The Notebook: The Theme Of Love

The author who wrote the best-selling novel “The Notebook,” Nicholas Sparks, was yet again showed the readers his brilliance in the romantic-yet-sometimes-ill-fated style of writing and storytelling in his latest novel “Every Breath,” published in 2018 under Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group publishing company. Sparks is an American romance novelist widely known for his eleven romantic-drama novels that have been adapted in many films, all with multimillion-dollar accumulations and two non-fiction books. His novels indeed show the pictures of tragic love stories of couples with joyful endings.

Every Breath is no different among other Spark’s novels—bits of hope, morsels of love, parts of desires, a hint of sadness, and lots of tears can be earned in this novel. From its front cover to its jacket design, the reader would know immediately that this novel was inspired by letters and mails. In the start, Sparks told the readers that the story behind more than 300-pages of Every Breath was not an original story of him, but a re-creation verbatim of an ancient conversation between two people he found in Kindred Spirit, a mailbox that exists on a secluded stretch of coastline of Sunset Beach in North Carolina, where passersby can leave letters about anything with their thoughts—be it pain, dreams, hopes, aspirations—for others to read and share. However, in the author’s note part of the book, he told the readers that his ‘discovery’ of the said conversation between two people was entirely fictional, and the setting of it was drawn directly from his experiences. He also told that the Kindred Spirit is just a mere fruit of imagination, and he was just fond of the idea of the romantic impression of a remote mailbox sitting in the middle of nowhere filled with letters and mails of love, hope, and hatred.

To give an insight, the novel has two parts and narrated in third person point-of-view. The first one starts with Tru Walls, a 42-year-old safari guide from Zimbabwe, who was directed to America in 1990 to meet his estranged father that he had never faced before since he was born and raised in Africa. His estranged father paid a large amount of money to have him linger in a beach house located in North Carolina for a weekend until the day they were to face. During this empty timeframe that he was alone in the beach house, he suddenly saw and managed to save a dog that got hit by a car because its owner was too busy and not paying attention to her pet. He helped the dog and returned the seemingly unharmed dog to its owner, who happens to be Hope Anderson, a 36-year-old trauma nurse who is just spending a weekend together with her family to attend her best friend’s wedding.

As fate would have it, they developed an instant affection to each other throughout one weekend. Over cups of coffee, long walks by the seashore, quiet suppers, and glasses of wine, they shared their life stories and got infatuated. However, all the delightful moments ended after devastating revelations as Tru learned secrets about his family’s history, and Hope’s on-and-off lover of six years, Josh, reached her to amend their latest breakup to take their relationship forward. Facing the backdrop of these developments, both Tru and Hope realized that they must have to defy reality now. While Tru was eager to make everything possible for them to be able to stay together, it was Hope who has a dilemma. For, one of her life’s biggest dreams has been to be a mother, and with Tru, she knew that it was impossible owing to a medical infirmity he has. She was torn between her happiness and emotions for Tru. Finally, they decided to part ways in spite they did not want to, and that one decision left the two devastated as the days have passed.

Like all the novels of Sparks, the story did not end there. The second part happened a quarter of a century later. The two met again and learned about the course of their lives has suffered. Hope was separated now to his husband, and her children were on their own. Tru had a life-threatening accident but was doing fine at that time. In that part, Sparks left a question to the readers to find the answer if the sincere love of the two they shared for each other many years ago still shines and does it have the capability to bring them together even across continents.

The ending of the book made the two concluded that albeit the difficulties did go themselves out in the end, they understood how much time was lost on making the wrong choice in the first place. Hope learned how fragile life truly is that even a tiny mistake can be significant. On the other hand, Tru became one of the greatest men that ever lived because of what he did in the latter part. The way Sparks himself created Tru was a mesmerizing thing to think profoundly and scrutinize. Sparks described Tru as a perfect man for a woman throughout the whole plot. He was not jealous nor angry at any events that have passed. He was rich, skilled, and handsome, as well.

The novel Every Breath became one of the most exciting romantic novels of 2018. It taught the readers to be ready for any hardships that will come to them, and Sparks indeed showed in his work that life would certainly teach them that in the aspect of love, there must be sacrifices and endeavors in one way or another.

The author would rate this novel 10 out of 10 because, as a reader, Every Breath was affecting and achingly ardent for its readers. Compared to other romantic novels by Sparks like ‘The Notebook’ and ‘Nights in Rodanthe,’ the author would tell that this novel was better because of the complexity of the plot. This explained the deeply moving and emotional novel of a couple that has met at the wrong time and wrong place in their lives was just another reminder of why Nicholas Sparks remains a prominent voice in romance today. Spread across the world, Every Breath was a bittersweet contemporary story of love at first-sight, events, and fate, which will warm everyone’s heart. It was a magnificent novel to read.