Dear John

From the book blurb

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life–until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who has captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else.

“Dear John,” the letter read…and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love—and face the hardest decision of his life.

Author

Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 89 million copies in print worldwide, in over 50 languages, including over 50 million copies in the United States alone, and his popularity continues to soar.

His books carries romantic flair and deeply touches his reader’s heart.

Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. It was published in 1996 by Warner Books. He followed with the novels Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999) and so many such other books.

Characters

John is the protagonist in the story. He is a rebel and comes across as someone who longs for some expressed emotions and love from his dad. Later, his break-up with Lucy makes him think and ponder into himself which makes him enlist in the army. Eventually, he meets Savannah and his life changes forever. John is impulsive, emotional and rational. His transformation from a rebel to a responsible man us remarkable.

Savannah is happy-go-lucky girl. She fears God and believes in charity. Like any other girl, she is also insecure and apprehensive about her future which forces her to take some decisions that changes many people’s life!

John’s dad is someone who suffers with autism. Yet he gives adequate care to his son and makes sure that he is happy. He loves his hobby of coin collection and cherishes the same with pride. He is a man of routine and someone who can never get angry.

Tim is a gem of a person. He is selfless and caring. He speaks from his heart and stays in our heart.

What I think

I am in love with the book and its flow. Melancholy always steals my heart. And this one is just too perfect. The dilemma of Savannah, the choices that John make, and the situations that plays as villain, everything…. Everything is awesome which gradually leads the story to the amazing end - An end which carries a positive note.

The pain of loneliness… The difficult in sustaining a long distance relationship… The longing and the pain… all of these seem to be real and relatable. The books speaks in simple language and straight away touches our hearts.

The editing is crisp and narrative is fast. There is nothing that can digress from the plot and the ending cannot be better!

As always, Nicholas Sparks managed to create the spark!

But...

I really think that the book is perfect. Although I wish that more details were given about the budding relationship between John and his dad. Sparks’s books normally carries lots of profound thought. In comparison to his earlier books that I have read, this had less. But I guess that we can still live with it!

Should you read it?

It’s a tiny book.

If you like romance and melancholy… If you have a few hours to kill!

Rating

3.5/5

Some words that stole my heart

©       “Love meant that you care for another person’s happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.”

©       “Though I knew she loved and cared for me, I suddenly understood that even love and caring weren’t always enough. They were the concrete bricks of our relationship, but unstable without the mortar of time spent together, time without the threat of imminent separation hanging over us.”

©       “But I also learned that it’s possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief . . . lessens. It may not ever go away completely, but after a while it’s not overwhelming.”

©       “Our relationship, I felt with a heaviness in my chest, was beginning to feel like the spinning movement of a child’s top. When we were together, we had the power to keep it spinning, and the result was beauty and magic and an almost childlike sense of wonder; when we separated, the spinning began inevitably to slow. We became wobbly and unstable, and I knew I had to find a way to keep us from toppling over.”