An Amazon Best Book of the Month: Literature & Fiction
RealSimple.com Best New Books Selection
“A tale of love and loss, with some unexpected twists along the way…satisfying…heart-wrenching.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Pagán has created a story of two modern-day star-crossed lovers and the unconventional family they weave.” —Booklist
“Pagán's bittersweet novel…deserves a wide readership among women's lit readers.” —Library Journal
“A beautifully poetic reminder that life and love are often nothing like we expect but also exactly what we need.…The characters are complex and dynamic, yet flawed and relatable, and demonstrate the depths of our hearts and just how far we are willing to end so we can make room for the love we know belongs in our lives.” —RT Book Reviews, Top Pick
“A heartfelt novel about the perils of unrequited love.” —InStyle.com
“Forever is the Worst Long Time is a gut-wrenching look into a nontraditional relationship. When life pitches a curveball, sometimes you have to introduce unconventional methods into the family dynamic.…Pagán’s latest is love story told from different viewpoints.” —Associated Press
“Sensitive and compelling...” —Authorlink
“Camille Pagan’s writing is magic. From the first page, her characters have so much warmth and depth that they feel to me like old friends. I laugh with them, I cry with them, I root wholeheartedly for their happiness. And when my time with them is over, I'm just so glad to have had them in my life.” —Cristina Alger Wang, author of This Was Not the Plan
“This is one of those books that sticks with you long after you’ve read the last page. Tender, funny, lovely, sad. It’s all of those things and plenty more.” —Matthew Norman, author of We’re All Damaged and Domestic Violets
“Forever is the Worst Long Time is a stunning novel, laced with humor, heartbreak and characters who will move into your life and won't let you go. It reels you in with an unlikely love story and then wrenches you with its surprising, devastating ending. I loved it!” —Maddie Dawson, author of The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness
01/01/2017
When James Hernandez meets his best friend Rob's fiancée Louisa "Lou" Bell in 1988, and she utters the prophetic words "this story ends with loss," he knows two things immediately: Lou isn't like any of the other girls whom Rob has dated, and James is blindingly in love with her. His love of Lou, unfortunately, stops him dead in his tracks. He fails to finish any of the novels that he's started writing, he damages his romantic relationships, and he gives up an academic track for a more middle-of-the-road career. Then Lou and Rob go through a separation, and a one-night stand between Lou and Jim leads to a baby girl, Emerson. James and Lou eventually form a platonic parenting relationship and James marries another, realizing that his life became stuck in his pursuit of perfection. But life isn't always perfect, and it does always end in loss. What matters is love. VERDICT Pagán's (Life and Other Near-Death Experiences) bittersweet novel, which takes place from 1998 to 2016, deserves a wide readership among women's lit readers.—Jennifer Mills, Shorewood-Troy Lib., IL
2016-11-07
A tale of love and loss, with some unexpected twists along the way.When James Hernandez first meets Louisa "Lou" Bell, he instantly falls in love with her. Only trouble is, she's engaged to his best friend, Rob. For James, a struggling writer and teacher, Lou is the ideal woman—a beautiful and thoughtful poet. As the years go by, James both obsesses over Lou from afar and watches as his own dreams of romance and success slowly peter out. When Lou and Rob's relationship begins to waver, James can't help but be there for Lou, attempting to rationalize away his betrayal of his childhood friend. Years after he first laid eyes on her, and with Lou and Rob's marriage near its end, James finds out that his attraction to Lou is mutual. Pagán's (Life and Other Near-Death Experiences, 2015, etc.) latest could have been a traditional love story but ends up far more complicated and heart-wrenching. Throughout the text, James addresses an absent "you," whom he quickly identifies as Lou's child. Though its format does at first provide more questions than answers, it is clear that he's telling his story—one of love and friendship, heartbreak and betrayal—with urgency. While the younger James and Lou feel slightly hollow, they do develop more complex personalities over time. What starts as merely James' obsession with Lou does eventually blossom into a more nuanced understanding of who she truly is. James begins the novel with a foreboding quote from Lou: "This story ends with loss." And while this is certainly true of Pagán's tale, it is thankfully both more complicated and more satisfying than that. Relationships, both romantic and platonic, are in flux for all of these characters as they struggle to live without regret.
