See details for additional description. As a writer myself, it's tough for me to critique another writer's story, but that's exactly what I'm calling into question with Dear John. I bought the book because I wanted to read the story before I saw the movie.
The book started out good, with a detailed description into John's past, and the beginning of his love story with Savannah was cute and really sweet. It was poignant in the middle after he returns to Germany for a year and details his letters and phone calls to her and how they tried to keep their love together.
The reality of their situation sets in when he returns, and I was engrossed in the story, which had so much potential. The whole idea breaks down after Savannah writes her Dear John letter and breaks off their relationship. At that point, the story gets weird and awkwa rd, and it leaves you feeling like you don't know what you're supposed to have gotten from this.
The author never does a great job of tying in John's father's story with John and Savannah's story. It's as if John learns a great lesson about what's important in life and completely forgets at the end.
It's strange and left me intensely dissatisfied with how things ended. Stories don't require a happy ending to be great, but this one had a sad ending and still wasn't very great anyway.
I'm hoping the movie will be better, since I hear the ending is different. Read full review. I bought this book because Nicholas Sparks is a really great author. His stories read as if you are speaking. I loved this story because it tells of real true love that can last a lifetime and touch your heart forever.
This is right up there with the Notebook as a tear jerker. I think makes a fantastic book as gift for the holidays. I highly recommend this story to anyone is a Sparks fan or just loves a great romantic read.
I absolutely loved this book! The first half had me wondering why this book was such a big deal though. As I was reading the first half, it was good but I was not getting into it as much as I thought I would since there has been so much talk about it. But just hold on and keep reading! Now home from war, he must build a new life for himself.
Receiving widespread critical acclaim upon publication, the book is now a major motion picture. Sparks is the internationally bestselling author of the famous The Notebook among other popular romance novels.
Although Dear John is a work of fiction, Sparks took the inspiration for the book from a story told to him by his cousin, Todd Vance.
Todd served in the US Army, and he shared his personal experience with Sparks. John Tyree lives in North Carolina. He was raised by his single dad who spends more time obsessing over a coin collection than interacting with his son. John struggles to communicate with him; he has always felt neglected. I do not read much romance, not anywhere as near as much as I used to but Sparks is the gold standard of romance novels and I will continue to happily read his work.
Although my favorite of his still remains "The Notebook", this book charmed me and its sweetness just wraps itself around you. Without revealing any spoilers, I'd say if you choose to read this have some kleenex on hand although if you've read Sparks before you likely know this.
A great book.. View 2 comments. I took the recommendation of a female friend whom I respect highly and bought this book, but when I first looked at it, put it aside figuring it was a romance novel that would only appeal to women.
How wrong I was. Not only were the characters good, but the plot was also. The book moved very quickly and I finished it in one sitting, and then had to eat I took the recommendation of a female friend whom I respect highly and bought this book, but when I first looked at it, put it aside figuring it was a romance novel that would only appeal to women.
The book moved very quickly and I finished it in one sitting, and then had to eat crow to the woman who recommended it to me.
I just bought four more Sparks novels from Amazon, the book was that much fun to read, even for this curmudgeonly retired wire service reporter. Jul 31, Zainab added it. The glow of silence. John, is a US Soladat stationed in Europe. While on leave at home, he meets and falls in love with Savannah. But his time as a Soladat demands a lot and so they have a long-distance relationship, which unfortunately doesn't last very long.
But love never fades. I was a little disappointed with the book. I know the film and was very excited about the book, but the book never grabbed me. I'm not used to that from Nicholas Spark at all. His books usually grab me very quickly an The glow of silence. His books usually grab me very quickly and a lot, but this book just didn't do it. There is no climax, it just goes on and on and that disappointed me. Mar 24, Sarah rated it did not like it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here. This poor guy gives literally everything he has to a woman he loved for a few months when he was a kid and leaves himself with nothing by the age of 30 so she can help her sick husband live? Sorry - not the romantic story I was looking for.
Yeah, it's great for little Miss Savanah, but poor John ends up 3o with his whole entire life ahead of him and nothing to show for his past including the only things his father held dear or to share with the family we have to hope he eventually has.
Jan 24, Jessylyn rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites. Here's the last sentences from the epilogue that really made a deep tug at my heartstrings. Finally, she seems to relax. And then I feel as if I'm witnessing a miracle, as ever so slowly she raises her face toward the moon. I watch her drink in the sight, sensing the flood of memories she's unleashed and wanting nothing more than to let her know I'm here. But instead I stay where I am and stare Here's the last sentences from the epilogue that really made a deep tug at my heartstrings.
But instead I stay where I am and stare up at the moon as well. And for the briefest instant, it almost feels like we're together again. I am not expecting this to be that good because of the movie that I used to watch first.
