#18: The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

As a long-time fan of romantic stories, I have been drawn to the work of Nicholas Sparks ever since I saw "The Notebook" for the first time. I had never picked up one of his novels, however, until I saw the preview for "The Best of Me", and decided that I should read the book first. (I usually do read the book first, but in the case of the Nicholas Sparks movies I have seen, I ended up seeing the movie first instead.) I felt like it would be a great book, fulfilling and very well-written, seeing as how he's been so successful and has had 1) many books published, and 2) most of those books turned into movies. After reading "The Best of Me", I can say that it wasn't a bad read, but it wasn't exactly the good read I was hoping for either. Keeping in mind how a good friend of mine looks at the story differently, I feel conflicted as to whether I would recommend it or not. Personally, I don't feel motivated to do so. Let me explain, starting with the plot.

The story centers around Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier, who fell in love as teenagers and had the kind of connection most people have only dreamed about. Their relationship was perfect, but their surroundings were highly unideal. Amanda came from a rich family who was abhorred by the idea of her dating someone from the Cole family, which was known for the violence and criminal records of its members. Dawson, however, had always stayed out of trouble, and cultivated both strong physical and emotional attributes. But Amanda's parents couldn't see any of the good things about Dawson, because they hated the idea of her going out with someone with one of the most despised family names in their small town of Oriental, North Carolina.

When Amanda receives the opportunity to attend Duke University, something she had dreamed about ever since she was young, her parents declare that they won't pay for college, or support her in the least bit, if she keeps up her relationship with Dawson. Amanda tells Dawson about her problem, and he decides to let her go, not because he wants to, but because he wants Amanda to have this opportunity to grow, make her dreams come true, and be happy. They eventually both leave Oriental, but for separate cities, thinking they might never see each other again. Little did they know that the death of old man Tuck, a mutual friend and huge support for them both, would bring them together again about twenty years later, for just a few days that would change the courses of both their lives permanently.


It took me several chapters to realize that the story had several striking similarities to "The Notebook". The rich girl meets poor boy romance. The stubborn mother with an iron fist, but not enough control to stop her daughter from making these escapades with the boy she hates. The parting of ways as boy and girl try to escape the situations they dislike, but separate from each other along the way. Don't get me wrong, I love "The Notebook" and plan to watch it many more times in the years to come. But there were several characters and plot points that just confused me, or made me feel extremely dissatisfied with the story, and sometimes both things at once.
(NOTE: I haven't read the novel "The Notebook", so unfortunately I have to make these criticisms based on the movie. I have not seen the movie for "The Best of Me", but even if I had, I wouldn't be comparing the two films, since I am trying to review a book instead. It doesn't seem entirely fair to compare a book to a movie, but what I am trying to focus on more is the story in and of itself, its characters and the main elements of the plot. Writing style is also important. I apologize for any moment in which the comparisons do not seem just.)

First, there's Amanda's mother, Evelyn Collier. Always dressed to perfection, constantly conflicting with her daughter. Not especially caring or sympathetic, even when Amanda most needed her to be. (NOTE: SPOILER INCOMING. If you don't want to read it, then skip this next part!)

But when Evelyn finds Dawson and Amanda together one morning, clearly knowing what happened between them the previous night, she simply tells Amanda not to listen to anyone else's advice, and instead to listen to her own. While I think that comment by Evelyn is wise, and one of the nicest things she says to Amanda in the entire book, it seems out of place. Evelyn has been judging Amanda ever since she was young, as is explained throughout the book. It's also clear that Evelyn will never stop questioning or judging Amanda's actions and intentions, even when she is doing the right thing. She judges Amanda's marriage, her attitudes about marriage,  her attitudes about the child she lost to cancer. Then, all of a sudden, when Evelyn sees her daughter with the guy she's hated, and continued to hate, for years, she tells Amanda not to listen to her advice. Evelyn had always wanted Amanda to listen to her advice, as the author portrays from earlier conflicts regarding Amanda's relationship with Dawson, and there doesn't seem to be any real explanation for Evelyn's change of heart. It's a nice gesture, but not very believable.

Then there's Dawson. He was my favorite character in this book. Strong, empathic, honest, raw, hard-working, perseverant. But, like all characters, he had his flaws. After Amanda had gone off to Duke, he moved to New Orleans and got a job on an oil rig, returning every once in a while to a lonely trailer away from the crowded city. During all his years of living in New Orleans, Dawson never took the time to enjoy any of the city's attractions (ex. Cafe du Monde) or develop any other close relationships, other than the one he maintained with Tuck from a distance. The only significant effort he made to be happy was getting out of Oriental, where his demented and violent family was waiting for the day when they could take him down. Dawson knows how to make people like Tuck and Amanda happy, but it seems like he doesn't make much of an effort to make himself happy. He seems to lack motivation, except when he is reunited with Amanda, which changes him completely.

Earlier in his life, Dawson's strong motivation kept him from being like the rest of his family, and prompted him to build up his strength and run away from home in order to escape his father's cruelty. In a place where his family definitely can't find him, a place for a fresh start, why can't Dawson really start over? Because of Amanda. I understand that she is the love of his life, and he feels that they are meant to be together forever. But having seen Dawson's character shine through in the diverse struggles he experienced, it seems off-putting and disappointing that he would let the mere thought of this woman keep him from even going out to Cafe du Monde. Yes, I can maybe understand that he wouldn't want to see other women (Although twenty-something years is quite a long time not to date when you're his age.) But why not at least enjoy this new place, to the fullest extent that you can?

