For once, I'm not going to tell you to read this book. I'm not going to spam this post with promotion because this book doesn't require it, it speaks for itself.
No, for once I am not going to overload you with a threatening recommendation, I'm not even really reviewing this book. I cannot critique, because there is nothing to criticize.For once I'm talking solely about my relationship with this book, so get comfortable because the story starts here:
I was eleven-years-old when I was first introduced to Sarah Dessen. One fateful day four years ago, I was walking through a news agency with my mum when she called me over to the book section and asked me, “Do you want to buy a book?”
I shrugged. What would I buy? At this time I was starting to lose touch with reading, I was starting to lose touch with everything. I'd just been diagnosed with diabetes, my friends had stopped talking to me, I refused to attend school and I was stuck in this awkward universe, trying to figure out where I belonged.
Do I want to buy a book?
I'd always been fascinated with words; I used to tremble with excitement when the teacher would announce free writing time in English class or assign a spelling test. Heaven! After those long weeks in the hospital, I realized I missed words, I missed turning pages, I missed the feel of something solid in my hands, the little world I held that was all mine, everything I could immerse myself in.
So I decided yes, I do want to buy a book.
I looked at all those even spines sitting in perfect rows and I was suddenly giddy. Which one, which one? I picked up book after book, getting frustrated as I kept surfacing with nothing but it was then I noticed mum had already discovered one for me.
The cover caught me instantly, all bright colors and pretty illustrations (it was the UK cover if your wondering) and I decided I had to have it, I didn't care for the plot, I just had to learn The Truth about Forever.
I started reading on the drive home and kept reading until late that night. I'd never felt the urgency to read a book so much before, I probably even dreamed about it.
I remember the moment I finished reading The Truth about Forever. I was sitting on my bed and it was around midnight, the book was in my hands still and I kept repeating that very last word in my head over and over again: Now, now, now. And then I started to cry, not because I was sad but because I was stunned.
I realized then how much time I had dedicated to this book, how it had made me feel and how Sarah had changed my life.
As aforementioned, before I picked up this book I had no idea what was going on in my life. I'd been diagnosed with diabetes, I almost lost my mum a month later, my friends abandoned me, I was bullied because I was weird and chubby and the only thing I wanted in the whole wide world was for somebody to tell me why this was happening. I thought my life was going to be one big orb of happiness, I thought life was going to be perfect.
However, I learnt alongside Macy the impossible image of perfection and how to embrace all things flawed and wonderful. I learnt that life could be over in an instant and that we should enjoy the present, because forever is this single throbbing moment in which everything goes wrong and comes together all at the same time. Forever is what we thought we'd never have but the only thing that remains. Forever is the duration I will be indebted to and idolise, Sarah Dessen.
In the end, the reason I love Sarah isn't because she has taught me some very valuable lessons, or because she inspired and keeps inspiring me to write, or even because she creates the most incredible male characters.
The reason I love Sarah Dessen is because she brought me hope. Amongst all the uncertainty, her words managed to breakthrough and awaken a sense of passion and life in me I was beginning to think I'd lost. The reason I love Sarah Dessen is because she taught me the truth about forever and encourage me to chase mine.
So go, grab your forever because it’s passing you by now, now, now!
