Mulling on Monday #11

2 Stars

Late, I know, but here it is, another Monday.

And while I know that I banned myself from any Nicholas Sparks, this is from a while ago, and I just forgot to put it up. So there. Yet another reason as to why I should go on a Sparks boycott for the time being.

Alright, so I am back and have just finished yet another Nicolas Sparks novel, one that I was unsure if I wanted to read because of who it was half inspired by; yes that would be Miley Cyrus.
So this novel gave me mixed emotions. It was overall written well, as in the Nicholas Sparks brand, but it seemed to slug through certain parts, and yet in some chapters you were bewildered as to where the time went.

Then there was the story line itself.

I am not 100% sure of what story Sparks was trying to tell here. The different elements of the story could have been good plot lines themselves. However, they were all put together in a giant, emotional mixing bowl. It felt at times like you were reading three different stories, and you just happened to know the characters.

What was most disappointing for me was the fact that I was able to put down the novel after, and just read another book. It was a “yeah, okay, that books done.” moment, which is something no author should be looking for.

I also found it awfully predictable. I knew what was going to happen chapters in advance.
Overall, it was an okay novel, though I am glad that I only borrowed it and did not buy it as I had originally planned.

Ronnie’s life is a mess, and it just keeps getting worse.

A shop-lifter in New-York, with slipping grades and a blind hate towards her father, things cannot get any worse when she is condemned to spend the summer with him, in a small town. It’s her own personal hell, come to life.

Things don’t get better fast. That is, until she meets a guy. And from there, everything changes into a different angle.

From the award-winning author Nicholas Sparks, comes a novel that tell of the power of summer love.

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Published: September 8th 2009 by Grand Central Publishing

Page Count: 405

ISBN: 0446547565    (isbn13: 9780446547567)

Quick Review: Dear John

  2 ½ Stars

So I sat down with this novel after being promised that it was an amazing novel and that the movie was superb and that it had everything Nicholas Sparks had offered before.

  I should not have been surprised that after reading The Last Song, that I would not enjoy it.

  Sparks has veered off into a different realm, it seems, than the great novels like A Walk to Remember, and The Notebook.  Those were heart-wrenching romances.

  This was just…dull.

  I admit, the first part of the novel was promising, if not familiar to The Last Song. It seemed like it could work up to a steady, heart-pounding climax.

  Dull.

  Also, the novel promises a ‘life-changing decision’. Okay. Waited for that, and it was not untill I passed a few pages that I had to flip back and realize ‘oh. That was it’. See? So well hidden I missed it.

  And the ending. That was awfully dull too. And so easily foreseen. I guess, though that it was realistic, and therefore, it made the ending a little more down-played than a big shablam ending, but, I wished for a twist. Some sad twist of fate. A long lost-something-or-other. No. Just what he had and what he did. The end.

  This novel really, really let me down. One of my first thoughts after finishing was ‘I’m done with Nicholas Sparks for a while’. Sadly, this remains true, and will for a while. Though I suppose I could visit his old stuff, when it was actually good. But for now, I am going on a Nicholas Sparks ban.

  I liked the characters though. thoughtfully developed, and rounded out by the end, but they can only do so much in a story such as this.

  I think that everything just needs to be re-worked. A bigger climax (eh-ehm.  How about a more noticable one?), and a story that is way more deep than this.

John Tyree is an angry rebel wanthing nothing to do with school, planning or his Dad. And he is half-sick to death with the only thing his father will share with him in his boring, everyday routine; coins.

 So when he gets out of high-school, out of the party zone and into the real world, surfing and drinking is about the most he can see himself doing in this life.

Until two marines jog by.

Without much of a thought, John enlists in the army, with very little regrets. He is fit, he has good buddies, and he gets to see the world.

 But when he returns home from Germany on leave, all that changes when a girl drops her purse in the ocean.

The two young people soon find themselves falling for each other, their lives tangling, and love forming. But that all changes when John’s leave is up, and it’s time to go back to to Germany.

