shalaigne's Full Review: James Patterson - Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas
The plot is an interesting and touching love story. This is the first book that I read of Patterson’s book so I can’t compare it that much, except to say that my mom, who has read his other books, didn’t like the beginning of Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas; therefore she gave up reading the book. Even though the beginning was a slow read, I thought the ending was quite a page-turner that brought some tears. Patterson’s choice of writing style for the book was interesting, because it brought you closer to the characters. The style was from two main character perceptions, which are Suzanne’s diary as the main focus, and Katie, the woman reading the diary. Throughout the story I’m left with a lot of questions about each character in the story, and I know that the only reason why I finished reading this was to find the answers to all those questions. I also found Suzanne’s diary entries to be too insightful for a diary, but it gave me a lot of good details about the character.
In the beginning of the book I was wondering who Katie and Suzanne were, and why Matt had left Katie. Patterson switches the story around throughout the book from Katie and Suzanne. During Katie’s (a book editor) side of the story, the reader is left with very little detail about who she is, that it leaves you with a lot of questions: like why isn’t there more description of the city that she lives at, her house, her life. Patterson gives hardly any detail about Katie and Matt’s relationship, so I’m left with even more questions. It was interesting that Katie was going through the same questions that I was asking while reading the book. She thought Matt loved her even though he never told her that he did, and also the guy’s very secretive about himself. Therefore I had questioned why Katie even dated such a secretive guy, let alone trusted him, because I wouldn’t have. Then without answering these questions, Patterson bounces the story back to Suzanne, which brought questions about who that character was as well – who was a doctor in a big city. I was also getting a little agitated with how slow the story line was.
The middle of the story is less dragging and only some of my questions started to unfold, as if Patterson was giving out small bones to an eager dog. Patterson’s doctoral facts on Suzanne’s heath almost made me believe that he once took medical classes. Suzanne is one of the few that has a heart attack in their mid thirties, which causes her to reflect on her life. So she moves away from New York to live at Martha’s Vineyard, a small town. There she meets two Matthews, and marries the one she loves – not telling him of her heart attack. But all this gave me more questions: like was Matt a cheating scum, why did Suzanne attempt to have a second child when she knew the health risks for both the child and herself, and in the end, was everything all right with Suzanne’s health afterwards? I’m also still questioning Katie about why she dated such a secretive and possibly cheating scum. And a new question was why Katie feared to tell her parents that she was pregnant? But I was glad to see Katie hunt down Matt, so that he can answer her questions.
I found Suzanne’s knowledge to life quite interesting that I jotted some down as my self-help book. One of her main theories was the ‘five ball theory,’ in which the juggling balls for health, family, and love were made out of glass, while the money and career balls were made out of rubber. Which is an interesting theory, but an old one that I’ve heard before. But the theory that I liked best was: “Good memories are like charms, Nicky. Each is special.” Although I thought that Suzanne remembered every moment word for word. And I also enjoyed this quote: “There are words from a poem about the local fishing boats and their crews that have been carved into the bar of the Dock’s Tavern in the Vineyard. “The longed-for ships/ come empty home or founder on the deep/ and eyes first loss their tears and then their sleep.”
At the ending, all my questions were quickly answered. Of course I was cursing myself for reading the tearjerker pages at a public area, without any tissues no less. But I was satisfied with the ending, even though the beginning was boring. So I would grade this book a B+ because of the boring and dragging beginning.
Cheers
~michelle
p.s. sorry for the absence of reviews here... i joined the navy and will start bootcamp in january. plus i'm currently taking a oceanography class at my community college. take care everyone. and thanx for reviewing my reviews.
Katie Wilkinson has found the perfect man at last--but one day, he disappears, leaving behind only a diary, written by his ex-wife, for her to read. S...More at HotBookSale
Katie Wilkinson has found the perfect man at last--but one day, he disappears, leaving behind only a diary, written by his ex-wife, for her to read. S...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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