Recommend Me is a weekly event hosted by Kate at The Neverending Shelf, in which participants will pick one of their all time favorite reads to share. This could be a book that your read yesterday or years ago.
To play along, grab a favorite read and tell us about it. You can include your thoughts about the novel, its summary, your favorite memory related to the novel... the possibilities are limitless.
This week my pick is: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
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 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.
My thoughts: Dear John is everything sappy, lovely and tear- jerky as any Nicholas Sparks treasure is. Written so gorgeous apart from Nights in Rodanthe it’s my favorite Sparks book!
I think what struck a chord with me so profoundly in Dear John was the focus on 9/11 and how Mr. Sparks seriously captured the soldiers’ mind frame in the beginning aftermath of 9/11.
I’ll never forget that morning……one because my husband Matt was a soldier at the time and two because I was on Fort Knox when it happened. Making my morning coffee I heard sirens going off, I thought at first it was a tornado siren but it was beautiful outside. That’s when I turned on the TV and everything changed.
The Base was in complete shutdown, Fort Knox at the time was an open base allowing people to come and go freely after 9/11 every gate inside Fort Knox was fully guarded with MP’s and traffic dogs. I remember how all the soldiers including my husband were on high alert and had this attitude of -I’m Ready-
Matt didn’t immediately go to Iraq, his deployment didn’t come down until three years later, but I remember when he left it was the hardest thing we did….saying goodbye…….He was gone for two years and I remember the letters we wrote back and forth and how I looked forward to them every week. I think that’s the aspect I loved about Dear John, was the letters between him and Savannah and how John was feeling in Iraq. Unlike some love story’s, Dear John does have that small whirlwind romance feel to it, but also seems real and gets weighted down with real life circumstances, nobody gets out on unbelievable circumstances.
I went and saw Dear John with my book club gals……we all loved it!!!!!!!!!
I thought this was the best Sparks book adaptation to a movie since The Notebook, most of all the key elements were in the movie and they stuck to all the major themes in the book. I thought the movie made the story between John and his father even more powerful and the only significant change was the ending……which I loved!! The movie ending gives us “the readers of Dear John” much needed closure concerning Savannah and John. Also can I just say Channing Tatum.........(wow) Not to be missed….go read the book and then run to the movie!!!!!!!!
I'm glad you enjoyed the film. While I adore the book, I loathed the film haha :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed both the book and movie. I love Notebook like that, that is an all time favourite for me.
ReplyDeleteWow! I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to this book because I was burnt out on Sparks, but it would be nice to read something of his that has a little more "relate-ability".
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine not seeing your husband for two years! My husband and I were apart from each other while we each served missions for our church for 2 years, but we weren't married yet. Things are so different after you marry and I never had to fear for his life either. Wow! You really are amazing! Great review by the way! I may just give Sparks another shot!
I haven't read a Nicholas Sparks book in years. It's great to hear good things about Dear John and that it is relatable.
ReplyDeleteI'm so not a girl. Never read a Sparks novel and I laughed most of the time through the notebook. Maybe I'm missing some estrogen or something, I do like chick music though...does that redeem me????? I'll crank up the Poe and Garbage. ♥Parajunkee
ReplyDeleteI haven't picked up a Sparks novel since Message in a Bottle years ago. I hate to cry! My mom adores his books though. I did like The Notebook movie though.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, Fort Knox on 9/11! That must have been crazy! And having your husband deployed--!! I can't imagine. I'm glad he got home safely. I have a friend who's like a brother who was deployed for 15 months, and that was bad enough.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts.....Iraq was hard...but my Matt is home safe with time served...
ReplyDeletePj- I LOVE garbage!!!
I would like to eat Channing with a spoon, k? ;)
ReplyDeleteI am so sad that all my beautiful comments on this were deleted by a blogger error......I wish I could have you all post them again!!!
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