“Did you ever wonder, if maybe you’ve already met the guy you’re going to marry.” (p. 37) In the fictional novel, Long Time Passing, Linda Crew tells a love story of a sophomore girl growing up in Oregon in 1966, during the times of the hippies and the Vietnam War. Everyone was worried about either getting drafted or having your friends and family get drafted in the war. Kenny often wondered what was the point of falling in love with someone if they were just going to have to leave. She has a hard time finding her place. She doesn’t want to be with the popular crowd like her mom was and her brother is. She doesn’t want to be like her friend Diane whose boyfriend controls her, and she doesn’t want to be like her dad who is ok with the war going on and never does anything to try to stop it. She wants to be her own person who stands up for what she believes in and isn’t just a follower. Her dreams are always changing: She goes from wanting to be a musician to liking drama, to liking art and finally, in the end, realizing she’s meant to be a writer. Kathy used to think that when she met the love of her life she would realize it right away, but that all changes when she starts talking to James. She had seen him thousands of times in the hallways, but they had never acknowledged each other until she stood up for him one day in class. Before her life was boring and sad, “She hadn’t been aware of being in a particularly bad mood. But look around, a world racked with war, cities in flames, the environment deteriorating moment by moment. To chirp around like a birdie in a Disney cartoon just didn’t seem, frankly, like a very intelligent response.”(p.77) James changed everything she felt as if her life had just started. She finally found someone who understands her completely. But how can she and James possibly stay together through the times of war when everyone has a different opinion, but no one is brave enough to speak it?
Long Time Passing is a great story about keeping dreams and speaking up for what’s right. It’s a book about standing up for what you believe in and not just turning your back to what’s going on in the world. It shows that dreams are always changing and if one dream doesn’t work out, try another and stick to what you really want. It’s also about being young and how hard growing up really is. “Oh, it was awful to be young! Everything so scary and confusing, grown-ups forever pointing out how important every decision you made would prove to be. But it was wonderful to be young! Everything so new and exciting, thousands of choices and things constantly happening for the very first time.” (p.151) Besides all of that, this book is also about true love and how stories are never like reality. “Maybe you had to watch your own life and see how it all planned out.” This book is great for people of any ages, because it gives you the confidence to speak feelings and it lets the reader know that even just one person can change the world if they stick up for what’s right. -M.J.