Book Review: A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

ISBN: 0446608955
Published: September 1st, 2000
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Read from April 5th to 8th, 2013
Synopsis from Goodreads:

There was a time when the world was sweeter… when the women in Beaufort, North Carolina, wore dresses, and the men donned hats… Every April, when the wind smells of both the sea and lilacs, Landon Carter remembers 1958, his last year at Beaufort High. Landon had dated a girl or two, and even once sworn that he’d been in love. Certainly the last person he thought he’d fall for was Jamie, the shy, almost ethereal daughter of the town’s Baptist minister… Jamie, who was destined to show him the depths of the human heart—and the joy and pain of living.
From the internationally bestselling author Nicholas Sparks comes his most moving story yet…

Review:

If you follow me on Goodreads, then you might have seen that I only gave this book two out of five stars.  It's rare that I give books that low of a rating.  Three stars is usually about as low as I go.  I looked through my Goodreads account, and I hadn't given a rating lower than three stars since August 2010.  So yeah, I wasn't really impressed with this book.

I've read two other Nicholas Sparks books before, and I gave them four and five star ratings.  I don't know if it was just this book, or if I would feel differently about Dear John and The Last Song if I went back to read them now.  (I was sixteen when I read those two...)

I think the biggest thing that bothered me about A Walk to Remember was the writing style.  It's a short book, which isn't inherently bad, but I felt like everything was being summarized to me.  That kept me from getting into it and connecting with the characters.  I wasn't emotionally invested at all.  I actually felt kind of guilty for not being sadder while reading the ending, but I just wasn't connected to what was happening.  The summarizing thing also made me feel as if it was written for children almost too.  It definitely isn't, but the writing style just kind of gave that feel to me.  There's not even necessarily anything wrong with being for children.  I enjoy reading middle grade fiction occasionally  but I just did not like it in this book.  It bothered me throughout the whole story.

I saw the movie years ago, so I knew how it was going to end.  Still, I didn't like it.  It seemed too unrealistic, and I'm sure those of you who have read the book or seen the movie know what I'm talking about.  I just thought it was unnecessary and pointless.  Maybe I wouldn't if I'd been more emotionally invested and had connected with the characters better.  As it was though, I didn't like it.

The book wasn't bad for the most part.  I just didn't care.  I had to force myself to pick it up and read.  I probably wouldn't have bothered except it was so short that I figured I should make it through the whole thing.