Title: Dear John
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Pages: 276
Publisher: Warner Books
ISBN: 0446528056
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.
REVIEW
Romance books is a guilty pleasure for me. I am not too fond of romance novels but there are a few books that becomes an exemption to my rule. The Notebook is one of them, a story written by Nicholas Sparks. I love both the movie adaptation and the book but enough about that and let’s go on in talking about another Sparks creation, Dear John.
Dear John is a lovely story. John and Savannah’s story is quick, intense and care-free at the beginning but as the relationship grew, circumstances unraveled which tested their love to each other. Dear John gave us an idea of unconditional love, teen-sweet love and the reality of certain instances wherein you have to make the selfless decision not only for your life but also with the people you love in order to understand what love really meant. Sparks writing style is very easy, pacing was fast and I love how the story was presented to the readers. The characters were very “real” and you’ll definitely connect not only to John and Savannah but to other minor characters as well.
What I love about Sparks is that he writes realistic stories, stories that doesn’t end with happily ever after like some romance novels but rather stories that can really happen to someone. Stories that does not raise your expectation too high but stories that are genuine, heartfelt and intense. His endings are heart breaking to a point but at the end you’ll realize that sometime in your life, you have experienced a “Dear John” or a “The Notebook” type of love story yourself.
Moving forward, is Dear John recommended? In my opinion, yes but read with caution. If you don’t like sad endings don’t pick up Dear John – find another book. If you want to feel sappy and romantic, read this book. I myself highly recommend Dear John, and would eventually re-read this in the future.
My only question for Sparks fan out there is this: are most of his stories end with a sad note? The reason why I asked is because both books that I read are like this, so I was pondering if all his stories are similar or are there books that end happily? Any recommendations?
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