Dear John
By: Nicholas Sparks
I know I may lose my title as the girliest girl in all of girldom, but this was my first official foray into the world of Nicholas Sparks. I’ve yet to see Message in a Bottle or The Notebook, and my only experience with A Walk to Remember was a showing one Sunday night on the WB, while I spent most of my time distracted by horribly important conversations involving house relations between Gryffindors and Slytherins. Other females swore by these movies and his other books, telling me with tears in their eyes that my life wouldn’t be complete until I became familiar with Nicholas Sparks.
Having read Dear John, I’m not sure if I agree or not. Yes, I found the writing style to be spectacular, and I did tear through the book in about as much time as my roommate spent playing on his Xbox this evening. However, I didn’t find myself connecting to many of the characters as much as I had hoped. Savannah, our heroine, was a bit too much of a good girl cliché for my liking. I honestly couldn’t tell if we were seeing her through our hero’s love struck eyes, or if this was an accurate portrayal of the girl. It felt as though John, our hero, was the only one with any grey, and I personally prefer my characters to be a bit more morally conflicted.
I also will confess, which may further revoke my girldom tiara, that I was far more moved by the relationship between John and his father, rather than John and Savannah’s love affair. This surprised me, crept up on me while I was still looking for the love story to resurface.
We learn in the first few pages that John and Savannah’s relationship does not last, so naturally, I expected to get utterly depressed by the final pages. Instead, I found myself filled with hope for the characters. That there are many paths we can take in life, and there are many different roads toward happiness. Whether or not this was the author’s intention, I’m not sure.
Either way, I found Nicholas Sparks to be a fabulous writer, though I found this to be less a tale of romance and more a tale of the life of a solider who only loved two people in his entire life – his father, and the woman who taught him how to love.
Having read Dear John, I’m not sure if I agree or not. Yes, I found the writing style to be spectacular, and I did tear through the book in about as much time as my roommate spent playing on his Xbox this evening. However, I didn’t find myself connecting to many of the characters as much as I had hoped. Savannah, our heroine, was a bit too much of a good girl cliché for my liking. I honestly couldn’t tell if we were seeing her through our hero’s love struck eyes, or if this was an accurate portrayal of the girl. It felt as though John, our hero, was the only one with any grey, and I personally prefer my characters to be a bit more morally conflicted.
I also will confess, which may further revoke my girldom tiara, that I was far more moved by the relationship between John and his father, rather than John and Savannah’s love affair. This surprised me, crept up on me while I was still looking for the love story to resurface.
We learn in the first few pages that John and Savannah’s relationship does not last, so naturally, I expected to get utterly depressed by the final pages. Instead, I found myself filled with hope for the characters. That there are many paths we can take in life, and there are many different roads toward happiness. Whether or not this was the author’s intention, I’m not sure.
Either way, I found Nicholas Sparks to be a fabulous writer, though I found this to be less a tale of romance and more a tale of the life of a solider who only loved two people in his entire life – his father, and the woman who taught him how to love.
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