Review: The Best of Me – Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks - The Best of Me (Published by Sphere, September 2010)

3/5

"The Best of Me is the heart-rending story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they've taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined, and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past." Goodreads

I give this book a three. I'm an avid reader and lover of Nicholas Sparks books, owning many of his books and loving a lot of his work. Having said that, it was a very typical read, especially by Sparks' standards.

I bought this last year and read up to chapter seven until I picked it up again a few weeks ago. I decided to start where I had left off as I knew I had missed much. There are really great aspects of this book that keep you flipping the page, chapter after chapter. 

***SPOILERY***

The death of a mutual friend brought both Dawson and Amanda back to the small town of Oriental and reunited them as past lovers in their childhood. Now where have I heard that last part before?... Ah, yes. The Notebook. Another famous novel by Sparks. This is where I admittedly got a sour taste in my mouth and shut off my emotions for the rest of the book, reading like a robot just so I could finish it.

Where has your originality gone Nicholas Sparks? The rich girl fell for the not-so-well-off boy when they were younger, then happen to both meet up later on in life after he is unfulfilled in his life (still pining away for his first love), and she's married. They then have an affair despite it being so wrong on her behalf, and then her mother who has a lot of money and looks down upon anyone and everyone turns up at the very same house Dawson and Amanda had the affair in the night before. It was literally like Sparks' was lost for ideas, picked up the nearest book of his, and rewrote the plot and named different characters.

Sparks' however decided to add a little twist to keep his old readers on their toes by making it so that they don't end up together. Fancy that. What would have happened if Noah and Alley never got back together? You needn't guess, just read The Best of Me. Even the drunken husband, Frank, I'd seen before; hello, Safe Haven? I suppose the car crash and Jared (Amanda's eldest son) was shocking for the reader, but even at the end when you find out that his heart transplant was given to him by Dawson after being shot in a bar-fight was extremely predictable.

I really want to like this book, and there are aspects where I'm reading and really enjoying it. Having said that, I think all originality went out of the window and Sparks' lost his way slightly with the plotline. I'm looking forward to his next novel, whatever that may be. Hopefully not a carbon-copy of one of his other best-sellers.