Jan 17, Caroline rated it did not like it. I was looking for a book to read for the El trip home but didn't have time to really search. This was in the discard section of the library and I grabbed it thinking that it couldn't be that bad. After all, the Notebook was a good guilty pleasure. Could not have been more wrong. I wanted to tear my eyes out and stomp on them after reading this. I felt dirty and compromised as if I had too much to drink one night and woke up next to a naked Mike Huckabee.
This book was beyond preachy and con I was looking for a book to read for the El trip home but didn't have time to really search. This book was beyond preachy and condescending. I have to finish books when I start them so I read this to the end. And then I threw it across the room. So long rant short, I did not enjoy this book. Mar 22, Annette mathews rated it it was amazing Shelves: romance , young-adult , swoon-worthy-heroes. I adore this Guy's writing.
Some may say his book is predictable,But even if it is, i enjoy it. In Dear john , Savannah and john love each other. I thought they were gonna end up with each other but fate had other plans with John going to the army. I loved the character of John,he is not perfect which makes him more real,whereas i cannot say the same about Savannah. At times i thought she was selfish.
I found Tim's character very endearing too, view spoiler [Even though i was sad for John Tyree , i am happy that Tim ended up with Savannah hide spoiler ] And like everyone says, "Distance relationship never works" not even in a novel Jun 13, Nazia rated it it was amazing Shelves: most-favourite-of-em-all , favorites , so-glad-i-read-this , sexy-male-characters , books-wch-made-me-cry.
I can read this book a million times and i am sure that i'll cry each time. Why does love has to be so difficult,why does Nicholas Sparks always has to make me cry? Why does he has to write such books which are so amazing and wonderful and frustratingly good?. I mean this is so unfair,everytime i pick Nicholas spark's book I know at the end I am gonna cry and amazingly I am gonna love the book immensely.
I cried a little reading The Notebook and A walk to remember which were good but Dear John is I can read this book a million times and i am sure that i'll cry each time.
I cried a little reading The Notebook and A walk to remember which were good but Dear John is just awesome so hope everyone would understand how much I have cried reading it. I really don't have any idea how am i suppose to write a review on a book like this,I don't think i am smart with words,I dunno how I am gonna write all the emotions I have felt while reading it.
When I completed this book I felt as if my heart has broken into a million pieces for John. I have loved the character of John sooooooo much. I know to get someone like John you really have to be god's favourite. The book started with angry rebel John getting tired of his life and joining army,I must say his character was really strong and intense,incomprehensible in the beginning but lovable. He meets a girl named Savannah during his holidays and falls in love with her right away.
Savannah changes John's life in the ways one can change a human. But unfortunately John has to leave at the end of his break, their keep correspondence through letters and phone calls but Savannah grows tired of waiting for him and falls in love with someone else,but John loves Savannah from the depth of his soul,he loved her to the limit where a human can love another human.
I hate Savannah for being so vain and forgetting him,how could she have forgotten all those days,i seriously can't understand.
The end part was the most difficult for me to read when John visits Savannah after she is married. With each line i felt like crying,by the end i was frustrated and angry at Nicholas Sparks, why did he had to end the book by breaking John's heart. This book is so unfair but then I guess love was never fair to anyone.
This book shows the actual meaning of love. This book would be hated by people who think falling in love is being together all the time,going on dates,spending rest of the life happily ever after,even I thought the same before reading this book but I was utterly and shamelessly wrong. Love is not about being together physically,its being together in each other's heart and memories.
Love is'nt only about spending rest of the life together it's about spending your life for the person you love,sacrificing everything you have for that one person even if you don't get to be with that person. Love is not only about being in one's heart,it's about being in one's soul,in one's memories like John and Savannah did.
That is what Dear John has taught me. This book is a fresh change for me. I just love this book immensely and irrevocably. I am gonna treasure the memory of John in my heart for as long as I shall live.
Mar 07, [Shai] Bibliophage rated it it was amazing Shelves: books-read , english-novels. I had the chance to watched the movie version first and now that I've finally read the book, I must admit that the latter is much better.
I felt that Savannah was impatient in the movie version. But in the book, Savannah's reasons and her story was further explained.
For me, this is one of those books that tells us that some things are just not meant to be. Nov 27, Connie rated it really liked it Shelves: romance , adult. Dear Nicholas Sparks, I really do not want to like you. I was all happy living in my somewhat snobby literary world where I turned my nose up at your novels. So many people love you and gush over your books. I would either bite my tongue to prevent myself from voicing my superior opinion because I was trying to be the good non-biased readers' advisory librarian; or if my friends were all gaga I would roll my eyes and talk about what good literature really is.
Yeah, well, then I saw a kick ass preview from a movie that is coming out in February based on one of your books, Dear John. It looked like a fabulous heart-wrenching romance - my favorite kind.