 However, the two write letters back and forth, love sealed into each of them, scalding, hurting, and John and Savannah are counting down the days untill John comes home.

That changes on 9/11.

In a story that is truthful and realastic, Dear John is a novel that seems heart-felt.

 

 

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Published: October 30th 2006 by Warner Books (first published 2006)

Page Count: 276

ISBN: 0446528056    (isbn13: 9780446528054)

Mulling On Monday #6

2 Stars

  Alright. It’s been awhile since I have last written, but that was due to circumstances out of my controll, so, here I am now. Miss me?

  Just kidding.

  Alright, so for my sixth Monday Mulling Moment, I have chosen the book The Last Song. Yes, I know. Yet another Nicholas Sparks book? Yes. Another one. But this one I did not really enjoy.

  Why? Sparks seemed to have issues with choosing a topic and sticking to it. The story veered off in a dozen different directions that could have supplied three other books. Also, the summer in the novel seemed to fly by, by any standards, and by the end of the book, you were suprised that it could even spend that long. I also hated the fact that random things happened that had nothing to do with the story, and suddenly, they became full blown topics.

  What I did like. There was little that I did like, other than it was a quick read. And the fact that it was typical Sparks romance, with a tear-jerker moment thown in.

  Overall, quite frankly, the novel just made me roll my eyes untill I was unsure if I could roll them anymore. I had to slog through the summer flames and turtles and creepy dudes that threaten you, along with a chick who is so out of control and frames you. But whatever. Now I don’t have to see the movie.

  Ronnie is out of controll. A shoplifter with divorced parents living in New York, the ultimate hell would have to be being sent to see her father…who she has not talked to in years. He, after all, walked out on the family. But when her mother gives her the ultimate punishment, she is forced to see her father with her little brother in a dead-beat down where little happens.

That all changes when she  gets run into at a volleyball game. From there, the summer goes down as one of the most troubled and romantic of her life.

Yet another novel from the Award-Winning Nicholas Sparks, this is a light romance with every hint of truth.

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Published:

September 8th 2009 by Grand Central Publishing

Page Count: 390

ISBN: 0446547565    (isbn13: 9780446547567)

Quote Day

“You’re going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it’s always their actions you should judge them by. It’s actions, not words, that matter.”

— Nicholas Sparks

Book Of The Week: A Walk To Remember

4 Stars

Ah, yes, I know. A Walk To Remember, by NICHOLAS SPARKS. A book that most people have heard of, if not have seen the movie. How predictable for a girl. A romance. Sigh.

I chose to do this one rather than The Notebook because, although I love them both dearly, and think they are a tie, I watched the movie this week, and immediately though of putting it up here.

So the book of the Week is a heart-wrenching romance, that, as Nicholas Sparks puts it “first you will smile, and then you will cry.” Oh, I forgot about how sad it is.

What I like so much about this novel is the fact that the twist at the end is so good, and the bad guy falls for the girl nobody even thought he would go for; even she warns him. Poor guy didn’t know what he was getting into.

I think that I also like how much better the book was than the movie; it transferred over nicely, but I find I still like the book that much better.

In 1958 Landon Carter is the average ‘cool guy’ teenager. He has the looks, the money, the style. And he is doing his best to get rid of the impeding adulthood hovering in front of his face. It all comes down to one dumb mistake that sends him to help out with the Christmas play. Then he gets roped into the lead role…with Jamie Sullivan.

Jamie is a nice, religious girl whose father is the pastor. She is also out of touch with style, even though she is pretty, and seen as a geek at school. But slowly, Landon is finding himself falling for her. But Jamie is hiding something; and that something to lead to the end of all.

In this beloved movie and novel, Sparks explores the meaning of kindness, and what true love really looks like.

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Published:  September 1st 2004 by Warner Books (first published 1999)

Page Count:  224

ISBN: 0446693804    (isbn13: 9780446693806)