i think i've reached my limit of nicholas sparks books. first i read the notebook- the 2 main characters die together at the end (sad, but happy b\c they loved each other so much), then i read a walk to remember- sad because the girl dies at the end when she's only 18. then i read dear john. surprisingly, no one died at the end, but i wanted to kill myself for reading another nicholas sparks book.... read on... unless you're going to read this at some point (which i've already advised you not to)... in which you shouldn't because... spoiler alert.
john tyree bad boy turned soldier meets savannah curtis while on r&r. she's a college student building houses for habitat with a bunch of other college students, including her friend tim, who happens to be in love with her. they immediately fall in love- but john's only home for 2 weeks. savannah also meets john's reclusive, distant father, who she diagnoses with asperger's, much to john's dismay. john happens to pay more attention to his father after this though and realizes savannah is probably right. john's father is a big time coin collector, and he used to collect with his dad until they got into a huge fight about it. after the 2 weeks john goes back to germany and they write letters to each other. everything's going to work out though because john's time in the army is almost up- but did i mention they met in the summer of 2001? oops. well, john decides to reenlist after 9-11 adding another 2 years on- but him & savannah continue to write letters. he comes home to visit again, and you can tell there is distance between him. john gets sent to war (i swear i thought he would die, but he doesn't) and while he's gone he gets a real "dear john" letter- savannah is breaking up with him b\c she's in love with someone else. john reenlists again, but is soon called home b\c his father is sick. his father dies eventually and john comes home to settle his estate. while at home he decides to pay savannah a visit, it's there he learns that she has married tim and they are the caretakers of tim's brother alan b\c tim's parent died in a car accident. tim is no where to be found though... but wait... the next day savannah takes john to see tim- he has lymphoma and really needs expensive experimental treatment that insurance won't cover. it's obvious that savannah is still in love with john, and we know john still loves savannah, but john leaves, sells his father's entire coin collection (except for one) and anonymously donates all of the money to tim. in the end, we find out that tim took well to treatment and is going to live.
seriously?! all i could think about when she dumped him (in the middle of a war, no less) was that she was such a rotten b. then, she halfway tries to seduce him, and then he sells his father's entire coin collection and donates it just so her husband will live. the husband that she fell in love with while they were still together...
the movie was a completely different story... literally. it should have been entitled "dear john (very) loosely based on the book dear john." i mean, some of the details were the same, but so much of it was different- if you don't like the details of a book- then don't make a movie "based" on it.
disappointments, both of them.
book 2/5, movie 1/5.
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