I have been reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.  The characters (in order of importance) are: Thibault (Logan), Beth, Clayton, Ben, and Nana.  The symbol I would choose for Thibault would be a piano because he plays the piano, but also how well he plays epitomizes how good he is at being a responsible father figure for Ben, Beth's son. For Beth the symbol I would choose would be a tree, the reason being that even though she has a lot of problems in life: her ex-husband is using her kid, and controlling her life by threatening to take him away, she has to care for Nana and the family business, and work as a teacher whilst raising her own kid, she finds a way to be strong and raise Ben as a great kid, and manages to fall in love again. The symbol I would pick for Clayton is a baseball; I would choose a baseball because it shows how perfect he thinks he is because his family has a lot of power in the small town.  I also choose it because Clayton pushes his and Beth's son, Ben, to play baseball and be athletic even though Ben would much rather read or play chess, which shows just how bad of a role model he is, pushing his son to be something he doesn't want to be.  For Ben's symbol I would choose a chess pawn.  I would choose this for Ben because he likes to play chess, and is rather good at it, even though his father would rather he be more athletic.  I specifically choose the pawn because it also represents how bad of a father Clayton is, he uses his son to get what he wants out of everyone in his life: his ex-wife Beth, his dad, his grandfather.  For Nana I would choose a question mark because she is so abstract, her metaphors don't really make sense and she seems to always know the correct answer or the correct decision at any point in time. 

I think the best part about my book is that even though romance seems to be the main topic, several other issues are dealt with in the book including: good vs. bad parenting,  the struggles of surviving a war, and even how hard it is to run a business and keep a steady job and raise a fantastic kid all at once.  This is a good thing because if a book only has one focus or one problem, it can become boring and predictable, with only two or three possibilities of an ending, but with many problems and topic covered, it is interesting and has many possibilities to end the book with. 

    The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks is about a former marine, Logan Thibault, who finds luck in a woman's picture that he found while on duty in Iraq.  He travels, by walking with his German Shepherd Zeus, from Colorado to Hampton County, North Carolina to find this mystery woman.  The book creates suspense by switching to a different character each chapter, these characters includes Beth, who seems to be the woman from the picture, and her ex-husband, Clayton, who is a sheriff.  Beth and her grandma, Nana own a dog training and boarding kennel.  In between being a teacher and raising her son, Ben, she works at the kennel, helping with clients.  Thibault, determined to find the woman and to thank her for the great luck during the war, narrows down where she could be and asks in the small town where he could find her.  He comes to the kennel and instead of explaining what he is actually there for, he asks her for a job working there.  Nana agrees to hire him and he starts the next week.   

     

    The setting of this book is Hampton County, North Carolina.  The town is small and has a everybody knows each other feel to it.  So, it is no surprise that when a stranger waltzes in everyone is weary of him.

"As crazy as it sounded, he was looking at her as though he recognized her.  But she'd never seen him before; she was sure of that." (72).

"No one passed through Hampton and decided to stay here on a whim.  Charlotte, yes.   Raleigh, of course.  Greensboro, absolutely.  But Hampton? Not a chance." (75).

     The year the book takes place is sometime after 2007.  I know this because it mentions that Logan was on one of his tours in Iraq in 2005, and that the present part of the book takes place after he is honorably discharged two years later. 

"Thibault didn't want to return to Iraq, but once more, in February 2005, the First, Fifth was called up." (81).

" 'After that, I joined the marines, and I received an honorable discharge two years ago.'"  (75).  

     Another very vivid part of the setting is Logan noticing that the town has very old buildings and architecture. 

"The place was one-story, southern rustic, and at least a hundred years old, but kept in relatively good repair.  After rubbing the dirt from the windows, he peeked inside.  It needed some work, but not the kind that would prevent him from moving in.  The kitchen was definitely old-school, and there was a wood-burning stove in the corner, one that probably provided the house's only heat.  The wide-plank pine flooring was scuffed and stained, and the cabinets had probably been around since the place was built, but these things seemed to add to the house's character rather that detract from it.  Even better, it seemed to be furnished with the basics: couch and end tables, lamps, even a bed." (86-87). 

