Book Review: The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Summary:

Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.  The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

Review:

Before reading this book, you need to answer a series of questions:

1.  Do you have an adequate supply of tissues?

2.  Do you like reading about willfull and stubborn teens who change personalities by the end of the book?

3.  Do you like the North Carolina beaches?

4.  Do you like music?

5.  Do you like your protoganist falling in love with someone who is all wrong but then turns out perfect?

6.  Do you require a happy ending at all costs, even at the expense of the plot's integrity?

7.  Do you like sea turtles?

If you answered yes to more than two of these questions, The Last Song is for you!  Like all Nicholas Sparks novels, this one is set in North Carolina (gee, wonder where Sparks lives?) on the beach.  It starts out with a spoiled and bratty daughter rebelling against her father and by the end they are reconciled in the way that only Sparks can bring two people together.  It is a sweet story that, like other Sparks novels, will probably make you cry.  I did, even as I cringed inwardly at the sappiness.  This novel differed a little from his previous works in that the ending wasn't 100% perfect.  There was a little bit of reality in there, not as much as in Dear John, but enough to make it seem somewhat plausible.

Just One Gripe:

The inclusion of saving the sea turtles made the plot seem a little jumpy.

The Best Thing About This Book:

The warm fuzzy feeling all Nicholas Sparks book evoke.

Appropriate for a younger audience:

I guess, but be aware there is a little bit of intimacy here, not a lot, but Sparks always includes some.

Score:
Characters:  3/5
Plot:  3/5
Setting/Imagery:  2/5
Originality:   2/5
Ending:  4/5
Total Score:  14/25

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