoyable (in that painful yearning sort of way) little novel. The short book represents a "hot and heavy" high school romance. It is funny to read about that intense curiosity you ex More...

What I learned: If you are going to have sex, use birth control. Your first love, no matter how passionate, probably isn't your true love.
I remember this one with fondness because there were about three copies going around when I was in 7th grade. We read it, passed in on to the next girl, who in turn passed it on. Every 12-13 year old girl in my class read it sometime that year and it was something we all had in common. I suppose, now that I think about it, the reason we shared the books is th More...

I first read this book in high school. I was a wide-eyed innocent so, to me, this was racy and explicit. That was twenty years ago, and I was feeling nostalgic, so I re-read it. I still believe every teenage girl should read this book. It would be the perfect way to have the sometimes embarrassing sex talk and a wonderful way to demonstrate that "forever" sometimes really isn't.

First read (8/6/2009): This book is EVERYTHING. A gigantic PSA announcement, a children's book, a YA novel...

At times even I felt uncomfortable with how detailed Blume got into everything. I never read this when I was young, and I thought nothing could be more graphic or detailed or informative than Deenie or Are You There G-d? It's Me, Margaret. I was clearly wrong.

BUT it was excellent, because aside from some things that just don't translate out of the 70s, this book was spot on about how you More...

Actually 3.5 a very quick read. I have to say that I had no idea Judy Blume went there! I mean totally went there!! So if I can get that part out of my mind then I might be able to wrap my head around this book hahaha !! Oh!!! Those feelings we get with our first love! New love! Very fun :)

After reading Forever, these were my thoughts on it:

The writing was nothing special.
The characters were ok.
But the reason, I gave this book 2 stars, was because how this book made me think and feel about the meaning of Forever.
Michael and Katherine, thought they had something special, something that would last forever.
But forever, is a long time and things sometimes don't work out.
Like relationships.
Or even marriage, which sometimes end in seperation and divorce.
To me, the writing and charact More...

Ok, so for ages I had heard there was a Judy Blume book in which a boy has a penis called Ralph, but I didn't know the title. After never stumbling across it, I sorta forget and considered it an urban legend or something - until one glorious day. I picked up Forever at an op shop in Orewa, and was reading it on the bus home when I read "Katherine, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Ralph", or whatever the line is. I was so excited I gasped and tore the book in half (the spine was really britt More...

I read this book in my early teens. It taught me that young love is beautiful and all-encompassing but that forever at that age is a word that should be stricken from the vocabulary. While we may all dream of forever, at 15 forever can be over in a few months. And it usually is, but life moves on.

Judy Blume expertly crafted a YA novel about first love and first sexual encounters, that while considered explicit for the time in which it was written and published, does not delve into smut.

I loved More...