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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Lovely? Check. Page-turner? Check. Gripping? Check. Good ending? NOOOOO. (spoilers ahead) I do have a dislike for sad endings, but aside from that, it felt like the ending just came from nowhere. Sparks needed a twist so he killed the protagonist. Just like that. Its becoming too long so he had...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Honestly, not my favorite book. It was kind of slow getting started and I didn't appreciate the descriptive love scenes. Pick something else if you have time to read...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“This was a tear jerker for me.”
danielle wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Another great books by Nicholas Sparks.”
Roston P. Jones wrote this review Thursday, April 4, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“It was cute, sad, but predictable”
Alice wrote this review Friday, March 29, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I haven't started the book yet. But I know that it is a love story. ”
Kate Leech wrote this review Monday, March 11, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Final Review:
Semira D wrote this review Wednesday, April 17, 2013. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Nicholas Sparks is an American novelist and screenwriter, who has 17 published novels, in which Message in a Bottle is the second one. The novel begins by describing the lives of few of the main characters, which are Theresa Osborne, Kevin, David, Deanna and Garrett Blake. Theresa is a woman who is in her mid-thirties, has a 12 year-old child, Kevin, and has recently divorced from her husband, David. Deanna, Theresa’s boss and also her best friend, is a married woman in her thirties.
The actual story begins when one day, Theresa finds a bottle near the ocean that has a very touching letter in it. She reads the letter and finds out that it was written from Garrett to Catherine, Garrett’s wife, who has died in a car accident. Along with that letter, she finds 2 more letters that were written by the same person. From there on, Theresa feels so passionate about finding Garrett and exploring his life, mostly because she thinks he might be the one that she would continue her life with. What Theresa loved about Garrett by reading his letters was the fact that Garrett still loved Catherine, even long after her death.
My favorite character in the novel happens to be Theresa, because she seems to be the ideal person/friend/wife/mother that everyone would like to have. She seems to try her best to understand how people feel and respect them for their choices and/or opinions. For example, after she has seen Garrett for the first time, she fell in love with him, and when Garrett eventually told Theresa about Catherine, no matter how much she loved Garrett, she seemed to understand what he was going through, and therefore respect him.
I think the two best-written scenes in the book so far are when Theresa and Garrett go sailing together, and also Garrett’s letters. It’s impossible not to feel emotional while reading those letters. The way the author describes the sea, the boat, the food and the two people’s emotions and whatever it is that’s going through their minds during the sailing makes me feel like I am actually there, in the scene. One of my favorite lines from Garrett’s letters to Catherine is on page 59, where he says: “I am soulless, a drifter without a home, a solitary bird in a flight to nowhere. I am all these things, and I am nothing at all. This, my darling, is my life without you. I long for you to show me how to live again.” I feel like this quote really shows how Garrett feels about Catherine.
One thing I did not like is the fact that this book is fiction. In my opinion, the story is a little bit too unrealistic. It’s not like someone would actually find a letter at the beach, get overwhelmed by it, then be curious about the person who has written the letter and go search for him/her. It would have been better if the author had made the story a little bit more realistic by changing a few events, such as the opening scene, perhaps.
In my opinion, the ending of the novel was so unexpected that I could not stop thinking about it for a good five minutes. I am not going to reveal the ending, but all I can say is that it was very tragic. Despite its tragedy, the ending scene was one of my favorite scenes throughout the novel. At the end, Garrett finally writes a letter to Theresa, and it is very emotional when you know what happened before Theresa got a chance to read the letter. On page 359, where Garrett sends a letter to Theresa, he says: “It is my deepest wish that you give me one more chance. As you might have guessed, I’m hoping that this bottle will work its magic, as it did once before, and somehow bring us back together.” I find this quote very emotional because of the things that have happened to Garrett after he has written that letter. Overall, though, it was a good book that I enjoyed reading, and I would recommend it to everyone who loves reading fictional love stories.
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2nd comment: I am on page 202 of this book, and quite a lot of things have changed since my last comment. In my first comment, I wrote about how Theresa was so passionate about finding and getting to know Garrett. Now, however, she has already found him by going to North Carolina for vacation (on purpose, of course), which is where Garrett lives.
My favourite character in the book happens to be Theresa, because she seems to be an ideal person/friend/wife/mother that everyone would like to have. She seems to try her best to understand how people feel and respect them for their choices and/or opinions. For example, after she has seen Garrett for the first time, she fell in love with him, and when Garrett eventually told Theresa about Catherine, she seemed to understand what he was going through, and therefore respect him. I think the best-written moment in the book so far is when Theresa and Garrett go sailing together. The way the author describes the sea, the boat, the food and the two people’s emotions and whatever it is that’s going through their minds makes me feel like I am actually there, in the scene. However, one thing I don’t like is the fact that this book is fiction. The story is a little bit too unrealistic, in my opinion. It’s not like people would actually find a letter at the beach and then be curious about the person who has written the letter and go search for him/her. It would have been better if it was at least a little bit more realistic by changing a few events in the story.
