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Summary
Summary
His classmates may consider him a nerd, but Benedict Pendleton knows he's destined for great things. All he has to do is find a worthy girlfriend, and his social station will be secured. Sure, Benedict is different--but that's what he likes about himself.
Pen Lupo is sick and tired of hiding who she is. On the outside, Pen is popular, quiet, and deferential to her boyfriend. On the inside, however, Pen is honest, opinionated--and not sure that she's quite like other girls. Do they have urges like she does?
When fate intervenes, Pen and Benedict end up at the same vacation resort for winter break. Despite their differences, the two are drawn together. But is there such a thing as happily ever after for this unlikely pair?
Author Notes
B. T. Gottfred is an author, playwright, and director. He wrote the play Marry, F**K, Or Kill, which premiered Off Broadway in the fall of 2011. He wrote and directed the play Women Are Crazy Because Men Are A**holes that has played over four years in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and San Diego. He wrote, directed, and executive produced the film The Movie Hero. His novels include Forever for a Year and The Nerdy and the Dirty.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Gottfred (Forever for a Year) offers a hilarious and deeply honest look at high school love through the alternating voices of two teens. Penelope "Pen" Lupo is dating the most popular boy in school, yet at the cost of keeping her true self hidden, especially the sexually voracious part that Pen thinks makes her "Such. A. Freak!" Benedict Pendleton is as smart, cerebral, and socially obtuse as his academic father, but he's also hiding an emotionally vulnerable part of himself that longs for connection. An unlikely couple to say the least, the two 16-year-olds find common ground at a winter resort, where they fall for each other and learn how to be "not normal" together. Gottfred creates addictive, true-to-life voices for both characters whose thoughts, decisions, and experience help guide the sex-positive relationship that takes shape. Although this novel includes detailed descriptions and discussions of masturbation, consent, and first-time sex, it's never didactic or heavy-handed, and instead offers a raw, empowering, and lighthearted view of first love and teenage-and especially female-sexuality. Ages 17-up. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Grinberg Literary Management. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Benedict Maximus Pendleton is a pretentious straight-A student, robotically literal-minded and obsessed with (the appearance of) perfection--understandably, as his similarly unemotional psychiatrist father is the author of the bestseller Being a Perfect Person. Though she's "a stoner and a loser," according to Benedict, Penelope Lupo is really an emotionally and intellectually repressed Catholic girl who is tired of faking normalcy. (And who, we learn in her first chapter, "masturbate[s] a ton.") That these two teens, equally neurotic but in very different ways, go on to fall in love over winter break at a Wisconsin resort should feel ludicrous, but that we wholly buy it when they do is thanks to Gottfred's (Forever for a Year, rev. 7/15) nuanced characterizations. The personalities brewing underneath the characters' faades ultimately complement each other perfectly. Penelope admires that Benedict says exactly what he means, and she learns to do the same; Benedict sees in Penelope a kind of intelligence he never knew existed. There's (again) a lot of sex in Gottfred's sophomore novel, but his approach to teenage sexuality is refreshing: it's the authenticity that comes from understanding how teens think and feel and, importantly, the respect he has for teens' sexual and romantic experiences; for their right to enjoy those experiences. Readers will cheer as these two endearing, unique, and believably voiced characters learn to finally be real--with themselves, with each other, and with the world. katrina hedeen (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Benedict Pendelton and Pen Lupo barely exist to each other. Benedict is socially inept, principally because he is too intelligent to conform (as much as he would like to obtain social capital). Meanwhile, I wanted to be liked more than I wanted to be me, Pen reflects. She has traded in her real self for a lesser version that grants her a popular boyfriend and social standing. Pen maintains a silence that borders on invisibility; Benedict cannot help speaking, usually bluntly and usually uninvited. When they end up at the same ski resort for winter break, they discover just how much they can help each other become their best and truest selves. Extremely funny, this features two brutally honest protagonists who take turns telling the story. Benedict is trying to develop an identity that will please his self-help guru father, while resisting the negativity of Evil Benny, the voice in his head that points out all his faults and failures. Pen's preoccupation with her heightened sexual desires and obsessions is frank in a way not often explored or even included in relation to young women. This is a love story that is genuine, explicit, passionate, and often adorable. Pen's and Benedict's ability to accept their true selves transcends their hormones, their parents' burdens, and their peers' expectations, and makes for a reading experience not soon forgotten.--Dean, Kara Copyright 2016 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-Benedict Maximus Pendleton is the son of a best-selling author and completely unable to interact with his peers because of his "social problems," as he calls them. Penelope Lupo feels trapped by her popularity and suspects that her sexual appetite makes her a freak. When simultaneous family vacations force them together, Benedict and Pen discover that the things that make them different might make them perfect for each other. Through their bond, both are able to recognize unhealthy relationships and set boundaries. Their romance, though intense, is quite positive in that neither wants to change in order to find love. While it is important to have books that represent a range of teen sexual experiences and appetites, the gratuitous masturbatory details and unrealistic first sexual encounter add nothing to the story. There is never the realization that Pen's healthy sexual urges are not "dirty," merely that she stops caring that they are. The author relies on different stereotypes, including those related to Catholics, Italians, and teenage girls. Most troubling are the stereotypes about people who have difficulty understanding social cues, which define Benedict as nerdy and reinforce the idea that people with these issues are simply awkward or difficult and that their struggles to interact with others are humorous. Readers should know that the text contains many ableist terms referring to mental illness as well as a slur commonly applied to people with Down syndrome. VERDICT Though this work is not completely without charm, lazy characterization and offensive language make it a pass for school and most public libraries.-Elizabeth Saxton, Tiffin, OH © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Benedict Pendleton and Penelope Lupo are the unlikeliest of unlikely high school couples. Intelligent and painfully socially awkward, 16-year-old Benedict lives life perfectly, as described by his father in his bestselling book, Being a Perfect Person. Foulmouthed, 16-year-old Pen is a cool girl with tight, black clothes and a popular boyfriend. Only this isnt who they really are at all. It is only when fate intervenes and the two wind up at the same resort over winter vacation that dark-oliveskinned Pen and white Benedict both find each other and find themselves. Told in alternating and delightfully distinct first-person chapters, this novel is a profoundly open and honest exploration of teen identity, sexuality, and connection. There is also plenty of humor, particularly when it comes to Benedicts inability to filter his thoughts and words. Secondary characters, such as Pens mother and Benedicts father, add depth and will leave some readers reaching toward the pages looking for a neck to throttle. This is a novel that will surely arouse emotion. It will offend some who may not be prepared to embrace a young woman openly obsessed with sex, particularly with pleasuring herself. Some may be disturbed by the frank descriptions of sexual interactions between teen partners. Those readers are missing the point and depriving themselves. A truly beautiful story about passionately falling in love with another and learning to love and share your true self. (Fiction. 14 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
