Mith's Bookshelf

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I want to like it more than I do, but I can't bring myself to give it more than three stars.

It took a while for me to get into it. I didn't like Savannah in the beginning at all - she was just not believable enough for me, too perfect and we all know there is no such thing as perfect (She redeemed herself in the end, though). I liked the plot twist of John's dad having Aspergers syndrome. That was about the only thing not clichéd about the story. Everything else was, in my opinion, very predictable.

I had a vague sense of déjà vu throughout the book, I kept thinking - isn't this practically every chick-lit ever written? Only, the POV is the guy's this time - Troubled boy meets Perfect girl, both fall in love, fate intervenes, both seperate, both meet again after a while, both realise they are still in love, but alas, alas! - girl is now married. Boy sacrifices his happiness and walks away, and the girl lives happily ever after... See what I mean?

My one problem with this book is that, while Sparks took EVER SO LONG to build up a connection between John and Savannah (even though they realised they loved each other after only two days, the entire thing spanned over a hundred pages), he rushed through the rest of the book. The long-distance relationship was barely explored as was John's relationship with his dad.

The last few pages were very gut-wrenching. Especially Alan's breakdown. I realy admired Savannah at that moment. I also liked that she tried to kiss John again, she finally seemed human. I wish that, after devoting about 300 pages to them, John and Savannah had ended up together. The ending left me feeling a bit cheated.