“A Walk To Remember” (book review)

“A Walk To Remember” – is an incredible love story by an author Nicholas Sparks. Sparks brings his reader into the lives of two ordinary American teenagers – Landon & Jamie and with every turn of the page the reader is lost in the world of their relations, life, their feelings. It is a bittersweet. . . A tragic yet spiritual love story.

This novel starts of with a 57 year old man Landon Carter, turning back the pages of his life to the time when he was 17 years old, in the late 1950’s and was living in Beaufort, a small town in North Carolina. He speaks of an encounter with this too-good-to-be-true girl, Jamie Sullivan. This meeting changed all his life forever.

Jamie Sullivan - the daughter of the town's Baptist minister, is a shining paragon. She is selfless, kind, tirelessly giving, and deeply spiritual. Beloved by many adults, but largely unnoticed by her peers, she is quiet and thoughtful. She's someone that Landon Carter, a popular senior at Beaufort High, never really noticed or understood. Jamie is described as a girl who carries the Bible in her bag wherever she goes. Moreover, she looked out for her widowed father, rescued hurt animals, and worked as a volunteer to help the orphaned kids.

The story starts moving ahead when Landon has no suitable option left for the school dance and asks Jamie out. Landon Carter's life from that moment on would never be the same. As he comes to know more about Jamie, he begins to develop tender feelings for her. The pace and mood of the novel is suddenly changed when a dark mystery about Jamie is revealed. She is going to die because of leucaemia... From now on the main Landon’s aim – is to make all her dreams come true and to make the last months of her life happy.

Same way Jamie gives all her love and kindness to Landon and changes his attitide to life. In her unwavering faith and uncommon generosity, she challenges his perception of his life in her strong, but gentle way. She teaches him to find forgiveness, to openly give without selfishness, and sets him on the journey to becoming a truly compassionate, good man. Amazingly, he finds love in a place he never expected, in a girl he never noticed. Being with Jamie shows him the depths of the human heart and leads him to a decision so stunning it would send him irrevocably on the road to manhood.

This book is wonderfully written and extremely emotional. The author’s language is plain and simple and it helps the reader to feel better the feeling and emotions of the main characters. The tone of the book is calm and thoughtful, which helps the reader to analyse and explore the inner world of the protagonists. The main theme of the book – is the power of all-triumphant love and changes which may be occured by it.