   I have not yet started the Nicholas Sparks books, but I have been reading Brian's Winter by: Gary Paulsen.   It is about a teenage boy who has been trapped in the woods for a whole summer after the plane he was supposed to take to his father's house went down in the middle of the woods because of the heart attack the pilot had.  All of the boy's, Brian's, summer was in the of the first book in the series, Hatchet.  The story of how the boy survives starts in late August when Brian starts noticing the signs that winter is coming, and fast.  He prepares by winter-proofing his shelter and clothes using the skins of animals he has killed to stay alive, and clay from the nearby lake.  So far, Brian has survived using his wits and prior knowledge to get him through, but can he make it to the next spring?  I think that a reader who would enjoy this book are people who are familiar with the outdoors and/or someone who is into action or survival stories.  I would give this book a 3 out of 5 because it has interesting and authentic writing, and I like that at the end of most chapters the author foreshadows what will happen to Brian. 
   The most important line from chapter 7 is, "Later, he would think on how strange things were.  He would never see the bear again and inside the shelter he would never be threatened again.  Yet the lance would save his life." (Paulsen 63) .  This line is a very important line in the book because it foreshadows Brian's next experiences.  It tells us that in the future, Brian will face danger and the lance will be used in someway to save him from that danger.  It also tells us that he would not see the bear again, so we should not expect another bear attack.  Lastly, it tells us that Brian's little shelter will not be threatened so we should expect peace when Brian is in the shelter.  This advances the plot line because it shows us what to expect in the rest of the book and also what not to expect, so Paulsen will have to use other obstacles to show Brian's hopelessness of getting out of this situation.  It also advances the plot line because it is a transition into when Brian has to use the lance to save his life. 


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Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks is a novelist who has written 18 novels.  Many of these novels are focused around a theme of romance.  Sparks was born on December 31^st and is 48.  He published his first big seller, “The Notebook” in 1996.  Many of Sparks’ books have been made into movies, these include: “The Notebook”, “The Last Song”, “A Walk to Remember”, “Message in A Bottle”, “Nights in Rodanthe”,  “The Lucky One”, “Safe Haven”, and “Dear John”.  He lives in North Carolina with his wife, Caroline and their five children.   I have seen many of the movie versions of the Nicholas Sparks books but want to see the difference between the books and movies.  I plan to read Safe Haven as my next book.

Nicholas Sparks responded to the question, “Who is your favorite author?” in an interview that was posted on http://parade.condenast.com/123117/parade/authors-on-authors/ , it reads, “While it’s hard to choose a single book that had a profound impact on my life, I can definitely say that the works of a single author certainly did: Stephen King. I started reading King’s books when I was a kid, and have continued to read every new one religiously. Not only did he fan the flames of my passion for reading (I couldn’t put his books down, which made me seek out other books that replicated that experience), but he truly shaped my concepts of what a writer could do and be. His books, like The Shining, Different Seasons and Lisey’s Story, taught me so much about storytelling, how to keep the pages turning, and creating characters that you felt invested in … all in a supremely enjoyable, accessible package. He has always been tremendously prolific—and I am in awe of that ability, as he doesn’t employ others to do his writing for him, or take any shortcuts. In short, he’s always been a role model for me: someone who not only shaped and re-defined the “genre” he wrote in, but ultimately transcended it.”  This was a very interesting answer because I wasn’t expecting an author who writes about the woes of relationships and struggles of life to enjoy reading horror novels.  

 

Citations

" Nicholas Sparks." 2012. FamousAuthors.org 6 September,            http://www.famousauthors.org/nicholas-sparks

"Your Quickie Guide to Every Nicholas Sparks Book." About. Web. 6 Sept. 2014.

"Top Authors on Their Favorite Reads." Parade. Web. 6 Sept. 2014.