Dear John

I have just finished reading this wonderful romantic novel by Nicholas Sparks… You guys must wonder why the hell did I read this kind of books kan? It all started when I know that one of my favourite movies “A walk to remember” was actually a book before it was a movie (this happen not too long ago)… It was then that I found out that the same writer who wrote that amazing story also wrote numerous other best-sellers… Among those stories, Dear John stands out as the one having lots of amazingly beautiful quotes… Ok, enough with the intro, now for the book review…

The book is in written in a male first person view. It is about John, a US army sergeant who fell deeply in love with Savannah (a college student) during summer break… They were worlds apart in their characters but were attracted and started seeing each other… Then, the holidays ended and John had to get back to his camp (in Germany) and Savannah had to go back to college… This was the start of their long-distance relationship in which they exchanged letters, calls and emails (which is part of the reason the title is Dear John)… Long distance relationship wasn’t easy on both of them…

John was then stationed in Iraq and life was hard there with all the war etc… One day, John received a letter from Savannah… Savannah had met another man and she was writing to end things with John... The letter was heart-breaking… They lost contact after that…

Years later, John’s father died in a facility (sort of like a nursing home) and he went home to attend the funeral… His father and Savannah were all that John had for years and now that his father is gone, he went to pay Savannah a visit (unexpectedly)…

Savannah was already married… But they still chat like old friends… It turns out that Savannah married someone John already knew from his past… How sad it must’ve been in John’s shoes… (This is not the ending yet, read more on your own)

I think I should not give out anymore spoiler… I would just say that the ending was unexpected…

Overall, the story was deep, meaningful and beautiful… The style of writing was also beautiful… I know that I have repeated beautiful many times (I just can’t find a suitable word in my head just now)…

What lessons did I got from this book?

First of all, I think I learned that long distance relationship is really hard. Even when we put much effort into it, there is a still possibility of failure… Sad isn’t it…

Then I learned that most of the conflicts happen when one is dissatisfied with something but choose to keep mum (not say anything)… If I may rephrase it, I would say that all relationships is based on communication… Failing to communicate will surely cause failure in relationships…

Lastly, let’s go through some of the beautiful quotes from the book…

Quote: "When you're struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them, it's just as hard as what you're going through."

Quote: "But...as bad as it was, I learned something about myself. That I could go through something like that and survive. I mean, I know it could have been worse--a lot worse-- but for me, it was all I could have handled at the time. And I learned from it."

I hope someone out there will read the book and share the excitement with me… The end…

ps: i look forward to my next Nicholas sparks novel...