by Kristine Cuer

Created on: April 20, 2009

Message in a Bottle, a follow up of Nicholas Sparks to his first ever novel, The Notebook which was a huge success and still one of the best selling books of all times. Although to be blunt about it, Message in a bottle is not at par with The Notebook in terms of its depth and characters, Message in a Bottle has its way of piercing through your heart.

The story started with Theresa Osborne, a divorced single mom, jogging in the seaside, taking some summer break from work at Cape Cod. This is when she found a message in a bottle which had both made her very curios and inspired. Curios in a sense that she thought most people who would place their messages in a bottle would usually right their real name, or they would find a way to know that their message had reach another person. The message that she got from the bottle contains none of those things. It had inspired her because it contains a letter of a man expressing his love and despair towards a woman called Catherine.

The letters had made a significant impact on Theresa. She was actually more or less obsessed to know who is the man behind the letters and who is Catherine. Theresa found her self looking for Garrett, (the message in a bottle writer) and that name was her only clue. We could possibly refer to it as fate, her finding the bottle and her finding Garrett. But if Garrett is already in love with a Catherine, then how will Theresa find her way to Garrett's heart?

Sometimes I wonder what's with Mr. Nicholas Sparks and tragic endings? Although of course if we would think about it, his endings are not actually tragic in a sense that he would usually leave his protagonists hoping and in a way, leaving his readers inspired. When I actually read this book, there were actually moments that I find it a bit dragging. Maybe I just don't like the idea that a woman would go looking for a man when she herself knows that that man is still in love with another woman. That is like stupidity right? But to be honest, it came to a point that I started liking the book. Alright, I actually find myself wiping some tears while I'm reading it. Possibly, it was because of the words used by Sparks. They were like perfect description to whatever Theresa was feeling at that particular instance.

A story about how memories could sometimes break a person's principle. A story about letting go and finding a new love. Nicholas Sparks had once again given us an overview about life, love and choices we have to make.

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