My first ever novel that i got to finally finish reading, Dear John.
To me, as a beginner, i would say the story-line gives me goosebumps. Really. With all that army stuff and love letters and not-being-able-to-be-near-to-each-other-because-of-duty-to-the-country thing..as a teen these are more than enough for tears to form in my eyes. But.....I've re-read the novel months afterwards, and reading as a not-so-beginner, i think this is a very light story. The story is likable and simple; an army sergeant, John, who graduated from high school despite his messed-up life, enlisted himself in the military, deciding to do something with his life. He believed that somehow joining it had made him a better person. While on break, he met this beautiful lady named Savannah, a college attendant. To shorten the story, they were both attracted to each other. They became a healthy couple, and the feelings grew bigger day by day. It finally led to Savannah vowing of waiting for him to come back and John promising to come home marrying her someday.
"Then came September 11"
This was the main part. Where each of them had to make up the most difficult decision. John was forced risk every hope and dream that he's ever had. Just like the character of Rudolph Rassendyll in The Prisoner Of Zenda, John must choose between love and country. And the one left behind, Savannah, must decide to wait or move on. It was surely hard. Hard for him, harder for her. She couldn't bear to wait any longer, waiting for news she didn't know what to consider, whether it's good or bad. At last, John was back. The main purpose was to attend his dad's funeral, and discovering that Savannah had already married to whom he thought was best friend to them, Tim, was obviously not part of the plan. End of best part.
Next was just the part where John found out that Tim was sick and he decided to do some good deeds to Savannah and Tim. He finally acted gentlemanly when he walked away when he was just a step away from getting his love back, as he came to realize that she was MARRIED already. So yeah, if you read the whole story, it's not really a sappy love story, there's more of it. Full with life lessons, I give it three point five out of five stars. (LOL, givg out ratings, pftt who am i)
I like the story, seriously. The ending was unexpected, I thought it would turn out to be that they both grew old and finally met again, and started a new life together at the ages of forty to fifty..idk. HAHA.
