In celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th, we are highlighting a favorite strong heroine every day!
Sharon's Pick: Macy from The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
The Truth About Forever is my all-time favorite YA book. Yes, a lot of this is because of Wes, not to mention Kristy and the rest of the Best Cast of Secondary Characters Ever. But I could not love a book this much if it had a heroine I disliked or disrespected. Macy has a strength I very much admire.
Macy is a complicated character, and at the beginning of the book, she is still in a lot of pain from her father's death. She lives alone in a big house with her mother, and neither of them have truly grieved for Macy's father. Macy is trying her best to handle things by striving toward absolute perfection in every area of her life. Obviously, her obsessiveness with this goal is not really doing anything other than causing frustration at her failure to attain it.
During the course of the book, Macy learns a lot of things about life and perspective. She learns hard lessons and makes difficult changes, and these take strength to accomplish. She learns how to confront her grief, how to let go, how to rely on others when needed, how to be herself, and how to stand up for herself and go after what she wants. These are not easy things to accomplish! Macy shows incredible strength in pursuing these things.
One thing I like about Macy is actually that she isn't perfect. She makes mistakes along the way. She doesn't handle some things the way she should. And that's okay. Making these changes is a huge deal. It's tough. If you could do it without a hitch, it would not take strength to accomplish. She stumbles along the way, but Macy makes huge strides with herself, her relationship with her mother, and her friends. I think a good lesson can be learned from Macy: You don't have to be perfect to be strong.
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