Monday, February 22, 2010

Dear John


Okay, first order of business – last week's goals. I posted that I would finish chapters four and five of Blood Diamond and post every day through Friday. I'm proud to report that I did finish both chapters and I did the blog posts. I sure didn't want to have to tell you all that I'd failed. Great motivation.

This week, I plan to finish chapters six and seven and blog today through Friday. Now on to our regularly scheduled post.

The movie theater on post showed Dear John this weekend, so Saturday night, I met up with a couple of girlfriends and went. I hadn't read the book. In fact, I don't recall reading anything by Nicholas Sparks, but I generally like the movies made from his books. I have to say, though, that I did not like Dear John.

I liked Channing Tatum's character, John Tyree. I mean, besides the bare chest shots. I thought they could have done a little more development with him, though. They alluded to his past and I didn't feel like they'd resolved that enough. I sympathized and connected with his character though. Not so much with Amanda Seyfried's Savannah Curtis. I wasn't connected enough to her and found her character shallow and annoying. The ending was less than satisfactory, though I won't ruin it if you haven't seen it yet. My friend, who had read the book, mentioned the ending in the book was different and judging from her description, I think I would have liked it even less.

Again, I didn't read the book and I may have enjoyed the movie more and felt more connected the characters if I had. I have no desire to, though. My leisure time is limited and reading a book for pleasure is usually one of the first things to go when the schedule gets busy, so knowing that I won't like how the book ends kills any thought of checking it out.

How about you? Did you read the book? See the movie? What's your opinion?

6 comments:

Rachel Lynne said...

Hey! Never read any of his stuff but I watched the Notebook and loved it! I've heard his endings aren't great and that they usually do change them for the films, (wonder why?) I agree I don't read much for pleasure except the new releases of friends. I'm awaiting yours now :)
Look at it this way, at least you had a night out with friends!

Gale Stanley said...

I heard mixed reviews about the movie and I was waffling on whether or not to see it. You just made up my mind for me. Thanks.

Kathy Johnson said...

I'm always skeptical of Nicholas Sparks endings. I guess I'm too much in love with HEA's. If I didn't know it the movie was based on a Sparks' book the previews would have me hooked. But your comments pretty much confirm what I already suspected/feared.

Mary Ricksen said...

Well I sure won't waste my money. I'll wait till it's on DVD. Thanks for the input!!

Anonymous said...

I'm a South Carolina Lowcountry girl so I loved, loved the scenery. I think I looked at that more than the characters. It was great to see the marsh, the ocean, the trees heavily laden with Spanish moss, the beach houses, Bowen's Island and more ...

Which is why I love The Notebook - not for the story necessarily but because it looks like home.

The shallow character development and the buggy-eyes of Amanda S were low points of the movie. You could tell it was low-budget when some of the desert/war shots were obviously shot in the Lowcountry (Spanish moss in Afghanistan anyone?).

I was also a bit taken by suprise that the older love interest was the little boy from E.T. - that made me feel ancient!

Robin Hillyer-Miles

Word Actress said...

I'm not a Nicholas Sparks fan. His books seem too trite for me. No surprises, usually, but some people like bland and I guess they're his fans. Thanks for saving me $10! Best, Mary Kennedy Eastham

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