The Last Song

I need to be clear: for most of my life now, I've been a Nicholas Sparks snob. I love the movie The Notebook, but I have quietly made fun of the other movies, seeing them as cheesy and predictable. I loved the book A Walk to Remember when I read it in high school, but I told no one and never mentioned it again. I can't really say where this snobbery came from, but it's been there and I need to confess it. When I dropped a copy of The Last Song into my shopping cart after it first appeared, I was confused by my own actions. Aside from this being a Nicholas Sparks book, it's also starring Miley Cyrus: the book was written FOR the movie and therefore the protagonist's role was written FOR Miley. As much as I haven't been a Sparks fan, I'm much less of a Miley fan. So I still really don't understand how I own it. Even though I bought it, I didn't read it for...what? A year? A year and a half? I started it once and couldn't get past the annoying Miley voice in my head so I put it down. But for whatever reason, I picked it up a couple days ago, and....I loved it. And I have some apologizing to do.

To be fair to myself, I need to comment on the fact that Sparks reuses themes and plot devices quite often, and that some of his dialogue is cheesy and weak, and that the Epilogue was a little bit too Band-Aidey. But with those criticisms said, I really did enjoy this book a lot. I got hooked almost immediately this second time around, and I only got more hooked the more I read. The romance was sweet and snagged me instantly (if you've read any of my other posts you know that I'm such an easy sell for an attractive male character, despite my best efforts), and I appreciated the lack of sexual content SO much. There were two almost-scenes that didn't amount to anything, which was refreshing. Foul language was also basically nonexistent. (If I sound a little bit like a prude, it's just because I don't ever want to be accused of supporting/recommending/promoting books that a parent would be offended by for their middle school student, and any book that I can peacefully choose to leave on my classroom shelf rather than take off of it is a book I appreciate.) The story of Ronnie's (aka Miley's) relationship with her estranged father and annoying little brother is wonderful, full of heartwarming and heartbreaking goodness. Contrary to what I expected, I also found lots of surprising plot twists scattered throughout that kept me guessing and wondering how it would all play out. The fact that chapters rotate narrator also provides a great opportunity to discuss voice and perspective between characters.

So...I'm sorry. I'm sorry Nicholas Sparks, and I'm sorry unnamed friend of mine whose favorite author is Nicholas Sparks. I never should have laughed/scoffed/turned up my prideful nose at either of you. Or the rest of the Sparks-loving world. I was wrong.