Book Review : A Walk To Remember

Title : A Walk to Remember

Author : Nicholas Spark

ISBN : 978-0-7515-3894-6

If you are looking for a sweet, simple, emotional and touching love story which can be read in one or two sittings, you have picked up the right book. I was exactly looking for one such book and thankfully had one right on my bookshelf in the 'to be read' category.

The story begins with fifty-seven years old Landon Carter reminiscing about his days forty years back when he was 17 years old and how that year completely changed his life for good. He introduces us to a small town Beaufort in North Carolina where he was in high school with Jamie Sullivan - the daughter of a widower minister of the local church. Being in a small town like Beaufort, they knew each other right from their preschool days but Landon never felt the need of acknowledging Jamie's presence as he never considered her to be 'his type'. Jamie was a 'good girl' who loved her father dearly, liked to carry Bible in her hands all the time, read the Bible during lunch time, went to orphanage to help the kids and abstained from socializing in the way other young adults of her age did.

As the fate would have it, they both find themselves together on more than one occasions, initially by the turn of events later by their own volition. They share their dreams, aspirations and passions with each other and strangely Jamie nurtured a very simple dream to get married in the Church full of people where she could walk the aisle and her father could give her away to her groom. Landon could not comprehend how a girl as brilliant as Jamie could have such simple aspirations in her life. Gradually their acquaintance bloomed into friendship and later to love. Everything felt just picture perfect but Jamie had one secret and she wanted to shield Landon from that. But does she succeed in doing the same and does she get to live her dream in reality?

Nicholas Sparks brilliantly captures the emotions of human heart which will tug the readers hearts but strangely falls short on the passion that this kind of story desperately deserves. As it is, the author is adept in the art of writing flawlessly and enthralling the readers till the last page but I felt something missing as I turned the last page over. I was reminded of one of my all time favourites 'Love Story' by Eric Segal but 'Love Story' had everything to make it to the list of classics which unfortunately 'A Walk to Remember' lacked.

Book Review : The Notebook

Image source : Amazon

Author : Nicholas Sparks

This is also one of the titles from the list of "must read books", that was published in the newspaper - Times of India.

A very mushy typical love story where it is evident that the souls are meant to be together. A story about Noah and Allie. Their first meeting was magical, got to spend whole summer in each other's company but got separated to finally get united after fourteen years, during which they kept longing to be with each other and kept remembering their summer together. They get to spend a fulfilling life together, sharing common interests, encouraging each other all along. Allie starts showing signs of Alzhiemer and the story is about how Noah stays with her inspite of his own old age and other physical problems. With great love, commitment and affection he does get some rewards when Allie comes out from her own dark and lonely world and reaches out to him.
The story has a good flow and these kinds of books manage to grip the attention of the reader. But I think my interests are changing in the sense I do like nicely written books but they should offer more than a simple, compelling love story. Many times while reading this I was reminded of another such book - Bridges of Maddison County.

An average timepass book. Such books come under my category of "one day books" when you want to take a break for a day in between some heavy reading. I had heard a lot about this author so wanted to read atleast one of his books.