This is a wonderful coming of age novel. Ronnie and her brother, Jonah, leave their mother in New York to spend time with their father in North Carolina. Since the parents are divorced, only the two siblings make the trip. Ronnie is on the brink of her eighteenth birthday. This is the birthday that will allow her the right to make decisions without a yes or no from her parents. Ronnie meets a few new friends. Friends who will lead her in many new directions. There is Will, Marcus and Blaze.
While reading this novel, I thought about how difficult it is to be a teen-ager whether in a big city or in a rural-suburban area. Peer pressure is not bound to one ethnicity, geographical area or gender. There is always the bad struggling to hurt the good young people. Ronnie fights this battle along with unexpected circumstances that erupt like a volcano.
I especially liked The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks because there is so much in the novel about the Arts. There is Steve’s love for writing music and playing the piano.
“Life, he realized, was much like a song. In the beginning there is mystery, in the end there is confirmation, but it’s in the middle where all the emotion resides to make the whole thing worthwhile.”
There is also his strong desire to create a new stained glass window for the church. In this project Steve involves Little Jonah. Ronnie while battling issues with her father, her friends and an unexpected and harmful accusation by Blaze reads Anna Karenina.
I have read a few novels where Loggerhead turtles and babes come ashore to deliver their eggs in the sand. Their lives are very fragile. It is always refreshing to read about people who care enough to try and save as many eggs as possible. Nicholas Sparks reaffirms my love of nature and the desire to see life on the beach protected.
This novel is unique. It is rare, I think, to see the dad able to handle the children after divorce without the help of the mother. Seeing Steve present in the life of his children is another way to look at the way families are changing and reshaping our thoughts. I am also excited because I think The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks will become a movie like so many of his past wonderful books.Nicholas Sparks
