review of Nicholas Sparks' Message in a Bottle
Message In a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks Warner Books, 1998 As in his fist bestseller, The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks once aain pays tribute to the powers of true love. In this emotionally charged novel, he not only maintains that it is possible to find that one special person, but that it can happem twice. When Theresa Osborn, a sivorced single mother and newspaper columnist, finds a sad and mysterious love letter in a bottle on a Cape Cod beach, she is deepöy moved. Facinated by the writer's heartfelt expressions of lonliness and undying love for the women he lost, she sets out to find him. Using her skills as a reporter, she is able to track down Garret Blake in a small NorthCarolina coastal town. It soon becomes clear that it is not so much the sounalist in Theresa who comes all the way from Boston to see the man behind the sad letters, but the woman, They meet, and a happy romance quickly ensues, This is where the plot starts losing credibility, That a sidallusioned man, who for years has been sending desoerate messages accros the ocean to his dead wife, would suddenly fall in love with anotheris unbelievable. Most of the novel is so predictable and cliché-ridden, that is fails to surprise in the first 200 pages, There are just too many waves rolling to the shore, too many quiet walks on moonlight beaches. THe protagonists are too perfect to be interesting-- what soulf be more perfect than a ruggedly handsome diving instructor and ship-builder, whose soul is scared from the terrible loss, and the attractive, strong, sucessful single mother, who can heal his wounds? And shoulf the two ever stray from the path to eternal love, they can certainly count on Garrett's father and Theresa's best friend, who seem to spew worldly wisdom whenever they open their mouths. Message in a Bottle is full of romance-novel moments. If you're a hopeless romantix and crave a corny story of true love and big emotions, grab a box of Kleenex ad pop that Titanic soundtrack into the CD player--this one's for you.