What do You think about Dear John (2006)?
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. Surfing was the only thing that he really enjoyed, but he knew had to find something else to do. John decides he will enlist in the army as he feels he has nothing to keep him in his home town. Army life will make John grow up and become a different person. After being in the army for awhile he returns home on leave to spend time with his father. But his father hasn't changed and is still a hard person to get along with. To pass the hours John decides to gets back into surfing which he has missed.One day whilst out surfing John meets Savannah Lynn Curtis. She has just had her purse knocked into the ocean and John races into the water to retrieve it for her. From this day on they start to spend time together and in time they will fall in love. John takes Savannah home to meet his father and within a short time Savannah feels there is something not quite right with his father. Later on she will tell John that she thinks that his father has a disorder, but John won't hear of it and is adamant that she is wrong. The time comes when John must return to the army, but they will keep in contact thru letters and will count the days down to when John will return. In their letters to one another they will express how much they love one another and can't wait to see each other. As the days and weeks pass this time gets closer and soon they will be reunited. But then out of the blue something terrible happens which is 9/11. This day will change the lives for so many, but also for John and Savannah as John is torn between the duty to his country and the desire to go home to Savannah. But will Savannah understand if John decides to re-enlist? This is a beautiful love story which I really enjoyed. If you enjoy a good romance and are a romantic at heart then this book is definitely for you and I highly recommend you read it.
—Sharon
This was an assignment for a bookclub so I plunged in even though my last experience with Nicholas Sparks left a bad aftertaste in my mouth. If The Notebook left a bad aftertaste, Dear John had me dry heaving. Books like this make me wish I could just leave something unread, but once I start the first page the wheels have been set in motion and I'm there for the entire ride, no matter how dismal the scenery. I knew I was in trouble from the first sentence of the prologue ("What does it mean to truly love another?") but I had hope it would get better. It didn't. Dear John is told in first person so I felt like I was actually trapped in a room with a bad conversationalist who was insistent on telling me his insipid love story. With no place to escape I kept reading. 276 pages of vapid writing and with an ending that only left me more irritated than the beginning. When the two main characters (John and Savannah) made their declarations of love after knowing each other only three days I almost lost my lunch. I'm Mormon and if you've ever spent time around us you know that it's pretty stereotypical for us to get engaged after knowing each other for a short time, but even I couldn't stomach John and Savannah deciding they loved each other after having dinner three times! Not only was the story horrid, but the writing was subpar as well. It felt laborious and I got the feeling it was something the author pumped out on a deadline, knowing that it would sell well no matter what he put into it. I also absolutely hate it when it's obvious the author has a new favorite word they have found in the thesaurus and it sticks out in a sentence like a sore thumb (portend was the word in this case). Predictable, boring, and a complete waste of time. If you want a good love story to escape in, try Gone With the Wind.
—Nicole
This book needs to have a different title like maybe The Rehash or The Tragic Tragedy . Seriously how many times do we have to hear about the same scenes?!?!Ok so I didn't hate it, but really it was a bit of an overload. I had it coming though, I mean what did I expect by picking up a Nicholas Sparks novel? Sparks is a popular author for a reason. His writing draws you in but not forcefully. The words gently tug you along and before you know it you have to finish the book. I will give him props for that because I'm not one of those people who has to see a book to the end, if it's not holding my interest I chuck it.After I finished reading I literally was exhausted. It's like Sparks was sitting at his computer and thought about all the ways to make it romantically tragic. I can just see him now, "Aha! That will definitely be a tear jerker, I'm a genius!" Way overdone. I cannot say that enough. Don't get me wrong there a scenes where you are like that was good, but he tries to stick in too many. He is a master puppeteer when it comes to pulling your heart strings, basically merciless this guy.The premise was interesting because I grew up as a military kid and I wanted see the perspective of a soldier without children. John is good in the beginning but then he changes pretty dramatically. In the first half of the book he keeps saying and my love grew stronger at least 4 or 5 times. Really John how much stronger can it get? There was this thing that really bothered me. He kept saying base but in the Army they call it a post, the Air Force calls military installations bases. The terms are of course are interchangeable and people use them both, but for the time John is in the Army he would have known that.I would have rather read a story focused on John's relationship with his father and have Savannah as a side note. That would have been better. Kind of a let down and don't even feel like watching the movie anymore. Basically I'm saying to pick up something else if you are not into sappy, sad, melodramatic stories.
—Cara
