THE CHOICE by Nicholas Sparks
Nicholas Sparks is a very talented writer. He writes stories that appeal to the masses and this I n turn has afforded him huge popularity and success. Lately however he seems to be writing by design rather than from his heart. His latest book THE CHOICE is a prime example of this. It is a book that pushes all the right buttons but never gets inside the heart and soul of its characters.
The Prologue of the book could be called "the foreshadowing. Then the first fourteen chapters of the book could be titled "the courtship" and the next eight could be titled "the aftermath." The Epilogue at the end could be called "the resolution." Each section fits nicely into place and each one serves the purpose of the story. Still during "the foreshadowing" there are red herrings sneakily placed in a cruelly manipulative way, and in "the courtship" the pairing of the two main characters is almost too cute and contrived. I won't even go into "the aftermath."
Gabby and Travis are the romantic leads in this bittersweet tale by Sparks. Gabby moves into the house next door to Travis' in Beaufort, North Carolina and through a series of events they meet. She has a serious boyfriend named Kevin but Travis is unattached. When she agrees to go with him and his friends on a picnic on a weekend that Kevin is out of town you know this is the start of something big.
Gabby and Travis exchange snappy dialogue but the reader never gets past it. The emotions that follow seem fake and just there for the benefit of the story. Love is in the air but it is fairy tale love story and not realistic at all.
From his earliest days as a writer Sparks has shown that tragedy is his strong suit. He aims for the tear ducts in each and every book he writes and hasn't shown a new side to his talent in years. With the talent he possesses it would seem he could come up with something totally new and distinct.
Sparks' loyal core of readers will lap up this story just as they have every one of his books since THE NOTEBOOK. In their eyes he can do no wrong. But in this reviewer's eyes he needs to turn off the crying machine and write a book full of real emotions and non-contrived settings.
THE CHOICE is published by Grand Central Publishing. It contains 272 pages and sells for $24.99.