A predictable Sparks novel of love, life, and heart-break...Nights In Rodanthe

I received Nights In Rodanthe as a gift from a very good friend a little while after it came out. She knew that I was a huge Nicholas Sparks fan and bought it for me as a Christmas gift last year. I have had so much going on in my life since then, that I wasn’t able to pick this book up until a little over three months ago. So long to wait when I have a Sparks book on my shelf! *sigh*


Adrienne Willis, a woman satisfied by the life that she has led, and the three children she has brought up. Matt, Amanda, and Dan are the loves of her life. Amanda being the one that she is most worried about right now. After loosing her husband Brent, to cancer some eight months earlier, the girl has yet to come remotely close to recovering from the tragedy. This being so…even with two young children to take care of.

Afraid for her daughter, Adrienne sits her down one day, and decides to tell her girl the story of her life. We flash back to Rodanthe, fourteen years before. It was in 1988 that Paul Flanner traded in his life for a new one – his two cars, house, and his medical practice. He left Raleigh behind and headed to the North Carolina coast. It was a life that he no longer desired after having a bitter argument with his son, Mark, and getting a divorce from his wife. But loosing a patient in a routine operation was what prompted the sudden departure from his life. He heads to Rodanthe to try and speak to the family of the woman that had died.

Arriving at an inn in Rodanthe, Paul steps out onto the back porch to find a woman crying. A woman who is wondering why her husband has left her, after 18 years of marriage. Adrienne’s thoughts and worries about her financial situation and her life are lost the minute she hears the footsteps on the porch and turns to find Paul there. Adrienne, taking care of the inn for a friend, takes Paul to his room and tells his everything he needs to know while he is a guest there. Later, they share a cup of coffee in the sitting room, while the wind from the impending storm picks up outside. They fall into easy conversation together and seem at ease with one another.

Did you expect anything different from Sparks?

Paul even offers to help Adrienne with dinner to help prevent the conversation from dying. One thing leads to another, and the couple, of course begin to have feelings for the other. Paul begins to wonder why her husband left such a wonderful woman. And Adrienne likes the way that they could talk easily with each other and still feel comfortable after such a short time.

The story goes on with Paul trying to make peace with Robert Torrelson, who blames him for the death of his wife and Adrienne readying the inn for the impending storm. It’s later that night sitting by the fire that the two talk about “them”. It seems that they both have decided that they are “in love” with each other after only knowing each other for a day. That was quick, even by Sparks standards! They spend the rest of the weekend together, in bed, riding out the storm and walking along the beach afterwards. Paul and Adrienne share a tearful goodbye after the weekend is over…it seems Paul is headed overseas to Ecuador, to try and track down his son and will be back in a year.

Will their “love” be able to last through the time that Paul is gone? Will he come back to Adrienne when he is through spending much needed time with his son? How will Adrienne feel if he does come back?


~*~ MY THOUGHTS ~*~
We are definitely treated to a different Sparks novel with Nights In Rodanthe, and can tell right from the beginning. Usually we begin one of his stories in the future, flashing back into the past…courtesy of someone telling us a story about an event that occurred in their life years before. A story that ultimately has a happy ending. Will it happen this time?

I have to wonder at two strangers’ ability to fall into a conversation talking about their lives as though they have known each other for years. Though I do have to give Sparks credit for making the conversation between Paul and Adrienne seem awkward and stilted to begin with. This adds some realism to the whole situation. But also adds a little predictability to the whole story. You can obviously figure out what is going to happen within the first couple of chapters of Nights In Rodanthe.

Also different with this story compared to some of his others is the jumping back between Adrienne telling her story in the present, to the events in 1988. Most of the time, we do not have that with Sparks stories. We get the present in the beginning, flash back to the past, and then come back to the present instead of skipping back and forth while Adrienne reveals the events of the year after Paul left for Ecuador.

Adrienne tells the tale of her own tragic encounter with love. It is obvious that Adrienne still keeps the story alive in her own heart and never thought that she would be telling it to a family member. It brings a lot of respect to the character to personally sacrifice her emotions for someone else, even her own daughter.

But the only characters that seem to be developed in any manner are Paul and Adrienne. And even that was not at all beneficial to the book. Sparks’ gives brief thoughts to Amanda’s own personal grief and should have developed this in some kind of way to make the story more emotional. After all, if Amanda’s own husband had not died, Adrienne would not have gotten the chance to reveal her own story.

Sparks writing is a drawing and as eloquent as ever. The way he describes the situations, settings, and characters never fails to have me enraptured. The tragedy of the situation, a no way out kind of thing, makes you almost feel like crying. Out of all the Sparks books that I have read, I don’t think that I can remember one that didn’t fail to be emotional, sometimes overly so. Sparks just has a way of grabbing your heart and taking you along for a long ride. But I cannot say that his grip was strong with Nights In Rodanthe.

His fans will be able to read this book through to the end. But place it on their top ten list? Sorry, I just cannot see it. But those who are not Sparks fans may get a little more out of it because they are not used to his writing. If anything, it’s a quick read anyway.


~ Some other Sparks books to enjoy! ~
The Notebook
A Walk To Remember
A Bend In The Road


~ Happy Reading!

Kim


ISBN: 0-446-53133-2
Format Read: Hardcover
Pages: 212
Price: Gift ($22.95 Retail)