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Dear John is written in typical Nicholas Sparks mode. The story begins by building background on the main character, John Tyree, a rebel who recently graduated from high school and who’s doing as all of his buddies do—living off his father. Realizing his life is going nowhere and wanting to change that, John signs up to join the Army. He becomes an infantryman and gets to do several tours in Kosovo. When John gets leave, he returns to his hometown to visit with his father. He also spends time at the beach surfing—which is where Sparks introduces Savannah Lynn Curtis.
Savannah is a rather spunky girl who does things her own way. She’s not into the typical college pastimes of drinking, partying, and sex. Instead, she’s dedicated herself to helping others. Savannah is majoring in Special Education at the University of North Carolina, and she’s spending her summer coordinating a group from her college to build homes for Habitat for Humanity in John’s hometown. Savannah and John meet on the beach one afternoon when her purse accidentally gets knocked into the ocean and John retrieves it.
The story blossoms over the next two weeks of John’s leave. He attends church with Savannah, takes her out to dinner, and begins to fall in love with her. Savannah also falls in love with John. The story begins to deepen as John must return to his base in Germany and complete his service with the Army. Savannah and John agree to meet during his next leave, one year later, and to remain close while keeping their love for each other strong. They do the typical long-distance things: writing, emailing, and calling each other often. Then John visits Savannah on his second leave, and they rekindle their love. They spend time with her parents and then at her college dorm. They seem to have grown apart over the last year, but things fall back into place the more they’re together.
After this visit, things between them seem to be less intense, and they begin to drift apart. The story doesn’t end here, though—and the two struggle separately over the next five years before they meet again.
Dear John is especially well written. Nicholas Sparks does a great job of building his characters, drawing the reader into the story to the point of not being able to put the book down. The different passions of the two main characters that make them so different also make them perfect for each other. However, as fate will have it, the story doesn’t end as you might expect. This is a fabulous book, and I highly recommend it.
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