In Review

21 November 2008 20:54 BST

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Published by Sphere, out December 7th, hardback, 276pp, £17.99.

In a nutshell…

Love, lost then found. War.

What's it all about?

When picking up a novel by someone shortlisted for the romantic novel prize you are within your rights to expect a little bit of love to creep through and Dear John does not disappoint. Rebel without a cause John Tyree is doing nothing with his life and going nowhere fast. Then two things happen; he joins the army and meets a girl called Savannah Lynn Curtis.

Those two factors are the defining moments in this young North Carolinian's life and the length of this book is devoted to the way they intertwine. John and Savannah are immediately smitten with each other, despite only having met by chance when her bag falls into the sea and our handsome hero dives in to rescue it. They spend a few days together, fall madly in love and promise to be true to each other despite the fact that John is back off to his base in Germany and won't be back for months.

Letters and phone calls keep the passion burning but inevitably things start to get difficult. And then September 11th comes along and John re-enlists, the relationship gets even more strained and starts to fall apart at the seams. Reflection and regret ensue as Sparks tumbles towards a heart-tugging finale.

Who's it by?

Nicholas Sparks is one of those guys who have made it, but had to work at it for a while first. He began writing while at college and completed two novels which never saw the light of day, but had his big break when The Notebook was published in 1995 and went on to become a bestseller.

Dear John is his 12th novel and three of his works, The Notebook, Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember, have been made into films and a fourth, Nights In Rodanthe, is also in the pipeline. Kevin Costner and Paul Newman starred in the former when it was released in 1999, and it went on to gross $118 million.

Sparks lives with his long-time wife and five children in North Carolina, where the vast majority of his stories, including this one, are set.

As an example…

"I knew now what I'd been missing all these years. When I felt Savannah rest her head on my shoulder, I found myself wishing I hadn't joined the army. I wished I weren't stationed in overseas, and I wished I'd chosen a different path in life, one that would have let me remain a part of her world."

"By January 2001, I had begun to count down the days to when I'd see her again. My summer leave was coming in June, and I'd be out of the army in less than a year. I'd wake in the morning and literally tell myself that there were 360 days left, then 359 and 358 till I was out, but I'd see Savannah in 178, then 177 and 176 and so on."

Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

Quite possible. American markets love a good romance flick and just one look at the cast list for Sparks' two most recent films shows the sort of audience they are designed to pack in. Pop singer Mandy Moore starred in the 2002 film A Walk to Remember opposite Shane West, while The Notebook launched the careers of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling two years later. Dear John has all the right ingredients to make another successful tearjerker, and another mint for Sparks at the same time.

What the others say

"Sparks writes human emotion with empathy and deals with life-changing subjects that corral the reader's interest. Love between unlikely couples is the magnet that ignites one to read on." – BookReporter.com

"[Sparks is] a genius at pushing the emotional buttons of a wide audience who isn’t reached by most literary fiction. Chances are, if you loved The Notebook, The Wedding or True Believer, you’ll gush over this one. While Dear John isn’t specifically Christian, I suspect Sparks will have lots of fans crossing over from the Inspirational Fiction aisle." - Wilmington Star, which would presumably have been John's local newspaper were he real.

So is it any good?

Let us get one thing absolutely clear from the start – this is pure saccharine with extra sweetener poured on top. There are romantic novels and there are Romantic Novels, and this falls firmly into the latter category. Every cliché is there, from that stupendous love-at-first-sight moment to the scary storm in which our doe-eyed couple get caught outdoors and declare their feelings. There's even a bit of religion thrown in for good measure, Savannah is a good Christian girl and is saving herself – something John respects and manages to control his urges over. And that time-honoured emotional roller coaster of leaving the one you love for love itself makes an appearance at the end, if you can keep from dampening the page with tears until then, that is.

But, you know what, Sparks does it rather well – he is an expert in the art of romantic fiction after all. We empathise with the characters and he somehow keeps their sickly love in the realms of possibility. It's sunsets and storms all the way through, with very little in the way of action to appease the harder hearted among us, but you can't help but keep the pages turning. You perhaps won't want to admit it too freely in more sophisticated circles but Dear John draws you in to the sticky, love-filled web and keeps you trapped there right until the end.

Everyone loves a good tearjerker, after all.

7/10

Martin Ashplant

"This is the next choice of my book club to read this month. I am looking for a reading group discussion guide and have been unsucessful so far in finding one. Could you help me out?????? I have looked and looked so far without success. It is a wonderful book and would recommend it to everyone both male & female to read!!!! Please let me hear from you." - Jan Philbrick

"The book was super awesome fun times! Like for real, I read it for an English project and it was awesome !!!!!!" - Tiffany Cobley

"This book is breathtaking... Hands down one of nicholas sparks' best offerings. Once you start to read the book, you'll pretty much have a hard time to put it down... " - Jose San Pedro

"This book is one of the best among the many books that I have read. It has touched me deeply. It made me cry and yearn for the father and the son relationship portrayed so beautifully in the novel. Keep up the good work Mr Sparks." - Chinmay Nemlekar

"This besides The Notebook has to be one of the best novels that Sparks has written. I got goosebumps at the end." - Shanese Mathis

"This is my fav by Nicolas. I cried so so much. I read it and wanted to read it over and over. The ending made sense and I wouldn't have changed it but it literally made my heart stop. Honest to God!" - Roxanne David