So, my friend Christine was mesmerized by the movie trailer for Nights in Rodanthe, which she lobbied for us to go see. My response: "Are you kidding? Someone dies at the end of this movie. I promise you that."I adore romance novels (duh!). I love the happily ever after. I love experiencing the process of overcoming obstacles and watching two people fall in love. You know what ruins it? When one of them dies at the end!
That's why, despite the fact that I adore Amanda Seyfried, and the lusty and totally inappropriate cougarlike feelings for Channing Tatum, I will absolutely NOT be seeing Dear John, the latest movie adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks book. I watched the trailer last night. The movie seems to be about a guy who meets a girl, and then goes off to war. He comes back, they fall in love, he re-ups to go back, he comes back, and something happens. My guess? One of them dies. Or, she marries someone else. Anyway, the end result is, one of the two of them ends up pathetically alone with only the comfort of knowing that for one brief, albeit passionate moment, they had perfect love.
Blech. Not for me.
I was suckered into watching The Notebook - mesmerized by Ryan Gosling's cuteness and my adoration for Rachel McAdams, who I find to be ethereally beautiful. I did finally end up watching Nights in Rodanthe when it came out on Cinemax, just because I had to find out whether Richard Gere or Diane Lane dies (for the record: Gere). I saw Message in a Bottle (Costner dies), I saw Bridges of Madison County (Eastwood dies). Why, Nicholas Sparks? Why?
Is it that freaking hard to write a love story that ends well?! Why must you emotionally manipulate me by making me fall for two likeable main characters who find love and then kill one off? What is your damage? And even more to the point, what the hell is mine that I still find the need to sit through one of your movies just to see who dies at the end?
How 'bout you? Are you a fan of Nichlas Sparks? If so, give me ONE book/movie that ends well, please. I'll read it, I promise!
14 comments:
Sparks must be unable to let go of his lost love and therefore has to ruin it for the rest of us.
I agree. I can't stand his stories. But there are tons of cornballs who need to have a good cry and therefore love his stuff. I'm doing my best not to have anything to cry about. I don't need his help, thank you very much!
I completely are agree with you (especially about the cougar/Channing Tatum stuff *grin*). I want- no, simply MUST have a 'happy ever after' to read the book or watch the movie. I don't want to fall in love with the characters then cry my eyes out because they die. Real life often sucks enough without my entertainment(books/movies) making me miserable.
When I escape in a book or movie, I don't want to come out the other side feeling sad and like I'm on my way to a funeral. That's not entertainment to me personally. I avoid that stuff like it was the swine flu.
Agree! I loved The Notebook, but I don't want to read about the perfect love - I want the damn HEA! Tragic love stories are not my thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah they make good drama but I want both parties to be alive by the end. Is that too much to ask???
It always pisses the hell out of me when people call Sparks's stuff romance. They don't have HEA so they're not romance. As for the Notebook. I'm sorry, I just wanted to slap the girl for being such a hothead who put on a show at being independent, but did just like mommy and daddy said. I wanted to choke Oldest when she called it a romance. I set her straight really quick and she was quite chastened and swore never to refer to Sparks's work as romances again. Henceforth she agreed to call them love stories with people who die every time.
Really, what IS Sparks' damage? That's a good question. I read Bridges of Madison County (damn you, Oprah!), then somehow got suckered into watching the movie by my mom. Then, because I blocked BoMC from my mind in an attempt to regain my sanity, I forgot I had read Sparks and decided to read The Notebook. But I'm not watching that movie. NO!
A couple of posts have mentioned the Bridges of Madison County. While I didn't read the book, I did see the movie.
I confess this is one movie that I loved. No it didn't have a HEA, but I wasn't really expecting an HEA because it didn't matter what choice was made, someone was going to get hurt (the husband, kids off camera).
I think one of the reasons I liked this movie so much was because it didn't use outside forces to make decisions for people (as everything of Sparks seems to do). I liked that it was about people making a choice, whether for noble or selfish reasons. In the movie, Meryl Streep choosing not to go with Clint Eastwood is a choice she makes because she's got responsibilities. She was loyal, and does the selfless thing.
The character is also reflective of a certain time period and way of thinking. That and she's Italian. Old World customs and ways of thinking were not taking lightly in the 60s. Still aren't in a lot of places. For her to leave her husband could have easily made her come to resent her lover because she'd eventually realize she'd betrayed all she had grown up with and been taught.
Also for a mother to leave her kids...I know I wouldn't have been able to do that back then because she would have been labeled and adulteress and I don't think she could have gotten the children easily. Divorce was also considered a MAJOR taboo.
Did I want her to go with Clint Eastwood so the two of them could have the HEA, absolutely, but I don't see this movie in the same vein as a Sparks concoction.
I see it as a tender love story between two people whose timing was just off. The heroine made a choice that was selfless versus the author writing off her love interest in some death scene.
So thumbs up for this movie IMHO. *grin*
Kati, your conversation with your friend was almost identical to one I had with my friend, Toni. She also had seen the trailer and insisted we go see Nights in Rodanthe. I told her it wasn't going to end happy. She was sure I was wrong. I wasn't. We both left the theater ticked off.
I haven't read anything by Nicholas Sparks that I've enjoyed yet every other woman in my book club thinks he's the greatest thing since chocolate...but they won't read romance. Boggles the mind.
Just for clarification...Sparks didn't write Bridges of Madison County. That was Robert James Waller.
Ah, PJ, thanks for saying that. I thought for sure it was Sparks. Either way, they didn't end well.
I'm not sure that Nicholas Sparks knows how to write a happy ending. I read A Walk to Remember and The Notebook and really liked both of the books. I even enjoyed the movies, but can't say I felt great after either.
I wasn't a big fan of the notebook (book and movie versions) but I did read one Nicholas Sparks book and I don't think it ended badly. I actually really enjoyed it. It was the one with the women's husband who died and then he sent her a dog umm The Guardian I think it was called. I don't think that one had a bad ending but maybe I just blocked it.
Either way, they didn't end well.
They sure didn't, Kati. I remember reading Bridges when it was first released. I pretty much sobbed through the entire second half of the book. It was well written and true to the time/characters but not exactly a feel-good experience.
I haven't read a Nicholas Sparks book...and I've only see The Horse Whispers (that was Sparks, right?) and The Notebook. I loved The Notebook. Yes, it made me cry, mostly because it reminded me of my grandparents. I think it did have an HEA...it's just that romance novels stop at that moment whereas The Notebook fast-forwarded to the end. Still not going to watch it for a while though...
I saw your comment over at Babbling About Books and I had to come read what you put! :) Couldn't agree more. I'll never read Sparks again because I do not enjoy being emotionally strung around.
My super short review is on my blog.
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