I couldn't get that preview out of my head and sometimes I would find it online to watch it yes, I know, so pathetic. Then my coworker said she loved the preview too and decided to read it, and liked it. Despite the fact that I have ssoooo many other things I need to be reading, YA lit mostly, I thought, oh what the hell, why not? How do you do it? How do you write so simply and honest and yet so incredibly gut and heart wrenching?
How is it, that you of all people, write my favorite kind of romance? The not always happy ending, bittersweet - the tragedy of love. The kind where I have one hand holding the book and the other one clutching my heart because you are slowly scraping at it trying to mangle it and in order to keep breathing so I can finish your damn book, I have to try and hold my heart together. You're killing me. What I want to know is, are there men out there really like John Tyree? I know most women wonder if the men in romance novels really exist or want them to exist so badly that they live in a false reality or read them because they are bitter and believe that no man exists like that.
But mostly women write romance and they create the men we want. But you are a man. Do you still create men that you think women will want because you know it will sell or is some bit of honesty in the way you portray your men?
Am I allowed to hope that honorable men exist and that there is a possibility of finding one? I've decided to try and keep hope alive and just go with there are very honest honorable men out there who are capable of sensitivity, true love and passion.
So now, I'm so very glad and yet so very sorry to report that I am a fan of yours, even if I don't freely admit it. I need to keep some semblance of snobbery intact, at least for show.
So thank you, thank you for giving a tragic romantic a good cry on a Friday afternoon and for also giving her hope and helping her to clearly etch out the man she wishes to be with someday. First of all i have to mention this is the first maybe the last novel which i read from endless number of romances of Sparks. It's more than a romance! I don't usually surf in the romance section in the bookstore. One day i accidently saw Dear John on the shelf of deserted counter.
There were many novels of him including "The Notebook", "A walk to remember", "Message in a bottle" so on.. After reading the question on back of the book i bought it without hesitation. The question was : ".. John was a trouble maker in his youth. After dropped out from his high school John enlisted into army.
He had problems with his attitude. In the army John has been changed. He's a tall, calm, well-built average soldier who has no friends apart from army. He lives on side of the beach with his dad. His dad has some serious mental disorders. One time on the leave John met Savannah. Two weeks. That's all it took to fall in love with her. After two weeks Savannah had to leave to the college.
They made a promise that they will write to each other. The day shook the world John decided to enlist back to serve his country some more years. She fell in love with someone another.
Fate brought them together but distance kept them apart. In the end they couldn't survive the distance. Novel ended up John seeing Savannah from a distance. However the movie ends by their meeting after a long time. I am not sure which one to prefer. But i strongly believe what's meant to be always finds its way. Sometimes i want John's life.
No friends, special duty for his country, a beach house, surfing on the sea all day. So much lonely but real. This novel made me realize about distance relationships as well was military duty seriously.
I'm going to take motherland's call of duty very soon. To serve my country and be a better person, be a real man. Jun 09, Marisa Bisaccia [book whisperer] rated it really liked it. Another great Nicholas Sparks romance novel. I love his work because he makes you laugh, cry, fall in love and always wish for the best in every novel that he writes.
This story was a love story that people could relate to. It is a story about true love and is a wonderful read. Mar 08, Cammie rated it really liked it. Sometimes you just have to read a sappy love story.
While their love seems deep, it is challenged by the distance of John's deployment. Many details in the story's resolution were rather predictable, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. In my opinion, N Sometimes you just have to read a sappy love story. In my opinion, Nicholas Sparks stories follow a certain pattern, and this one was no different. And although this is the way all stories unfold, I still can't believe that ours didn't go on forever.
Just a beautiful story, John is such a sweetheart and even though the main characters make each other sad, you can't help but love all of them. Jul 03, Amy rated it liked it Shelves: audiobook , audiobooks , romance. I really liked the narrator of this book a lot. I thought he did a fantastic job! That said, I was disappointed with the ending.
Up to the ending the story was good - a little sappy but I like that every now and then. I particularly liked the story with John and his Dad. Tim was sick and either he dies so that John can get the girl or John bows out and gets nothing. Either way it would be cra I really liked the narrator of this book a lot. Either way it would be crappy. It ended up that John bows out plus sells his coins for Tim's recovery and ends up with no girl and no money. I guess that part makes me sad, especially given that Savannah doesn't love Time like she did John.
Which makes me angry at Savannah for marring someone when she loved someone else more. John Tyree grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. A couple of years after John had graduated he felt like he was at a bit of a loose end. He'd had a few local jobs, but nothing ever lasted for long before he moved onto the next job.
Although he lived with his father their relationship was pretty strained and when John had spare time he spent it surfing.
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