It does seem that Dawson enjoys physical exercise, as is portrayed by the description of his early morning jogs when he finally goes back to Oriental. But these are momentary distractions for a person who is deeply unhappy. And maybe here is where I get to the idea that most bothers me: that someone as smart and cultivated and romantic as Dawson Cole ends up unhappy with his life just because he can't forget about a girl he loved as a teenager (who, by the way, got married shortly after finishing college, to a guy she had dated since sophomore year.) Does this girl think about him? Absolutely yes. She thinks she made a mistake not to marry him. But in the end, she chooses the less risky and less satisfying path of staying married to her husband, instead of going for what she really wants. The book even seems to insinuate that maybe Amanda did make the right decision (BIG SPOILER COMING), since her son Jared's life is saved when he receives a heart donation from, guess who...Dawson Cole, who was shot by one of his crazy family members while trying to save two innocent people from getting shot. The most genuinely kind character in the book gets shot by violent loonies, while his true love's son (not his son, of course) is saved by his heart. And herein lies the irony of the story: Dawson truly gave the best of himself to Amanda, by giving the heart with which he loved her always to her dying son. He "lives on" in Jared's body, while Amanda is left to wonder "What if?", and the reader is guilt-stricken, wondering if Amanda's son would have died had she chosen Dawson in the end. How can that kind of choice ever turn out right?

And how, for that matter, can you leave your reader thinking about how such a wonderful person wound up shot in the head while his true love drove off to see her drunk husband, who was one of the reasons why Jared almost died? It's frustrating and unfair. Yes, I understand that many stories do not have happy endings. But the final resolution did not prompt me to read another Nicholas Sparks novel. I have read many sad books that have prompted me to read them over and over again (see my earlier reviews of books such as Looking For Alaska, Thirteen Reasons Why, The Fault in Our Stars and The Tribes of Palos Verdes) because they have much deeper meanings. I was expecting this novel to have a bit more depth to it, a little more meat, and I was disappointed.


I still plan to see the film version of "The Best of Me", just to see how it turned out. But I'm left highly disappointed by the novel, which also happened to be written in a style that fell below my expectations. I've heard that some of his other books are more well-written, so I might give those a chance. But for now, I'm moving on to other books by other authors. I admire Nicholas Sparks's hard work, and hope to write as many, or more, books than he has one day. But I don't feel inclined to recommend this novel. Perhaps in the future, another one of his novels will be more satisfying. I wait with much hope for that day.

#17: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Finally, a book where the stakes are high and you're constantly seeking more satisfaction, even though every page feels fresh and crisp, no matter what part of the book you're reading. It's one of those books that doesn't have any good "stopping points". At first thought, you might wonder if it's a bad thing for a book not to have any adequate places to pause. But in my case, I wanted to keep on going, and see what happened next, even if the latest chapter had ended with a good temporary resolution, such as a small conflict getting resolved. One might consider this situation to be a good stopping point. You can finally say you're going to sleep or something of the sort. Although that was the path I took a number of times while reading this book, I was never quite satisfied with it. Every chapter left me wanting more. Every single one.

The peculiarity of "The Name of the Wind" is that you have that story within a story. Kote, an innkeeper who leads a seemingly peaceful life, agrees to tell his life story to a man who goes by the name of Chronicler, who has been asked to seek out stories such as Kote's. Kote agrees, but says that he will take three days, a sum which Chronicler finds ridiculous at first, considering that he usually takes one day at most to record the story of a very important man. But Kote insists that his story must take three days, and Chronicler finally complies. He soon finds, after all, that Kote's story is one that deserves to be listened to and narrated intricately and carefully.

"The Name of the Wind" is the first book in a trilogy, The Kingkiller Chronicle, and it depicts the events of the first day Kote takes to tell his story, the first part of which encompasses his childhood up until he is about fifteen or sixteen years old. At that age, he was known as Kvothe, a brave and remarkably intelligent young boy who finds his strength of heart and mind tested after a horrible tragedy leaves him to fend for himself. The numerous hardships he experiences are narrated beautifully, but Rothfuss never lets us forget that, beneath the beauty of the tale Kvothe tells, lies the terrible fact that Kvothe is truly on his own, and is constantly on the edge of survival.

There are many aspects of this book that deserve applause, but one that I must point out immediately is that every detail seems to matter. I think that, as a writer, it can be very easy to write in seemingly interesting details and just leave them hanging there, not really attached to any particular person or event that could make them more than just snippets of information. I noticed, for example, how much detail Rothfuss used to describe Kvothe's relationship with music, especially with the lute. Each tiny incident involving music, especially a lute, added to the overall narrative and the interactions Kvothe had with other characters. It changed his mindset and the way he thought of himself and others. The making and breaking of this music drove even more twists into a very rich plot.

I must also commend Patrick Rothfuss for making a very thick book feel incredibly light. The book is over 600 pages long, (whether you get the book in a larger or smaller format) yet the narrative feels continuously fresh and enthralling. You're never left wondering when the author is going to "cut to the chase" or "get the book over with already". Instead, each page draws you in more than the last, and by the end of the book, you're left wanting so much more, it's highly tempting to get to the nearest library or bookstore as fast as possible in order to procure the second book.

"The Name of the Wind" is now one of my favorite books. I give it a ten out of ten for narration, description, character development and satisfaction in both the literary and emotional senses. Patrick Rothfuss is a true genius, and I can't wait to pick up the second book in The Kingkiller Chronicle.





Enjoyed the review? Check out my Writer Intro blog here.

The Name of the Wind Book Review by Courtney Justus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.