Review Detail

Dear John is a poignant story about first love, and the strain that serving in the military creates on relationships.

Throughout his teen years, John is a bit of a rebel, and an epiphany of sorts leads him to enlist in the military. The discipline of the army is just what John needs at this time in his life, and he grows up quickly as he is suddenly responsible for his own life and the lives of his buddies on the frontline.

One summer, he returns to North Carolina on leave and is surfing at the beach when he meets a girl that just takes his breath away. Her name is Savannah Lynn Curtis, and she is a student at UNC Chapel Hill. From the first moment he sees her, John cannot take his eyes off of Savannah. Savannah is unlike any girl John has ever met. She just exudes a warmth and beauty that is unmatched, and in just a few hours John finds himself falling hopelessly in love with her. Savannah is in town working on a Habitat for Humanity project, building a house for a family whose house was destroyed in a hurricane. John and Savannah spend the next week together getting to know one another and John discovers that Savannah is everything he has ever wanted, and more. Luckily for him, Savannah feels the same way. When John finally has to fly back overseas to serve in the military, he feels like their time together was much too short. They both know that long-distance relationships seldom work out, but both are dedicated to making their love last.

Savannah and John are confident that their love will survive the strains of time and distance, and they count down the days to Johns next leave, when they can see each other once more. Their next meeting brings joy unlike John has ever felt, and he knows that he has made the right decision. Of course, they have their disagreements, but it is nothing that their passion for one another cannot overcome.

John has less than a hundred days before his service is up, and he is eagerly awaiting the time when he can spend the rest of his life with his true love. Then the events of September 11th, 2001 change everything. Overcome by a wave of patriotism and feeling that it is his duty, John re-enlists for another term. While Savannah is disappointed that he will not be coming home to her, she is completely supportive of his decision. Little does he know that this decision will alter the course of his life and his relationship with Savannah in irreversible ways.

I really enjoyed reading Dear John, and I think Nicholas Sparks does a wonderful job of illustrating the mutual feelings of attraction and love between John and Savannah. So many young couples face the same situation that John and Savannah go through with long-distance relationships. Sparks offers multi-dimensional characters and really develops the personalities of his characters over the course of the novel. This is an excellent contemporary love story, both dramatic and serious, that I recommend with no hesitation to all young adult and adult readers alike!