by Monnie

Created on: August 06, 2009

Nicholas Sparks took the world by storm when his first published novel became a sensation and best seller. The Notebook was a simple story about true love and the challenges that love ends up facing. The simplicity of the story is probably one of the reasons it did so well. I was introduced to writer Nicholas Sparks a few months ago by this book and was moved by what I read. While Nicholas Sparks isn't the strongest writer technically he definitely has a knack for pulling your emotion and involving you in the story. As I read more books this continued to be true. The Bend In the Road, The Lucky One and The Choice all were compelling reads for me. None of these are the best books I've ever read but I definitely feel they added something to my life as I was reading them.

Then there is Message In A Bottle. This is the only book I've read in Nicholas Sparks catalog I feel is not worth my time to ever read again. Before I tell you why, let me fill you in on the story.

Theresa, a parent advice columnist, finally gets away from her daily grind and is vacationing in Cape Cod when she finds something that will change her life. She is jogging on the beach one morning when a little bottle washes up on the shore. Inside the bottle contains a love letter from a grieving man to his wife Catherine. Theresa is intrigued by this symbol that true love is possible. At the urging of her editor she publishes the letter. Soon she is receiving phone calls from two other people who have found letters from Garrett as well. She soon is on a journey to North Carolina to find the sensitive, caring man who penned these letters.

You can definitely guess where it is going from here.

The biggest problem keeping me from enjoying this book is both characters are pretty unlikable to me. I lost my respect for Theresa when she publishes Garrett's personal expression of loss and grief in a newspaper for all to see. Her character strikes me as pretty shallow, manipulative and unpleasant. For example, SHE tracks him down and exploits him for her professional gain. After they fall in love she gets mad at him for not wanting to leave his home in North Carolina for her. She keeps the letters a secret from him and becomes indignant and acts shocked when he is livid she published it. Theresa, quite frankly, is a jerk. Garrett isn't much better. Sure he is a romantic guy who loved his wife dearly. He pens long, romantic letters and is capable of loving deeply. Yet, in person he just seems like a moody, brooding man who is determined to be unhappy. As such, the ending really doesn't pack much of an emotional punch.

This book falls short of all the others I have read by him due to the fact I don't care about the love story. I don't buy in. So therefore when the story reaches its pinnacle I felt pretty nonchalant about what would happen next. I haven't seen the film and wonder if the characters come off better on the screen.

So even though Sparks is a writer I would definitely recommend when you want a uncomplicated, emotionally involving love story I would say this is an exception. Message In The Bottle should not be your first Nicholas Sparks experience. All the criticisms leveled at him by his detractors have a grain of truth in this tale.

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