I'll admit it- as much as I'd like to say that I'm too cool for school and have only read Kerouac, Shteyngart, and Yates-I have indeed read Nicholas Sparks.
Two books to be exact. A Walk to Remember & The Notebook. I read A Walk to Remember after seeing the movie in HS as I will forever heart Mandy Moore. I found the movie too modern for the story and the book too modern for it's originally given time period. I'm sorry ladies. I don't want to be in the business of crushing dreams here- but it is unlikely that the hot guy in school is going to go for the church geek withholding the pootang til marriage. I'm not saying that you won't find someone who loves you more than anything. I'm just saying- please don't prompt stuff like this to raise your expectations to such an unreasonable degree that you turn down a great guy just because he admits he thinks Kim Kardashian has a nice ass.
The one nice thing about The Notebook is that it seems to be the only one where someone doesn't end up dying young of a terminal illness, being killed in a landslide, lost at sea, eaten by sharks, abducted by aliens....you get my drift. I'll admit that life doesn't always turn out lovely and tied up with a bow- but something about this massive flush of nauseating romance and tragedy vs. real everyday life just makes me so bonkers!
That being said, I can understand why women like to take a load off and read these sometimes-let me be clear- I'm talking about WOMEN; women who've probably already experienced heartbreak, women who've been fucked over, women with direction, women who've been married a while and have settled into a state of comfortable, hell- women with bank accounts- I get that these ladies like a reminder of romance. I get it.
That being said when I see girls between age 12-19 buying these books....well, it makes me a little nervous. So sorry, girls. I do not mean to be patronizing- but I know what I was like when I was younger and I thought I knew everything I'd ever need to know about love and sex too. In a way these books make me more nervous than Twilight- at least in Twilight you have the whole vampire thing there to tell you: THIS IS NOT REAL. I know that millions disagree with me- and guys, I do respect your opinion, but Nicholas Sparks- I'm sorry, sir. Not only could you benefit from CHANGING UP YOUR NORMAL PLOT LINE- but I suggest you should put a disclaimer on your books. Beware thee of a gullible heart.
And just to be clear- I'm a romantic - I've nothing whatsoever against a good love story- but I prefer the love stories with snippets of seemingly real relationships thrown in. Just sayin.
Suggested Reading for the recovering Sparks reader:
One Day
The Time Traveler's Wife
Marry Him: The Case For Settling For Mr. Good Enough
The Year of Yes
Committed
AND JUST TO OWN UP....I loved the MOVIE The Notebook- it basically took all my dislikes of the book and threw them away. Hearts for Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams...
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