A Walk to Remember - MOVIE REVIEW by John Rey Bencito

A Walk To Remember

"First you will smile, and then you will cry --- don't say that you haven't been warned."

"In A WALK TO REMEMBER Sparks draws the reader in the town of Beaufort, NC to tell his story of young, but true love. An interesting sequence of events causes the popular Landon Carter to ask the misunderstood unpopular Jamie Sullivan to the Homecoming Dance which leads them into a surprising romance. Their love continues to grow as they struggle with their own feelings, and the reality of disease. This book is wonderfully written and extremely emotional; it is a quintessential snapshot of what true love should be. It makes me cry each time I read it and it makes me yearn for a love this true and great!"

They say that first love never dies. They say that the memories of your first true love will never be blown by the wind and will stay forever deep down inside of you. Have you ever wonder about your first love? The one that took your breath away, the one whom you’ve shared your best moments with. Here is a marked name of a man famous in that aspect, Nicholas Sparks, an extraordinary exceptional person and writer. Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember is a beautiful tale of love, and hope. This book will definitely capture your heart and make you fall in love with the characters all over again.

The book started with a promise - "First you will smile, and then you will cry --- don't say that you haven't been warned." Nicholas Sparks, known for his exceptional ability to exemplify his characters and as well as its setting precisely, writes another classic, following the success for his masterpiece – The Notebook. A Walk to Remember is a classic published in 1992 under Warner Books. This book is written with simplicity, with words carefully chosen but still very common. Dedicated readers of Nicholas Sparks has familiarized this exceptional ability of Nicholas Sparks with his previous books, The Notebook and Message in the Bottle. Nicholas Sparks, a sentimental novelist, always finds a way to introduce to his readers the nature of each character, making it easy for the readers to view what’s inside the hearts of each character. Also, Nicholas Sparks is able to choose his words vigilantly so that several readers’ emotions are affected. This book will certainly make you laugh, cry and everything in between. Sensitive people will be bawling at the book's ending, as Sparks told his readers. A Walk to Remember is a book written for the readers to explore their emotional sides. If you do want to cry, you better read this book.

This novel was inspired by Spark’s sister, Danielle Spark Lewis, who later passed away with of cancer in June 2000. The story was said to be fictional since most of its parts are only from the creative mind of the author, Nicholas Sparks but there were parts that are based on reality. For example, his sister's then-husband proposed of marriage to her despite her illness.

Nicholas Sparks writes about a classic love story of two young people in 1958 on Beaufort, California. This is the story of their first love. Morehead City is the type of town where the kids walk around barefoot from April through October and the townspeople wave hello from their cars whether they know the person or not. Landon Carter is a seventeen-year-old high school senior whose father is a United States congressman. He and his father are strangers --- his father is on the road quite a bit of the time and he spends the majority of time being raised by his mother. His father insists that he needs to run for student body president to increase his chances of getting into a good college. His father believes that "We Carters always win" and he wants to mold Landon into a miniature version of himself.

Landon wins the election and one of his responsibilities is attending the homecoming dance. Due to the fact he has just broken up with his girlfriend, he doesn't have a date and in a panic, he pulls out his yearbook and scans the pages for someone available. He finally decides on Jamie Sullivan, a junior, who is the minister's daughter, knowing that nobody else will ask her to the dance. Jamie wears old sweaters, plaid skirts and her hair up in a bun. She carries the Bible wherever she goes and believes that whatever happens in life is according to the Lord's plan. She is obviously not your typical high school student and not someone in whom Landon or his friends would be interested.

Both Landon and Jamie star in the school Christmas play that Jamie's father has written. The play details the personal story of his life after his wife's death and his search for love and the meaning of life within his daughter. Jamie plays the angel and Landon, the lead male role. Over time, in rehearsals and occasional talks together on her front porch, Landon starts to like Jamie. As a result, he becomes a better person, helping her do good deeds and accompanying her to the orphanage. The opening night of the play, he is amazed when he first sees her walk on the stage dressed as an angel, with her hair loose and flowing down her back. She glitters onstage and he falls for her true beauty.

