'Forever': Judy Blume's controversial novel gets a modern adaptation

Judy Blume, one of the most well-known authors of children's literature and young adult novels, has had her work transformed into a few screen adaptations before. But a modern take on her divisive book, "Forever," recently debuted as a Netflix series, and the interpretation of such a hotly debated novel has garnered critical acclaim.

The author's books were particularly popular among her original Gen X fan base. Known for her frank conversations about menstruation and teen sexuality, many of her works have been deemed inappropriate by generations of concerned parents. The "Forever" adaptation is striking up such conversations.

Why was the novel considered so hotly debated?

Blume released "Forever," a young adult novel about a young woman falling in love for the first time and losing her virginity to her more experienced boyfriend in 1975, and the book was almost immediately "deemed controversial by those who believed it was too sexually explicit for young readers," Time said. Some states even banned the book from schools. Half a century later, the book is considered her "most controversial novel," though it is not "her only work that has been challenged by censors."

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It never occurred to her at the time that "what I was writing was controversial," Blume said on her website almost 30 years ago. "Much of it grew out of my own feelings and concerns when I was young." Blume wrote "Forever" in the "aftermath of the Pill, in response to her daughter's request for a story in which a teen girl doesn't get punished for having, and enjoying, a sex life — the dominant narrative at the time," said The New York Times. Blume's take captured the "dramatic rush of first love" and the "fumbling urgency of adolescent exploration in frank language that made it both irresistible for young readers" and one of the most frequently banned books, well into the 2000s.

Between 1990 and 1999, "Forever" was the seventh most frequently challenged book, according to the American Library Association. It was often flagged for its sexual content and offensive language.

How are people reacting to the Netflix adaptation?

Mara Brock Akil, creator and showrunner of Netflix's adaptation, takes the seminal coming-of-age story out of suburban New Jersey and reimagines it in 2018 Los Angeles with a primarily Black cast. The show also flips the roles and makes the male protagonist, basketball player Justin, the less experienced of the two, telling much of the story from his perspective. The critical response had been overwhelmingly positive. "Winningly, it preserves the source's emotional innocence," the Times said, and parents can rest assured "this is not the hard living of teen fare" like HBO's "Euphoria." But the series still "builds tension exploring issues of race and class."

Teen dramas "can be hit or miss," said The Cut. Luckily, "Forever" is a "worthwhile binge that will charm its way into your heart." The show is reminiscent of "late high-school experiences" like the "awkward tenderness of a first romance," leaning into it "with the help of a well-directed and well-written show with an excellent soundtrack."

We are "in the middle of yet another Judy Blume renaissance," said Vogue, following the first resurgence linked to the release of the film version of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" in 2023. In Akil's adaptation of the book for Netflix, it "feels safe to say that Blume's spirit is alive and well." Focusing the central love story on two Black teenagers "leans into the universality of Blume's narrative," even though the book's characters were predominantly white and upper-middle-class. The adaptation "tells a new and sorely needed story about class status in Los Angeles and Black girlhood."

The new series is "more than a great teen drama or an adaptation that effectively updates a 50-year-old book," Time said, thanks in part to the expansion of perspective. Writing "so specific, it's universal," the "intimacy of the directing" along with the intensity the leads bring to their roles, and the "richness of the cinematograph," all combine to make "one of TV's best romances, full stop." It may be a coming-of-age story centered on teens, but "whether you're a kid or a parent or neither, Black in California or Jewish in Jersey or Asian in Minnesota, if you love love in all its complexity, 'Forever' is for you."