Anyone who is looking for a fast read and is tired of reading the same old romance novels where the lead characters fall in love and live happily ever after, you should check out the novel, “The Best of Me” by Nicholas Sparks.
First published in 2011, the bestselling novel, “The Best of Me,” is a modern-day tale of Romeo and Juliet with a mature twist. The novel was adapted into a feature film that opened in October. But before seeing the movie, audiences should first pick up the page-turning book.
The meaning of the title comes full-circle when the reader realizes love is more than clichés and the expected definition of the word “love.” Sparks teaches his readers that love is going through the hardest moments of your life and your ability to move past them with the person that you love right there with you, completely nonjudgmental yet helpful at the same time. Sparks allows readers to see that real relationships are about give and take. Many love stories are about the happy moments. “The Best of Me” contradicts this stereotype because it brings to light that relationships take work. To get to those happy moments, couples have to get through some hardships first.
“The Best of Me” is a great read for anyone who likes both romance and suspense, and it’s a story the reader can get lost in. Some chapters are slightly repetitive with foreshadowing but, overall, it is worth the little time it takes to read it.
Set in the town of Oriental, North Carolina, “The Best of Me” follows two star-crossed lovers. Dawson Cole is the Romeo of the novel. Cole comes from a family of felons and domestic abusers; his relatives are mostly criminals who counter his rough around the edges but good at heart personality almost completely. Amanda Collier is the Juliet. She is the beauty with mesmerizing eyes whose family is one of the richest in town. Amanda’s parents have her life planned, from whom she dates to where she should go to college.
This unlikely pair find each other in high school. Dawson and Amanda end their relationship as quickly as they fell in love, which was faster than a heartbeat. Between disapproving families and a tragic car accident that killed a local doctor, it seemed nothing and no one wanted Dawson and Amanda to be together. Fast forward 25 years later and a mysterious funeral that calls for specific arrangements for Dawson and Amanda to take care of, and the pair is unexpectedly reunited. A lot has happened over the years that Dawson and Amanda lived apart. The weekend of this tragic funeral answers questions that have been left unanswered for years, and the most unlikely love story unfolds within a span of weeks.
Sparks forces his characters to confront whether or not they followed their hearts or if they did all the things they had always wished they would do. The story brings up the questions “Are you really happy and in love?” and “Is this really what you want to be doing for the rest of your life?”; these questions help the story unfold when the opportunity for a second chance is put on the table for Amanda and Dawson. Sparks guides the readers on an unexpected journey through these characters.
The story is written very much the way a film would be shot. The chapters are like scenes cut from a plotline, from one to the next. Each chapter focuses on a different set of characters, and everyone’s stories come together at the end of the novel. The reader will realize that everyone’s actions and reactions affect the other characters when the plotlines collide in an explosion of surprise, which is expected from any Sparks novel.
Sparks brings characters’ lives to life for readers by effortlessly painting a picture filled with emotion through his realistic writing style. Amanda and Dawson’s love story could jump right off the page and into real life. He writes poetically about their relationship, making any reader want to swoon over their life-long, lustful relationship. A day never passed where one didn’t think about the other. Even though the Collier and Cole families did not want Dawson and Amanda to be together, the couple still managed to stay in love, and never once did they let anyone else decide whether or not they should be together.
To find out everything that happens, pick up your own copy of “The Best of Me,” available at the Alvin Sherman Library.
