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The Last Song – Nicholas Sparks






Grand Central, Sept 2009
ISBN-13: 9780446547567
ISBN-10: 0446547565

BN Amazon
Amazon

Reviewed by Mary Gramlich
November 2009

4 1/2 Pink Hearts

When you feel you are ordinary individual living life in a world that demands extraordinary how do you reconcile yourself to that? Is aspiring to be just enough acceptable or will it cause you more angst than happiness? But what if our individual ordinary is extraordinary due in fact to being who you are? It is a lovely ride we are taken on if we just stop talking and start listening to the quiet whisper of the one being that is always going to guide us.

Steve Miller is on this journey of inner reflection and has experienced life in the spotlight as a concert pianist and while great he was surrounded by gifted making wonderful not enough in the venue. When it became too much he left New York, his wife and children and moved back to the town he came from, the last place he ever thought he would return. Life there had not ideal having been raised by emotionally stagnant parents but the faith of one pastor inspired him as a child and now as an adult to be and achieve more. Steve aspires to have one wonderful summer with his eighteen year old daughter Veronica (Ronnie) and his ten year old son Jonah. They have been separated for three years after the divorce and Steve knows time is running out on his ability to be with them. He needs to put his life in order, clean out the closets and let his children know how much he loves them and the future he sees for them. The problem is his daughter would rather be anywhere but with her father and while an equally gifted pianist she refuses out of spite to play. She is angry about the divorce, bitter about the way life is treating her and finding out that being in trouble is apparently getting her more attention that behaving. An eighteen year old has enough to deal with and now she has to spend the summer in nowhereville with her father; perfection is not the name of this adventure.

But Ronnie finds herself gravitating to trouble at first but as the summer progresses new purpose shows itself and clarifies that life is not all black and white there is some gray. While her father and brother bond while building a stained glass window to replace the one destroyed in the church fire, Ronnie finds that there are other ways to rebuild her broken relationship with her father. But the most unexpected surprise for her is finding love with someone who is not dark and depressed but fun and interesting and likes her just as she is, complicated and moody.

But with every silver lining there is a dark cloud lurking behind it and when the rain starts pouring on Ronnie the horror that happens is one she never saw coming. Will she be strong enough to deal with the grief she must face and the heartbreak that is inevitable – not knowing how amazing you are is the biggest surprise for all of us. When you are faced with adversity and owning up to your mistakes a person shows their true character when they rise to the occasion, take ownership of the situation and move past it.

With any Nicholas Sparks book you are taken on an emotional journey that leaves you feeling both elated, drained and out another box of tissue. In this book Mr. Sparks finds a way to explore not only adult emotions but those of a child on the brink of adulthood who face fears and mistakes and shows the growth process. I believe the greatest gift a writer can bestow upon a reader is a sadness that a book has just ended because you feel like a friend is being parted with. Enjoy this latest entry for you to will be asking “would I be able to do what Ronnie accomplished” and hopefully the answer is yes.

More Books: 2009 Reviews| Pink Heart Reviews

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