With plot twists and turns and an untold secret that will change their lives forever, will Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan fall in love with each other? Will it be a happy ending for them? Does their love story end with a bitter ending? Does first love never really die? Only this book can tell. Only this book can state the possibilities of having their love story end with a happy ending or otherwise.
The two main protagonists in the story are Jamie Sullivan and Landon Carter. Landon is the name of Sparks’ third son. Landon Carter belongs to a rich family. He is a son of a well-known US Congressman that’s the reason why he is famous, having a Carter after his name. He is described by Nicholas Sparks by a “typical teenage boy.” In the first half of the story, he is struggling with his father’s expectations for him. Sparks described Landon’s father as a “complete stranger” for Landon. Sparks was able to precisely illustrate Landon’s relationship with his beloved Mom. On the other side, comes Jamie Sullivan, a daughter of a church minister, Hegbert Sullivan. The name Jamie came from Sparks’ editor, Jamie Raab who was diagnosed with leukemia. Sparks had a hard time presenting the outcome of the story. All throughout the story, there were signs that Jamie would face her death, depicting her deteriorating death. He had a hard time to present this idea since in his previous works, the main protagonist originally dies, and he received “furious” responses from his fans. "As to whether she actually lived or died, it's ambiguous and purposely meant to be that way. If you wanted Jamie to live, she lived. If you knew that Jamie would die, she died."

He wrote the story in North Carolina, which was the original setting of the novel. Like his first published book, The Notebook, he prologue was written last. The title A Walk to Remember was taken from one of the tail end pages of the novel: "In every way, a walk to remember." It was written the way Sparks wrote The Notebook and Message in the Bottle, it was written in first person with Landon Carter as the narrator. Also, it features traditional narrative techniques found in some other novels. The story was told by Landon Carter who relates the events in the story. He employs the narrative technique of flashback in that his narrator tells the story many months after the events. Thus the reader views the events as Landon experienced them and learns from Landon's experiences.

Sparks' diction is descriptive and evocative. His imagery is rooted in emotion and evokes emotion in the reader. There is nothing cold, objective, cynical, or unfeeling in Sparks' writing. Sparks was able to incorporate humor in this book. The book has amazingly funny and heart-warming moments. Though in the first half, it’s the humor that really makes you want to read more. Rarely does one come across a book that makes us laugh out loud. Sarcasm gets a smirk; jokes get a chuckle... but laugh? This one does. It gets you to laugh every now and then. I just loved the writing style. I’m not so much of a fan of stylish prose. But I am a fan of author’s who are able to get the readers to truly connect and feel the story as if it is their life and not the narrator’s.

The novel itself does not preach, no matter how much it wants to, that made the story interesting for the readers. Also, Sparks described the main characters as simple teenagers and not as the most exciting, handsome, beautiful people in the world and that worked for the book, simple teenagers falling in love with each other, a perfect setting. The narrator chose common words. That’s why it is easily understood by the readers. Sometimes, complicated words make the story tedious to read. Sparks also incorporated humor in this book. Probably, he knows the feeling of a reader taking up serious works. He incorporated humor in his work so that boredom is partly eliminated for the readers. In spite of the events being unsurprising, the author is still able to evoke feelings of awe by the sheer brilliance of his words. He evokes feelings like none other. (but of course, this may be true for just the women ). Lastly, he was able to put up realistic characters, could be irritating, harsh, rude, lovable and a whole lot more.

For its negative side, the novel is pretty predictable, the reader could have predicted the events before it even happened but then again it never was meant to be a thriller. I have to admit that the reader might want to give this a miss if he reads the cover. It’s much too dull description for an enchanting love story that was shared by both the protagonists. Also, there is a constant use of phrases like “it’s all in Lord’s plan” by Jamie Sullivan. However, the narrator confesses that he finds it just as irritating.

This book was absolutely amazing. It was a story of how strong teen love can truly be and the love conquers all. Landon and Jamie come from different backgrounds and had nothing to do with each other until an incident where Landon needed a date. From getting to know each other in new ways, Landon learns what life is really about. It is only when Jamie becomes very weak and ill that Landon learns miracles can happen.

Yet another great book by Sparks. If you want to cry, read this book. If you read this book and don't cry, go buy a heart! This is a close second to "The Notebook". An incredible love story like no other. Sparks brings you into the lives of Landon & Jamie and has you routing them on with every turn of the page. If you are a Nicolas Sparks fan, or are looking to become one, this is a great book to start with. This short Nicholas Sparks novel should only take a day or two to read, so it makes an ideal library selection. A Walk to Remember also makes a good gift. It offers wonderful lessons in love and faith from which anybody could benefit.

John Rey V. Bencito
IV-Madame Marie Curie
Mrs. Ellen Mae Badillo-Laurente
Teacher, Faculty and Staff
The Makati Science High School