In the book “We’ll Always Have Summer” by Jenny Han, the story about
a love between one girl and two boys. Seems like a simple love triangle, But there’s a twist, the two boys are
brothers. The main character Isabel has feelings for both brothers, Jeremiah
Fisher and Conrad Fisher. As Isabel begins to take bigger and bigger steps into
adulthood true feelings come out. Although Isabel agreed to marry Jeremiah
she’s still in love with her ex-boyfriend Conrad. One question I focused on as
I read this book was, What is Isabel’s coming of age experience?
In the beginning of the
book, Isabel and Jeremiah were truly in love. Isabel would do anything for
Jeremiah and vice-versa. For example, “Burrowing my head in his shoulder, He
kissed my hair ‘I can’t have my girl skipping meals left and right’” (Page 4).
This shows that Jeremiah really cares about Isabel. That love suddenly changed
when Isabel found out Jeremiah cheated on her. For example, “…’did you hook up
with Lacie Barone during spring break?’...’Belly-‘‘I knew it’” (Page 17). This
shows that Jeremiah tried to hide that secret from Isabel.
In the middle of the
book, Conrad and Isabel were at Cousins for spring break. As Isabel got closer
and closer to Conrad she realized she still loved him. “Looking up at him, I
had this sudden thought. Oh my God. I
still love you.” (Page 44). This shows that Isabel still has the same
feelings for Conrad as she did before they became exes. At the end of the book,
Jeremiah and Isabel got back together even though Isabel loves Conrad. Jeremiah
proposed to Isabel and she said yes. On the day of the wedding Jeremiah didn’t show
up to the wedding. For example, “…Another thing that didn’t happened that day: Jeremiah
and I didn’t get married.” (Page 287) This shows that Jeremiah didn’t really
love Isabel like he did in the beginning of the book.
All of these events led
up to the moment where Isabel found true love, in Conrad. A few months after Jeremiah
didn’t show to the wedding, Conrad proposed to Isabel. This also shows how
adulthood is a serious thing. You have to be careful of what you do as you go
into adulthood. Isabel also had some regrets as she came into adulthood, like
saying yes to Jeremiah. This book showed that as Isabel was growing into
adulthood she faced many challenges, but got through all of them and ended up
happy at the end.
