Prologue:

This is my favorite Nicholas Sparks novel to date. In another review I stated that I liked all his novels, but I definitely had a favorite… This, my friends, is it. I picked this book up one afternoon just before I boarded a plane from Houston to hometown Detroit. A memorable plane trip for a couple reasons: One, the book. I read it all on that trip. Two: I was in first class (I love being in first class!). I remember the plane touching down with eleven pages left to go (the countdown clock started in my head). By the time the plane taxied to the gate, I didn’t care how long I had to stay on that plane… I wasn’t leaving. Tears streaming down my cheeks, I finished the novel. At least two other passengers stopped to ask me if I was alright. I finished that last page, laughing and crying. I looked up to see that the flight attendants were cleaning up around me. One smiled patiently and asked me what I was reading.


Plot (without Spoilers):

Just as the main character and narrator, Landon, tells you in the beginning, "This is my story, I promise to leave nothing out. First you will smile, and then you will cry - don't say you haven't been warned."

In the Prologue, Landon Carter says, "When I was seventeen, my life changed forever." As Landon walks through the streets of his hometown he begins to think back to his senior year in high school where his story begins.

Sparks tells you his story with language that is so visual you feel you can reach out and touch the people or the places. Landon is your typical high school senior from the 50’s. He’s basically a good kid. He is popular and does care about what his peers think of him, which causes him some problems during this story. Then, there is Jamie Sullivan, the Bible reading, dowdy dressed, unbelievably optimistic, daughter of old Reverend Hegbert Sullivan. She has no friends even though she is known as the friendliest person in Beaufort and the most helpful to those in need. We are immediately touched by the beauty of her soul.

Somehow, some way, Landon and Jamie become friends. This year, Jamie is playing the lead in the annual Beaufort Christmas pageant, which her father wrote in order to preserve religion and decency, while concurrently teaching a moral lesson to the people.

On the evening of the Christmas pageant, Landon's and Jamie's lives are linked together. In the weeks and months that follow, Landon discovers the truths about the nature of beauty, the joy of giving, the pain of loss, and most of all, the power of love.


Writing Style, Motif etc.:

Written in the first person, from Landon’s point of view, this story is so beautiful and touching, this novel is told to us through the eyes of a sensitive, poetic man, looking back on his life and sharing the events that molded him into the man he finally became. It shows beauty, friendship, the things that really matter, and (of course) love.


End Note:

Although the story sounds like a simple teenage love story, it is far from that. This is a tale that goes beyond age or gender. There are just too few books like this being written today. I would read the book before you see the movie. I know they changed the setting to a modern day, which I think will detract from the story. I wanted to get this review out there before the movie is released (January 25, 2002). It’s a very quick read. Well worth the few hours it takes.


Other Nicholas Sparks Novels:

The Notebook Published in October, 1996, Message In a Bottle Published in April 1998, A Walk To Remember Published in October 1999, The Rescue Published in September 2000, A Bend in the Road Published in September 2001 and Nights in Rodanthe Published in September 2002.


Recommended: Yes