Sappy, Mildly Predictable, G-Rated Love Story

“Nights in Rodanthe” by Nicholas Sparks is a sweet story, a hair on the sappy side, and is comparable to “The Bridges of Madison County”.

Last week, my editor at the local paper asked me to cover a speech by Sparks, and this review is based on my thoughts about the book, comments by Sparks himself, and comments made members of the audience who attended his lecture.

Sparks, whom my neighbor refers to as a ‘male Danielle Steele’, is 37 years old. “Nights in Rodanthe” is his 6th novel.

His first, “The Notebook,” was on the New York Times Bestseller list for over a year, and I can see why. His stories are quick reads, sentimental, and calculated to appeal to the masses.

Sparks himself said that a writer has two choices for a career. He can write what he wants to write, or he can write what readers want to read. Sparks said he has chosen the second option, and it shows.

“Nights in Rodanthe” is the story of the love affair of Adrienne Willis and Paul Flanner.

As in “The Bridges of Madison County”, theirs is a brief affair. It lasts only a single weekend. (I am compelled to note at this point that I was not the one who first noticed the similarity between the two stories. Book reviewer Alexa Jaworski, mentioned it in her newspaper review and I include it here because it really is a good indicator of how you will like the story. If hated “Bridges”, you probably won’t like “Rodanthe” much either.)

Adrienne and Paul met while Adrienne was temporarily managing a small inn where Paul was a guest and quickly fall in love.

Don’t expect a lot of passionate sex though. Sparks keeps his sex scenes “G-rated” by his own admission.

An older woman who attended Sparks’ lecture told him she thought his books are “like medicine for a sick society.” She was referring not only to his discrete sex scenes, but also the deep religious beliefs of the characters.

Sparks is a Catholic, graduated from Notre Dame, and is open about his faith. His characters reflect that. Even if you have never read his books, you may be familiar with two movies based on earlier works – “Message in a Bottle” and “A Walk to Remember.”

If so, you will have an idea of the nature of a Sparks novel. The stories are sentimental, the characters have faith and aren’t afraid to talk about it and sex isn’t front and center.

What I find interesting about his novels is that Sparks has found a way to be commercially successful without stooping to sex or violence. And, it doesn’t seem that Sparks is appealing to a niche audience. Over 1200 people (mostly women and teen girls) attended his lecture the night I covered the speech and several hundred more went to see him the following morning.

And, his following isn’t only in the United States. His books have been translated to over 30 languages and he is a popular speaker in Europe.

Could it be that readers are getting sick of the junk-food diet of sex and bloodshed that authors have been feeding us for years? Probably not, but it could be an interesting trend to watch. Jean M. Auel could take a note or two from Sparks and kill some of the sex in her cave people books, and concentrate on the plot for a change.

“Nights in Rodanthe” is not going to win any major literary awards, nor was it intended to. As I said before, Sparks writes with mass appeal in mind.

This means that the book is easy (and fast) to read. It may bring a tear to your eye, but it probably won’t shake you to your core like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.” It’s just not that deep.

Adrienne and Paul are middle aged people who meet, fall in love, but do not wind up together. “Nights in Rodanthe” is the story of how people can have a huge impact on somebody else’s life, even if their relationship is brief.

Will you like “Nights in Rodanthe”? That depends. If you like the occasional sappy love story and aren’t looking for hot sex, this book might appeal to you. It hasn’t got a lot of depth of characterization, and it isn’t very taxing on the brain. It’s commercial fluff and sometimes commercial fluff is just the thing for a lazy winter afternoon.