Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks
2006, 335 pages

Dear John is about the relationship between John Tyree and Savannah Lynn Curtis, who fall in love in just a few weeks while John is home on a furlough from the army. The book follows their relationship as it develops and then, as it later struggles to survive while John is overseas.

Confession:  the reason I wanted to read this book is because I saw the trailer for the movie and thought it looked really good. I guess that's as good a reason as any to pick up a book. I've read a couple of Nicholas Sparks books before (The Notebook for one, before it was a movie), and the first time I read one of his books I remember absolutely loving it, but I think my tolerance for this kind of sentimental romance has declined since then.

I really don't have much to say about this book -- it was pretty much exactly what the movie trailer/back cover suggest, and it neither surprised nor disappointed me. I found the character of Savannah to be a little annoying, but enjoyed reading about John's relationship with his father and the way that changed over the course of the book. It was a quick read, and if you enjoy reading Nicholas Sparks-type books then this one probably won't disappoint.

I'll leave you with a quote, which *WARNING* might be slightly spoilery:

Our relationship, I felt with a heaviness in my chest, was beginning to feel like the spinning movement of a child's top. When we were together, we had the power to keep it spinning, and the result was beauty and magic and an almost childlike sense of wonder; when we separated the spinning began inevitably to slow. We became wobbly and unstable, and I knew I had to find a way to keep us from toppling over. (p213)