3rd Quarter ORB Review

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central Publishing, 2009. Genre: Fiction

The Last Song is a novel of compelling love and friendship, between two teenagers, coming from different backgrounds, different social groups, and totally different lifestyles. Ronnie and Will met at a pick up volleyball game at a carnival during the first day Ronnie was in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Nothing came about this relationship until Ronnie brought a nest of baby sea turtles to the aquarium where Will worked, and their love kicked off. From that day on, their love grew and Ronnie found herself along with finding the love she had lost for her father.


"Nicholas Spark's blockbuster novels are like hot buttery Orville Redenbacher for the soul: highly consumable, comforting, and by definition pretty corny," reads an Entertainment Weekly review.

Nicholas Sparks' writing style is unique compared to many other books I have read. He changed characters from chapter to chapter. The story was written in the third person, but each chapter focused on the events and feelings of that particular character. This style really familiarizes the reader with all of the characters, and I feel like it gave the novel a better connection with the reader, because you felt like you knew each of the characters, and we got all aspects of the story. This novel also really focused on love. It focused how love is blind, and no matter who you are or where you come from, if you have a connection, nothing matters. It also focuses on the love of family, and trust in that family.

This book reminded me of Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. That book had the similar format of focusing on different character's each chapter. I liked this book better though, because I felt more connected with the book and the characters.

"Sometimes you have to be apart from the people you love, but that doesn't make you love them any less. Sometimes it makes you love them more" (238). This quote shows the amount of emotion,love, and inspiration that Spark brings to his stories.

I love Spark's work. When I sit down to read a few pages I find myself still reading an hour later. His novels are so inspirational and emotional that it is impossible for the reader not to become attatched. I also related to this book, because it was about a teenager, and I learned from it because it is about her finding her true self. I absolutely loved this book and I recommend it for any girls who like love stories (I do not recommend it for any boys). I am looking forward to reading another one of Spark's novels in the future.