Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks. Whether it’d be his books or movies, his stories always seems to touch me in a way that no other author can. His books are so creatively written so that you are simply dragged in and can visualize and feel everything that you read from cover to cover. While I have read many of Sparks’ books, there are still a few that I have yet to acquire due to the busyness of life’s daily activities. Over the latest Christmas holiday I decided to sit down and read Sparks’ book, Dear John, because I knew that the movie was soon to be released on February 5th! Yes, it’s out already! Go see it!
Dear John is a romantic story of the rebellious John Tyree and the simple Savannah Curtis. Sparks was able to tie in many interesting topics into one amazing book that include life of a military man and family, charitable acts, as well as the condition known as Asperger. While hearing about the book, one would know about the first two topics previously listed, however reviewers and Sparks was able to keep the most interesting topic out of the limelight: Asperger.
The book starts out by allowing the reader to know that the narrator, John Tyree himself, was raised in Wilmington, N.C. John was, again, quite the rebellious teenager growing up with only his father who seemed like he was the most laidback parent anyone could ask for. He never punished John nor chatted with him about life’s day to day struggles, but he had no problem discussing his love of collecting coins while doing day-to-day activities on the same schedule every day. John thought these types of traits were great as a young boy, but as he grew older, he realized that he needed more out of his father and life. John always felt that he and his father really had nothing in common.
Furthermore, the lack of guidance confused John as to what direction he should take in life. After a few young adult years watching those around him wasting their lives by drinking and accomplishing absolutely nothing, John decided to enlist in the US Army.
During one of his leaves from the Army, he met Savannah, a senior at UNC, who was spending her summer building houses for those without. Savannah was very much interested in those that didn’t have in their lives what she cherished in hers. Because of this, her dream was to become a therapist for those with special needs.
John and Savannah spent two fleeting weeks together learning about each other meeting his father and simply falling in love, while he was on leave. Just before it was time for him to go back to Germany, Savannah, after getting to know John’s father, bought John a book on Asperger as a gift for him to read and learn more about. Of course this made John furious as he was bombarded with “accusations” that something was “wrong” with his father. Long story short, John took the gift in which he was reunited with his father in the life that only his father knew about.
If you love stories about simple and true love, then I highly recommend it, but make sure to have tissues at hand whether you read the book, or I assume, watch the movie when it is released.