Mood:
happyTopic: Entertainment
Continuing on with my "Summer-O-Fiction," I read Nicholas Sparks' Nights in Rodanthe. Now, was this the most genius piece of work I've ever read? Nope. Most romantic? Not really. But did I read it in one evening while drinking a bottle of Spanish red? Abso-effing-lutely.
Any piece of literature that allows me to drink and still remember all appropriate names and facts is an "A" in my...well, in my book.
Nights in Rodanthe takes place in...well, Rodanthe, North Carolina. Two people, Adrienne and Paul, who meet at a bed and breakfast in said coastal town.
Naturally, Adrienne is looking over the bed and breakfast for a friend. And of course, Paul is the only guest scheduled for the next few days. To add to this amazing coincidence, they are both recently divorced and both about to ride out a nasty hurricane. Together. In the bed and breakfast. With three bottles of Pinot Grigio on hand. And you know, a fireplace.
The entire book takes place over many years, but the meat of the matter is the three nights at the bed and breakfast. Each chapter, Paul and Adrienne share more about their lives and children with each other, and they grow from being acquaintances to lovers in the short amount of time.
I didn't notice this when I read Sparks' The Last Song, but this story about Paul and Adrienne was sandwiched inside a bigger story about Adrienne's daughter, who recently lost her husband and was trying to raise her children on her own. So the Rodanthe story is being told to her daughter as the reader reads, if that makes any sense. There was aslo added facts about Paul's past and future, along with a mini-drama about one of his patients in Rodanthe who wanted a lawsuit.
While I appreciate the detail, I could have gone without it. Call me a hopeless romantic, but all I really cared about was the story of Paul and Adrienne. I don't really care about their daily drama with work, or the hobbies of their children.
Unfortunately, Sparks' spent 90 percent of the pages building up a great amount of sexual tension that was never really cured—leave it to a man to piss me off, even in literature. But I have to hand it to Sparks, he sure has found himself a niche. Like I was telling one of my coworkers, Sparks may be the laughing stock of his poker buddies, but he's the one laughing all the way to the bank. I am convinced he is to cheap romance thrills as Stephen King is to calculated horrors.
Thanks to my dad who, after my request, bought me three Sparks' novels on his trip to the World's Longest Yard Sale, I've got two more lovely novels to eat (er, drink). So far, both of the books I've read, The Last Song and Nights in Rodanthe, have taken place in North Carolina. After checking out the remaining two books on my desk, I see these call North Carolina home, too. Do I smell a native?
According to his website, he was born in Omaha, Nebraska...moved to Minnesota...left for Los Angeles...got accepted to Notre Dame...transferred from Sacramento to (AHA!) North Carolina!
While I suspected that, a few more things on Sparks' biography page are interesting. I'm assuming the darker side to all of his books come from the fact that his mother was killed in a horseback riding incident when she was 47. Later Sparks found out his younger sister has cancer.
Then, he wrote The Notebook. It sold for $1,000,000.
Like I said, laughing his ass off on the way to the bank. But yet, money can't buy happiness...Sparks found out his son was autistic the same same year his father died in a car crash.
Of course, there is way more to his life, but I won't continue—don't want to be the Debbie Downer for once. While Nights in Rodanthe wasn't better than The Last Song, I still enjoyed it. It was romantic and poetic—each chapter ended with something along the lines of, a stormy night, in Rodanthe.
Sigh.