1st comment: I am on page 114 of this book, and from what I’ve read so far, it seems like a great and an intense book. The novel begins by describing the lives of few of the main characters, which are Theresa Osborne, Kevin, David, Deanna and Garrett Blake. Theresa is a woman who is in her mid-thirties, has a 12 year-old child, Kevin, and has recently divorced from her husband, David. Deanna, Theresa’s boss and also her best friend, is a married woman in her thirties. The actual story begins when one day, Theresa finds a bottle near the ocean that has a very touching letter in it. She reads the letter and finds out that it was written from Garrett to Catherine, Garrett’s wife, who has died in a car accident. Along with that letter, she finds 2 more letters that were written by the same person. From there on, Theresa feels so passionate about finding Garrett and exploring his life, mostly because she thinks he might be the one that she would continue her life with. What Theresa loved about Garrett (even though she knew nothing about him) was the fact that Garrett still loved Catherine, even long after her death.
I honestly don’t have a favourite character at the moment, as I’ve only gotten to know 2-3 characters so far. However, I think the best-written moments in the book so far are Garrett’s letters. It’s impossible not to feel emotional while reading those letters.
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“I read the Portuguese Edition "As palavras que nunca te direi"”
Rui Marques wrote this review Monday, February 25, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I looooovveeeee this book. All the love letters are well written and so sweet!”
viryani kho wrote this review Wednesday, November 28, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“1) "Message in a bottle" by Nicholas Sparks has been on my to read list for a while. I bought several of his books a while back, and grew fond of his story telling. For, it as if you are in the room with him and it is his own story, it sounds so sincere, you cannot doubt it for a minute. This might be due to the fact that all his stories are based in North or South Carolina, the places he had grown up with, therefore does actually have memories and experiences there. In the book "Message in a Bottle" We first learn about a young woman named Theresa Osbourne, we hear much about her life and experiences, the good and the bad. We learn that she has a 12 year old boy named Kevin, which of whom she had a child with when she was married. She got a divorce due to her husband's affair with another woman, this took its toll on Theresa. For she is left emotionally scarred in some way and unable to believe that someone can love her eternally. I like this book a lot so far, because it takes a very different spin on love in contrast to all of Nicholas Sparks's other books, for we as readers now understand her troubles and and if later on in the book she does find love, we'd understand her internal conflict to accept it. Although, her current state of mind is against it, that somehow foreshadows that she will soon find it. So far, i recommend this book a lot because it really does make the reader stand in someone else's shoes and understand how they feel.
Diana N wrote this review Thursday, January 31, 2013. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
2) In "Message in a bottle" by Nicholas Sparks, by half through the book, it is evident that Theresa really comes out of her shell more. For, we as the readers really feel and experience her thoughts and how she's afraid to ever love again due to her ex-husband of eight years cheating on her soon after they had gotten married. But after finally meeting Garrett, the reader develops with her. The reader goes through the closure of her divorce and the opening of a new relationship that both she and Garrett surely needed. Garrett, on the other hand, from the reader's perspective is on the fence of things. For he truly loved and loves his late wife with all his heart but cannot deny his feelings for theresa. I really love this book so far, but as the reader i have more insight on the situation compared to the characters, so i end up very frustrated when things go wrong but when such occurs i realize how amazing Nicholas Sparks is as a writer and how he engulfs the reader into fiction. I really recommend it so far.
Final Review:
Having read the whole book, I, as the reader, noticed several recurring topics. One being that lack of ability that Garrett has on forgetting and moving on from his late wife Caroline, and the recurring guilt that Theresa feels because of the real way she came across Garrett. These two topics end up defining and structuring the heart-felt end of the book and closing of the plot. For, through every stage of the book you can feel the author really trying to communicate the hardship and conflicting feelings that Garrett is experiencing towards Theresa, at times he feels quite shameful to has feelings for her in the first place, and that is an aspect of the story that Nicholas Sparks did not fail to show to the reader. Alongside Garrett's problems, Theresa is facing some conscience vs. heart conflicts of her own, because what if Garrett found out the way she knew about him? That indeed it was not fate to bring them together but her own will. Nicholas Sparks is able to portray how she does not want to admit to herself that perhaps what she did was not okay.
As well as balancing those topics, Nicholas Sparks is able to connect all aspects of both their lives. Theresa's with her job as a journalist and her young boy and Garrett with his father and his diving shack. The reader is able to incorporate themselves in the story as an onlooker and truly empathize with the characters. It truly is a very good book and takes a different and perhaps less sweet look at a second chance at love, very good read.”
“The first Nicholas Sparks book I read. It hooked me, amazing story.”
Rae Lynn wrote this review Sunday, November 18, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
